Run a legal hackathon
Create climate-aligned legal content through collaborative hackathons
About this playbook
This playbook helps you plan and run a legal hackathon – a collaborative, fast-paced event for discussing and creating legal content, inspired by the tech world. Use legal hackathons to:
- Create new climate and nature-aligned clauses
- Adapt TCLP’s existing legal content (for example, localising corporate governance documentation to a specific jurisdiction)
- Map legal risks and dependencies.
Why we’re sharing our methods. Since 2019, we’ve built an open-source library of climate-aligned legal content. But this is only part of our story. The approaches we use to create, test, and maintain our content are equally valuable. We’re democratising the knowledge of how to create high-quality, ambitious legal tools that drive decarbonisation and nature action.
Principles and practices
Creating impactful legal content requires co-developing tools and resources that drive real climate and nature action. These principles, practices and templates are intentionally flexible to help you run a successful legal hackathon – tailor them to your specific goals and audience.
Know what you’re hacking
Be clear about what you want to create. Decide your outputs and outcomes in advance, for example, a batch of clauses, a process map, or a new concept.
Start with a clear purpose or challenge. This keeps participants creative and focused. For example, “Create climate-aligned clauses to reduce supply chain emissions” is a stronger starting point than “Explore sustainability in law.”
Reflections
- In July 2025, we ran a hackathon on embedding climate risk into everyday commercial legal practice. This involved:
- Listing key climate risks in a range of practice areas, from supply chains to mergers and acquisitions
- Mapping possible legal consequences and identifying practical tools, clauses, and strategies to manage those risks.
- Using the hackathon outputs, we created a set of Climate Risk Toolkits to help legal professionals manage these risks and navigate their professional duties.
Know your users
Create legal content with a specific user or audience in mind. Ask questions like:
- Who will use this content or concept?
- What are their needs?
- What problems will you solve for them? What opportunities are you unlocking for scalable climate and nature impact?
Use our content needs assessment template to help understand your users.
| Question | Response | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| What climate challenge, risk or opportunity does this address? | ||
| Who are the primary intended users? | ||
| What similar content already exists? How might we avoid duplicated efforts? | ||
| What specific outcomes could this achieve? | ||
| What barriers might prevent adoption? | ||
| What resources or support will users need? |
Incorporate design thinking
Structure hackathons around the design thinking process. A common framework is the Double Diamond, which includes four key steps: discover, define, develop, and deliver.
First, explore the problem space (diverge), then focus on solutions (converge). This typically involves generating ideas during discussion-based exercises before creating and refining content.
Design for collaboration and openness
Include multiple perspectives and create an environment where all participants, not just legal professionals, feel safe to share ideas, ask questions, and build on each other’s thinking. Ensure facilitators are prepped and in the room to answer questions, clarify tasks, and guide discussions.
A collaborative environment also includes your choice of technology. For example, use platforms like Google Docs for collaborative working and future content iterations.
Gamify and go analogue
Use short, sharp bursts of activity. Keep sessions time-boxed and focused to maintain energy and momentum. Use tools like visible agendas, countdown timers and music to keep things moving.
Use a mix of low-tech tools, for example slides with discussion prompts, worksheet templates, and post-it note exercises. Digital tools like Large Language Models (LLMs) are useful for researching, generating, and iterating content quickly.
These methods encourage experimentation and help participants move quickly from abstract ideas to tangible outputs.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good
Aim for progress, not perfection. Encourage “good enough for now” outputs.
The goal is usable prototypes that can evolve. Quality will come from future iterations and peer review processes.
Create a wow moment
Bring participants together to share and celebrate what they created. This could be a gallery walk, report-back sessions, or a full review of all submitted work.
End with a quick retrospective or reflection to capture what worked well and what could be improved for future events. You can also create and circulate a survey.
Templates
Template 1: Embedding climate risk into legal practice – hackathon session plan
| Description | Tasks and notes |
| Welcome & registration | Housekeeping and general welcome |
| Opening presentation | Opening presentation on the climate challenge and the role of legal professionals (for example, prevalence of climate risk or consequences of real climate events) |
| Introduction to the task | Introduce the worksheet Define the focus (for example, physical risks and transition risks) |
| Group formation | Ask participants to self-select groups based on expertise, practice area, or passion |
| Task 1: risks (identify the problem) | Direct groups to identify 3-5 main climate risks that affect their chosen practice area/transaction |
| Task 2: consequences (explore the impact) | Direct groups to explain the consequences and legal implications that flow from the identified risk (for example, risks, duties, liabilities, operational disruption) |
| Stakeholder presentation | Short presentation on climate risk and relevant internal and external stakeholders involved in risk management |
| Task 3: stakeholder mapping | Direct groups to consider who needs buy-in and who, apart from the client/lawyer, is affected by the consequences of the risk |
| Task 4: risk management checklist | Define practical steps, tools, drafting, or strategies lawyers can use to manage these risks (for example, climate-aware due diligence, specific warranties, indemnities) |
| Reflections & wrap-up | Volunteer from each group reflects on their production (max 1 minute). Signpost participants to next steps (for example, joining the community or a follow-up course) |
| “Wow moment” | Direct everyone to share their final worksheets (for example, pinning them on a wall or posting them digitally) to reflect on the collective achievement |
Template 2: Creating climate-aligned legal content – hackathon worksheet
| Section | Focus area |
| Challenge | What climate and legal issue are we addressing? (for example, climate risk in supply chains, resilience in construction contracts) |
| Application | What existing TCLP clauses, legal content, relevant policy, regulation or market practice influenced this? What real-world contract type (for example, procurement, M&A transaction) is this for? |
| Problem framing | Who are the stakeholders affected? What specific behaviour or risk needs changing? What are the potential barriers to adoption (commercial, legal, cultural)? |
| Drafting sandbox | Plain language draft text of the clause or solution |
| Commentary | What does the content do? Who are the primary users and what are their needs? What practical effect will it have on climate outcomes (for example, reduced scope 3 emissions)? |
| Risk and opportunities | Explore and list the climate-related legal risks and opportunities |
| Next steps | What refinements are needed post-hackathon? Who is responsible for what? |