Family Law App Wins Legal Innovation Tournament
6.16.2026
A “FamilyShield” app that would aid parents trying to collect child support payments won the Legal Innovation Tournament at Hofstra’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law and Fred DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science.
The app helps a single parent combine tracking, document generation, and evidence collection. It is targeted at serving middle-income adults who make too much money to qualify for legal aid and too little to afford representation.
The tournament was sponsored by the New York State Bar Association’s Commercial and Federal Litigation and Dispute Resolution sections, Bond Schoeneck and King, and the Center for Justice Innovation. The American Arbitration Association and the alternative dispute resolution service JAMS also donated to the $3,500 prize for the winning team.
The judges, which included New York State Bar Association President Taa Grays, chose the Suffolk Law School team’s design from 18 entries representing 11 law schools in five states and the District of Columbia.
The goal of the interdisciplinary tournament, now in its fifth year, is to develop apps that help serve the underrepresented and change the face of dispute resolution. Law students work with lawyers who practice dispute resolution and computer science students to develop their apps.
One of Grays’ initiatives for her term is improving the Family Court experience for lawyers and litigants.
“Apps like FamilyShield are the kind of innovation that we need to help parents navigate a confusing Family Court system. I was so impressed with the law students! They were using their understanding of the law, technical skill, and ingenuity to develop a resource to help parents navigate the legal system,” Grays said.
The creative team behind FamilyShield is Akila Narayanan, Kaneza Kadambaya, and Alisson Abourjeili.
“When you are ready for legal representation, FamilyShield connects you directly with vetted family law attorneys in your state – who already have your organized case file waiting for them. No messy intake calls, no starting from scratch,” the team said in its presentation.
NYSBA Committee on Technology and the Legal Profession chair Mark Berman is a founder and co-chair of the National Legal Innovation Tournament.
“The tournament gives law students the opportunity to use their newly learned legal skills, when technology is applied, to help solve everyday problems for the ordinary citizen,” said Berman. “With technology changing every day, it is the role of young lawyer to harness technology in their practice of law, and the Innovation Tournament provides them with such an opportunity.”
The other judges for the tournament were:
- Christine Sisario, director of technology for the New York State Office of Court Administration.
- Mark Beloborodov, member of Bond, Schoeneck and King.
- Etia Rottman Frand, vice president of litigation partnerships at Darrow.
- Courtney Bryan, executive director and CEO of the Center for Justice Innovation.
- Lawrence K. Marks, former Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York.
