Hackathons
Build. Compete. Disrupt. Africa's premier legal-tech hackathon series.
Where the next generation of legal tech is born.
The JQ Hackathon series is not a pitch competition. It is a 48-hour battle of intellect, code, and raw legal insight. We bring together the sharpest legal engineers, the most ambitious law students, and the boldest tech entrepreneurs in Africa, and we lock them in a room with a problem: build a tool that solves a real, urgent legal challenge facing the continent.
Previous challenges have included: "Automate the review of OHADA-compliant commercial contracts," "Build a real-time compliance tracker for ECOWAS regulatory changes," and "Design a credit scoring algorithm for rural microfinance applicants." The tools that emerge from these events are not demos. They are production-ready systems that have been adopted by law firms and banks across Africa.
Hours to build, deploy, and win
Past editions that changed the game.
JQ001 Hackathon
CompletedLagos, Nigeria · 2025
The first-ever pan-African legal-tech hackathon. 42 teams from 12 countries converged on Lagos.
Winner: Team ClauseMasters
A Python-based contract comparison tool that reduced review time by 60%.
JQ002 Hackathon
CompletedNairobi, Kenya · 2026
Our second edition. Focused on AI for microfinance and SME lending across East Africa.
Winner: Team Kijiji AI
A Swahili-language NLP model that converts voice notes into structured loan applications.
“The tools that emerge from these events are not demos. They are production-ready systems.”
JQ003 is coming.
The theme for JQ003 is "Legal AI for the Informal Economy."We will be tackling the hardest challenges facing Africa's 80% informal workforce—from microfinance to property rights to mobile money disputes.
The challenge will be unveiled at the opening ceremony. No hints. No prep. Just raw problem-solving across 48 hours. The winning team will receive a grand prize of $10,000 and automatic entry into the JQ Red Team.
Grand prize for the winning team
“Every winner is fast-tracked for membership into JuriQuants.”
The next generation of legal tech is waiting.
Applications for JQ003 open in September. If you are a builder, a lawyer, or a disruptor—you should be here.