Held at Matheson’s Dublin office in March, the competition encouraged university students to explore the numerous opportunities for law firms to innovate and transform in the future, and was designed to identify students who strive to achieve purpose and deliver change for Ireland’s future legal landscape.

Students from different universities across Ireland were invited to submit a four-minute video as a team, choosing between two topics:

• “How far should the law go to protect children and vulnerable people from harmful content online, while allowing platforms to be as user friendly as possible?”; or
• “How can society ensure Artificial Intelligence is deployed for the benefit of all and not just certain groups?”

From over 180 entries, a shortlist of five teams were invited to present their proposal to a panel of judges comprising Carlo Salizzo, partner in Matheson’s technology and innovation group; Kyle Gribben, head of the Matheson digital services group; and guest judge Maebh Earlie, senior corporate counsel at Indeed.

The winning team of Esther Ozonyia, Johana Hajduchová, Ainsley Hamilton and Anastasiia Ukhlova were each awarded a place on Matheson’s summer internship programme, in addition to a team cash prize of €5,000.