Whether you have wasted hours trying to understand a government website; signed a contract that you didn’t understand; or even spent sleepless nights worrying about a conflict at work or with your landlord; we have all experienced a justice problem which can seem difficult to solve. At the Law Hub, we believe it doesn’t have to be this way. We work with students to develop solutions which explain, redesign or even replace the most challenging aspects of law. From developing a crowdfunding platform to finance legal action, to interactive toolkits which guide businesses on how to renegotiate debts and avoid bankruptcy, to a platform which checks your rental contract before you sign it.

Our yearly legal startup event is a way of introducing these students and innovations to the general public, investors and representatives of the Dutch government. Each year we invite the ten best teams to pitch their solutions to a jury along with the chance to transform the idea into reality through our incubator programme. Our goal is to guide young entrepreneurs in directly improving access to justice for those living in the Netherlands.

We welcome anyone who is curious to learn more about justice innovation and the services they can make use of in their day-to-day lives. Sign up for free, get inspired by our themes and potentially even provide inspiration for our next generation of students!

Programme

15h00 Opening by Law Hub team & introduction jury (Marika Bazelmans of ASIF, Pablo van Klinken of Stichting Allemansrecht, Mieke Masselink of Forward·Inc).
15h15 Pitches part 1 and live Q&A
16h00 Break
16h15 Panelsession and debate with Maurits Fournier of Patroon and Laura Kistemaker of Uitelkaar.nl around tech/legal entrepreneurship & social entrepreneurship
16h40 Pitches part 2 and live Q&A
17h25 Jury deliberation and audience vote
18h00 Award ceremony and drinks!

Can't join us (physically)? Check out our livestream!

Good news for people who cannot be there, but do not want to miss anything; we will also broadcast the complete programme live! One of our colleagues will be on hand during the meeting to answer questions, and to put you in touch with the entrepreneurs afterwards!

Check in here via Zoom at 15h00! There will be a 30 minute break during the jury deliberation at 17:25.

For students who believe they can solve a justice problem

Do you have ideas on how to solve the student housing crisis? Can you improve the way we support and protect activists or minorities experiencing harassment online? Perhaps you think you could do a better job of explaining the benefits system to families in need. Whatever justice problem you think you have a solution for, the Amsterdam Law Hub wants to hear it at our legal startup pitching competition on the 8^th June. 

Students from across the Netherlands are welcome to apply and share their idea for a four minute pitch describing: 

• What legal problem you want to solve
• Who you want to solve it for
• Your proposed solution
• How you will make the solution financially sustainable (either through sales as a business, or through grants, subsidies or other means as an NGO or volunteer organization)

The winning pitch(es)

The top ten pitches from the pool of applications will be selected to take part in the live event, pitching to a jury of legal innovators. The winning pitch will receive a prize of €500 along with the option of a year of free incubation to turn their idea into a reality. Prizes will also be awarded to the pitch in 2^nd place (€250) , and the audience favourite. To apply simply fill out the application form in a few short sentences or email us your idea directly via amsterdamlawhub@uva.nl.

Alternatively, if you are simply curious to learn more about legal innovation but don’t have an idea yet then come and join and we will do our best to inspire you for next year!