On Saturday 3 February 2018 SCL (Society for Computers and Law – www.scl.org) held its inaugural Student Tech Law Challenge generously hosted by the University of Law at its London Moorgate Campus. 42 teams from universities around the UK were given the opportunity to develop their practical skills by living a day in the life of a tech lawyer. The event is believed to be the largest student tech law challenge held in the UK to date.
Tasks throughout the day included negotiating the commercial terms of an IT/Technology Contract and some reactive tasks that will test the students’ legal and business knowledge, commercial decision-making and presentation skills.
This innovative competition gave the students taking part a taste of the sort of issues tech lawyers and tech businesses face on a day to day basis. They were able to practice advising clients on a number of legal and commercial issues at the heart of the tech industry.
The winners were Matus Tutko and Ludwig Hastermann from QMUL who scored an impressive 49 out of 50 points.
The runners-up in joint 2nd place were Hamza Abib from The Open University and Samira Ahmed from Birkbeck, Xinya Tan, Kaveesha Thayalan from QMUL and Ondrej Hajda and Jennifer O’Kane from BPP Waterloo, who also won the prize for the Best Risk and Compliance Officers.
Prizes were also awarded to Izaan Khan and MonYeu Chan for the Best Wheeler Dealers and to Nishant Prasad and Saurav Zenqeneh for the best use of Jedi Mind-Control, a humorous nod to the Challenge’s Star Wars theme.
The challenge also provided competitors with the chance to network with some of the brightest and best technology lawyers in the industry who mentored and judged the event. The mentors and judges included:
Michael Butterworth, Fieldfisher (SCL Tech Law Challenge Lead)
Jessica Brickley, TrakM8
James Humphrey-Evans, Bortstein LLP
Shayhan Patelmaster, Herbert Smith Freehills
Vijayalaxmi Aithani, Microsoft
Charlie Lyons-Rothbart, JAG Shaw Baker
Paula Dumbill, Browne Jacobson
Marta Dunphy-Moriel, Fieldfisher
Clive Freedman, 3VB
Angelo Mogan, Fieldfisher
Lawrence Akka QC, 20 Essex CourtLorraine Chimbga, FundApps
Laura Wright, 4 Pump Court
Mehdi Husseini
Jack Houselander, Paysafe
Matthew Richardson, Henderson Chambers
Tina Fernandez, DHL
Benson Egwuonwu
Laura Leanca
Charley Guile, Fieldfisher
Lucie Audibert, LSE, Junior Policy Officer at Internet & Jurisdiction