The winners for the second annual American Legal Technology Awards (ALTA) have been announced. This competition was established in 2020 to recognize and honor exceptional achievements within the legal technology sector.
For the 2021 awards, the competition expanded its recognition to include a runner up and an honorable mention in each category. A series of videos highlighting the winners in each category will be published on the ALTA website. The categories and their respective recipients are detailed below.
2021 American Legal Technology Awards Recipients
| Award Category | Winner | Runner Up | Honorable Mention |
| Access to Justice | Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico | Michele Pistone, professor of law, Villanova University | Ben Carter, senior litigation and advocacy counsel, Kentucky Equal Justice Center |
| Court | Justice Deno Himonas, Utah Supreme Court | Judge Clemens Landau, presiding judge, Salt Lake City Justice Court | David Slayton, vice president of court consulting services, National Center for State Courts |
| Enterprise | InCloudCounsel (rebranding as Ontra) | Priori Legal | Neota Logic |
| Individual | Glenn Rawdon, program counsel for technology, Legal Services Corporation | Jennifer Mendez, director of knowledge management innovation, Fisher Phillips | David Wang, chief innovation officer, Wilson Sonsini |
| Law Department | UpWork | Startup Legal Garage | VillageMD |
| Law Firm | Fisher Phillips | Lauren Sturdivant, founder, Rising Tide Law | Sam McAllister, director of litigation technology, Lightfoot Franklin & White |
| Startup | Clearbrief | Athennian | https://www.google.com/search?q=SettleForFree.com |
| Technology | Unicourt | Embedded expungement project, Lawyaw | Filevine |
Competition Overview
The competition garnered a substantial number of submissions, receiving 184 nominations across the eight distinct categories. This field of contenders was subsequently narrowed down to 24 finalists.
Tom Martin, cofounder of the awards and CEO of LawDroid, commented on the high quality of the entries. In correspondence with Human&Legal, Martin stated, “The caliber of finalists this year was superb and the awards competition was tight. All finalists were standouts in their categories and it goes without saying that all should be very proud of their achievement.”
The final selection of winners was determined by a panel of judges, whose names are available for review on the official ALTA site.
