The Hackathon brings together multiple streams of entrepreneurial activity (internationally) and taps into a global community of individuals and organizations with a passion for innovation via legal technology. Given that it is competitive, the goal for participants is not only to have fun, but to also win!

David Kinnear, incoming president of the NYC ACEDS chapter and founder of High Performance Counsel (@HipCounsel), was able to answer a few questions regarding the Hackathon:

Mary Mack: How does the mission of HPC align?
David Kinnear: HPC reflects the face and the voice of the modern legal industry - and where it is heading over the next ten years. Inherent in this position is the view that technology will become wholly intrinsic to law and the delivery of legal services. Telling the stories of legal innovation and the founders driving change - well, that's what we do. We're excited to learn what people are building - and we're excited to support the winners by providing exclusive VIP coverage on High Performance Counsel.

MM: Why is this relevant to the ACEDS community?
DK: Our own relationship with ACEDS reflects our view of ACEDS as being a cornerstone of the emerging, modern legal industry - harnessing the key elements of technology and people. We think ACEDS is uniquely positioned in its nexus to the growth of legal technology and its certification of professional competencies. For the modern legal professional, technology will become a much more vital part of day-to-day participation in the modern sector.

MM: How can the ACEDS community get involved?
DK: Follow our updates on Twitter (#GLH2018, #GlobalLegalHack), on LinkedIn and also postings on High Performance Counsel under: #BulletPoints (our market commentary). Our experience of ACEDS is that it is very proactive in providing great content and support for fellow CEDs so stay tuned and use this great organization to be informed. Professionally, this is a very important time for individuals to get informed and stay informed about the change and innovation that technology is bringing - both in terms of preparing for workplace changes and also in terms of the career opportunities it can represent.

MM: As a judge in NYC, what will you be looking for?
DK: "Bold thinking - not tinkering." Yes, we will be writing about that on High Performance Counsel! I'm interested to see ideas and concepts that do indeed have practical application, but they are (much) more than "just another layer" on old thinking and old workflow models. I am particularly interested in the digitization and productization of law - a concept which remains painfully early still but that (I think) will have huge revenue implications for service providers.
John Tredennick, Founder and Chief Evangelist at Catalyst, was also able to share his thoughts on the Hackathon:

Mary Mack: What is the Hackathon's purpose?
John Tredennick: The goal is to bring together a lot of very smart developers, have them focus on legal problems and see what they can come up with to solve those problems.

MM: How does the mission of Catalyst align?
JT: Catalyst was formed to focus on legal problems, in this case the need to better manage the discovery process. We put together a lot of smart people who came up with our Insight Discovery Platform. We have succeeded because the platform does in fact help clients save on discovery costs and time.

MM: Why is this relevant to the ACEDS community?
JT: ACEDS has always been focused on helping legal professionals better manage litigation so it has a vested interested in a program like this

MM: As a judge in Denver, what will you be looking for?
JT: Innovative ideas that can actually work. To succeed, an idea has to be simple, the solution has to be easily managed and it has to provide at least a 30% benefit over existing options.

I am excited to see what the hackers come up with after a weekend of caffeine and intense focus on legal needs. My thanks to everyone involved. It will be an honor to participate and be a judge.