ParDONE pitch wins competition

Ontario Access to Justice Challenge

Canadians with criminal records received an early Christmas present last week — an easier way to obtain a full pardon for past convictions.

Last week the Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ) at Ryerson University in Toronto and Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General crowned ParDONE as having the best idea in the Ontario Access to Justice Challenge.

ParDONE took part in The Final Pitch, a Dragons’ Denstyle business competition in which startups pitched their solutions to improve access to justice or “A2J” for Canadians. Pitch competitions for legal tech companies were all the rage in 2016. In August, for example, the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) also ran a similar competition for a broad range of legal tech companies.

Earlier this summer, 29 initial applicants in A2J Challenge were culled to five finalists, each of whom received four months of coworking space at LIZ along with advisers, mentorship and other resources to help make their businesses come to life.

Then came last week’s The Final Pitch. It was a much more down-home, subdued affair than the flashier event run by the CBA in August, but with similarly high stakes. Just steps from where these teams had been co-working at LIZ for the previous four months, they were now fiercely competing against each other to share a total $50,000 cash and the right to work out of the Legal Innovation Zone for an additional four-month term.

Four judges put teams to the test with a barrage of questions after each of their brief “pitches” to improve access to justice. The winning team at ParDONE saw an opportunity to employ technology to reduce complexity and high cost of obtaining a pardon. ParDONE received the $25,000 first prize.

Legally Inc., which came in second place, earning it $15,000, created an app that uses chat bots to assist Canadians fighting traffic tickets. Law Scout, which took home third place and $10,000, created a technology platform that reduces the cost of routine legal work for small business owners.

Rounding out the five finalists, were Notice Connect.com, which reduces the cost of administering estates online notices instead of classified ads in newspapers, and Codify, which makes software that helps small businesses and everyday Canadians understand legal requirements.

Two things stood out for me as I watched this event.

First, the dominance of youth in the competition was startling. It was clear that many of them were somewhat uncomfortable in business attire, rather than jeans and sweatshirts. I even wondered if some of the male competitors were old enough to shave. To be sure, this isn’t a criticism. To see Canadian youth investing their time in solutions to legal problems they see in their daily life is inspiring. And not one of them was asking permission from the legal powers-that-be to do so.

Second, the competition was sponsored in part by the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario. The ministry says it is making access to justice is a key priority. Seeing government invest in private-sector solutions to problems that neither government nor lawyers have been able to solve is a refreshing change. There needs to be more of this type of investment from governments across Canada, particularly to improve access to justice.