Are you an innovator in the law and justice space? Make your idea a reality by winning the Agami Prize

For most ordinary citizens, taking disputes to court comes with a sense of hesitancy and apprehension. And not without reason. It is estimated that there are more than 60,000 Supreme Court cases, 48 lakh High Court cases and 3.3 crore cases District and Taluka courts that are pending resolution.

To put these massive numbers into perspective, it takes roughly four years per case on average to get resolved. The law and justice space has been largely insular and hardly preferred by entrepreneurs to develop meaningful offerings, unlike other sectors like tech, medicine and space, which attract plenty of innovative solutions from the community.

As a result, the system has remained stagnant and plagued by age-old problems such as pendency in court and lack of access to justice for all.

Improving access to justice by catalysing entrepreneurship

Agami is a nonprofit organisation that believes that accessibility to law and justice should not only be restricted to lawyers, judges and other law practitioners. It aims to make the law and justice space more conducive for entrepreneurship, so that ordinary citizens can act to improve its systems.

To that end, Agami has launched many initiatives in the past one-and-a-half-years that foster innovation towards big opportunities for impact. One of these is the Agami E-ADR Challenge, which called for inventive solutions to effectively solve cases online in a way that would reduce costs, increase operational efficiencies and increase access to justice. SAMA, the winner of this challenge, has been setting records in terms of solving cases. In one sample case, SAMA resolved a case in 23 minutes that was earlier stuck in court for 10 months.

Charting a path to a robust law and justice system with the Agami Prize

First awarded in 2018, the Agami Prize is a biennial prize that celebrates ideas that make justice more accessible, inclusive and effective by tackling well-known problems in legal and justice systems to achieve bold outcomes. Partners to the prize include highly regarded individuals and institutions in social innovation, business, philanthropy and policy.

This year, the prize invites applications and nominations from individuals or organisations whose core innovation and impact is in the field of law and justice in the three categories as follows:

Industry Prize:

The Agami Industry Prize is awarded to a proven solution for the advancement of the legal industry.

Such ideas include initiatives that:

-Create new data-driven solutions in the legal space.

-Create new class of services which solve challenges for the legal industry.

-Create new roles/skills for legal professionals and citizens.

-Create new products/tools for actors in the field of law and justice.

-Create new and simplified legal processes using technology/AI.

There is one winner under this category.

The Shamnad Basheer Citizenship Prize

Named after Professor Shamnad Basheer, an inspiring change-maker, founder of IDIA and Spicy IP, Infosys Prize Winner and Agami Prize 2018 finalist, the prize is awarded to the proven initiative with the highest capability for empowering citizens by enabling better access or participate in our systems of law and justice.

Such ideas include initiatives that:

-Create new means to enable citizens to access justice through tech, legal awareness, legal education etc.

-Create new spaces for engagement between citizens and law and justice institutions.

-Create new ways in which legal services are made available, especially to the most vulnerable.

-Creates new pathways for the legal system to become more citizen-friendly.

-Create new actionable insights through research, storytelling, data-driven reportage in the field of law and justice.

There is one winner under this category.

Idea Prize:

The Agami Idea Prize is awarded to early-stage ideas with the potential to serve justice, either through the evolution of the legal industry or in how it empowers citizens to access justice.

With two winners under this category, young innovators, professionals, and students starting out on their changemaking journeys are encouraged to apply for the Idea Prize.

Establishing the support system today to nurture the change-makers of tomorrow

Beyond hosting challenges and prizes, Agami also acts as a support system for entrepreneurs in this space. It identifies gaps, and creates support groups within the community to create a nurturing culture. To that end, it facilitates impactful introductions, introduces funding into the field and mentors founders across startups regardless of any formal programs or agreements in place.

Agami hopes to reach a stage where the legal sector will no longer be seen as archaic, opaque and insular, but a robust, thriving ecosystem that provides efficient, affordable and timely access to legal resources for all.

To know more and apply for the Agami Prize, click here. Applications are open till July 31, 2020.