Skip to main content

Site navigation

  • University of Technology Sydney home
  • Home

    Home
  • For students

  • For industry

  • Research

Explore

  • Courses
  • Events
  • News
  • Stories
  • People

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Study at UTS

    • arrow_right_alt Find a course
    • arrow_right_alt Course areas
    • arrow_right_alt Undergraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Postgraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Research Masters and PhD
    • arrow_right_alt Online study and short courses
  • Student information

    • arrow_right_alt Current students
    • arrow_right_alt New UTS students
    • arrow_right_alt Graduates (Alumni)
    • arrow_right_alt High school students
    • arrow_right_alt Indigenous students
    • arrow_right_alt International students
  • Admissions

    • arrow_right_alt How to apply
    • arrow_right_alt Entry pathways
    • arrow_right_alt Eligibility
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for students

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Apply for a coursearrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Scholarshipsarrow_right_alt
  • Featured industries

    • arrow_right_alt Agriculture and food
    • arrow_right_alt Defence and space
    • arrow_right_alt Energy and transport
    • arrow_right_alt Government and policy
    • arrow_right_alt Health and medical
    • arrow_right_alt Corporate training
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Tech Central
    • arrow_right_alt Case studies
    • arrow_right_alt Research
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for industry

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Partner with usarrow_right_alt
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Explore our research
    • arrow_right_alt Research centres and institutes
    • arrow_right_alt Graduate research
    • arrow_right_alt Research partnerships
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for research

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Research centres and institutesarrow_right_alt
  • University of Technology Sydney home
Explore the University of Technology Sydney
Category Filters:
University of Technology Sydney home University of Technology Sydney home
  1. home
  2. arrow_forward_ios ... Newsroom
  3. arrow_forward_ios ... 2022
  4. arrow_forward_ios 08
  5. arrow_forward_ios Harnessing technology for the public good

Harnessing technology for the public good

18 August 2022

An app which helps streamline the process of connecting Indigenous people with mentors across Australia has won the 2022 Allens Neota UTS Law Tech Challenge for Social Justice.

Large group of participants pose at the Law Tech Challenge

Entrants in the 2022 Allens Neota UTS Law Tech Challenge. Photo: Daniel Snell

After the COVID pandemic forced a cancellation in 2020 and an online only event last year, the Allens Neota UTS Law Tech Challenge for Social Justice roared back to life, pitting four teams against each other in an exciting Grand Final in the foyer of the University’s impressive new UTS Central building.

Encouraging students to use their legal knowledge to help solve social justice problems is a key feature of the UTS Law degree. The Challenge gives competitors the added opportunity to address these problems with the help of software technology.

As Dean of Law, Professor Anita Stuhmcke told the audience:

This Challenge is the epitome of one of the key skills we want our students to take from their degree – to understand and engage with technology and to do it for the public good.

Sponsored by international Law Firm, Allens in partnership with software company, Neota Logic, it’s a key event for UTS Law’s Brennan Social Justice and Leadership program.

INTERESTED IN LAW AND TECH? Find out about the UTS Legal Futures and Technology major

This year, four teams of five Brennan students worked with an Allens mentor and their chosen NGO to identify a problem within the organisation and come up with a solution using their legal skills and Neota Logic software technology to create apps.

After months of development and preparation they pitched their apps to the judging panel comprising Professor Stuhmcke, Allens’ Head of Legal Product Lab, Peter Campbell and Neota Logic’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jackson Liu.

The Judges were impressed with all the teams but chose Team Check Protect as the winner.

The team worked with Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) which runs indigenous mentoring programs across Australia. Every mentor must obtain a Working with Children Check (WWCC) but the requirements of these vary from state to state, resulting in a lot of paperwork and often confusion. Team Check Protect built a simple to use app that helps AIME mentors navigate the complexities of the different working with children requirements and frees them up to focus on their core work.

The winning team and judges pose with awards

Team Check Protect, the 2022 winners, with Judges L to R – Neota’s Jackson Liu, students Daron Manoukian, Hope Siciliano, Selene Vuong, Mariana Isaac, Alex Graham, Allen’s Peter Campbell and Professor Anita Stuhmcke. Photo: Daniel Snell.

Allens’ Peter Campbell says the Judges appreciated the app’s potential to save time and confusion as well as its potential for use in other companies and jurisdictions. He says all legal practitioners have an obligation to ensure their clients have access to justice, and technology often plays a key part in this:

Graduates with experience and interest in software and apps have an edge. They are better prepared to use the modern tools we have available, but perhaps more importantly they have had experience considering problems from different perspectives and have a more open mindset. Lawyers that have been through an innovation journey like the students in the UTS challenge are equipped to engage more meaningfully in transforming a legal process or service to make it better and more efficient.

Professor Stuhmcke says it’s important graduates understand how technology can both support and enhance their legal work:

Our students are assisted to critically analyse technology as changing law, creating law and impacting legal practice. We have a strong focus on work-ready, practically oriented legal graduates committed to social justice and the application of an ethical approach across disciplinary knowledge, professional skills and powers of critical reflection.

Neota Logic’s Jackson Liu was there for the first Challenge at UTS in 2017 and has also been involved with the competition in Law Schools across the globe.

He says Neota Logic is committed to creating connections between Law Schools, Law Firms, Corporations and the pro bono community:

Facilitating access to justice through technology solutions has always been a cornerstone of the company's mission and our partnerships with universities and the pro bono community is critical in achieving that mission. We are immensely proud of our partnership with UTS and Allens over the years and the outcomes we are able to drive for access to justice through this Tech Challenge.

As part of the Challenge, teams also compete for the best social media exposure of their app development journey. Team One Heart took out this award which was presented by Acting Provost and Senior Vice-President, Professor Lesley Hitchens.

Team members accepting their awards

Sami Urquhart, Georgia Zocco, Professor Hitchens, Sai Muthukumar and Saja Al-Zaamily.

All the apps developed for the competition will be utilised by the participating organisations.

The other apps in the 2022 Challenge included:

Team Thrive (Cassandra Reilly, John Pak, Harrison Luke, Morwarid Faiz and Maria Hakim)

Worked with an organisation which supports students with learning difficulties support organisation, SPELD (NSW). They identified a need for parents of children with learning difficulties to have a centralised app which allowed them to upload their child’s specific needs and interests. The app helps parents to engage with educational service providers to seek appropriate adjustments in school settings. Watch on YouTube

Team Thread Connect (Wendy Lam, Fauzia Hussein, Zoe Said, Salvador Arce and Jason Claughton)

Worked with registered charity, Opportunities Australia which helps job-seekers including Indigenous Australians, refugees and long-term unemployed. The charity runs a mentoring program and Thread Connect designed an app to assist in matching mentors with mentees based on their interests and personality traits. Watch on YouTube

Team One Heart (Georgia Zocco, Sami Urquhart, Sai Muthukumar, Rianne Hamad and Saja Al-Zaamily)

Partnered with the Capital Punishment Justice Project (CPJP) which works throughout Asia to raise awareness about capital punishment. The team built an app to assist people to write letters of concern about the issue to politicians. The app also connects CPJP with people who have information about individuals facing capital punishment and provides information to people wanting to learn more about the organisation and donate or volunteer. Watch on YouTube

Watch:

  • Team Check Protect’s Grand Final presentation (YouTube)
  • The 2022 Allens Neota UTS Law Tech Challenge for Social Justice Grand Final Facebook live stream

Apply:

  • UTS Law students formally signed up to the Brennan Program can soon apply for the 2023 Challenge. Refer to the UTS website for further details.

Byline

Kerrie Douglass
Share
Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn
Back to News in Faculty of Law

Related News

  • 2021 Allens Neota Logic UTS Tech Challenge: meet the winners

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation upon whose ancestral lands our campuses now stand. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. 

University of Technology Sydney

City Campus

15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007

Get in touch with UTS

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Facebook

A member of

  • Australian Technology Network
Use arrow keys to navigate within each column of links. Press Tab to move between columns.

Study

  • Find a course
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • How to apply
  • Scholarships and prizes
  • International students
  • Campus maps
  • Accommodation

Engage

  • Find an expert
  • Industry
  • News
  • Events
  • Experience UTS
  • Research
  • Stories
  • Alumni

About

  • Who we are
  • Faculties
  • Learning and teaching
  • Sustainability
  • Initiatives
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Campus and locations
  • Awards and rankings
  • UTS governance

Staff and students

  • Current students
  • Help and support
  • Library
  • Policies
  • StaffConnect
  • Working at UTS
  • UTS Handbook
  • Contact us
  • Copyright © 2025
  • ABN: 77 257 686 961
  • CRICOS provider number: 00099F
  • TEQSA provider number: PRV12060
  • TEQSA category: Australian University
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Accessibility