Agami Work Areas for Volunteers

Updated May 26, 2020

Volunteer​ | A person that actively takes on a task, responsibility, or project on his or her own
accord without needing to be assigned, ordered, or told to do so.

Please refer to the initiatives and work areas below, and​ fill this form​ to indicate your
areas of interest and help us understand how we can work together

Priority Initiatives
Catalyzing Online Dispute Resolution
Disputes are a healthy part of a functioning society, but our current means of dispute
resolution, most notably the courts, are not able to adequately serve our needs. Even as we
work to improve the courts, we need expedient, trustworthy and collaborative mechanisms of
alternate dispute resolution (ADR) that can be done online. This initiative was founded in
December 2018 to catalyze the development of the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) field
by accelerating startups, creating demand amongst business, society and government, and
unlocking resources of all types. Its mission is to resolve 1 million disputes via ODR by
January 26, 2022.

Please read more here - ​www.agami.in/odr

Realizing the Digital Future of Courts

Digital courts: courts that leverage technology to simplify and reengineer process, build
strong foundational digital capabilities, and improve efficiency, access and sustainability, are
critical now more than ever before. Specifically, digital courts can catalyse a judicial system
that is more inclusive, open, and intuitive for the user. Agami is a part of the Supreme Court
E-Court committee to develop and implement the roadmap for the continued evolution of
our courts.

Unlocking the Power of Data in Law and Justice

Access to open and actionable justice data has the potential to revolutionize legal research,
legal services, reporting, policymaking, advocacy efforts, and provision of services to a wide
range of actors. Datasets created by universities, civil society organizations, researchers,
courts, prisons, tribunals, and other public authorities have the potential to empower various
users to explore, leverage, and contextualize the same datasets differently. Agami’s Data for
Justice initiative was founded in June 2019 to catalyze a data-driven future in law and justice
by (i) championing the Open Data Pledge, (ii) catalyzing data and technology Commons for
justice, (iii) advocating for open data with government authorities, and (iv) unlocking
resources of all types.
Please read more here - ​www.agami.in/d4j

Work Areas in Catalyzing Online Dispute

Resolution
● Research Projects
○ Researching and identifying business sectors and dispute categories most
suitable for ODR
○ Data-led research to identify the kind of cases courts and tribunals are under
most stress for and evaluate their fit with Online Dispute Resolution.
○ Data-led research to capture money, time and relationships saved by
resolving disputes through ODR
○ Research on the reasons for settlement, and lack of settlement in cases that
go through ODR
○ Research on ways in which technology innovations are assisting negotiation,
mediation and arbitration online eg. data solutions, depersonalization etc.

● Sector Outreach
○ Increasing business sector literacy on ODR by personal outreach
○ Identifying and leveraging key channels to engage business
○ Identifying social sector use cases for ODR application and developing
suitable service and business models

● Public Writing
○ Writing about ODR in industry-specific channels
○ Oped pieces on ODR for different dispute categories
○ Documenting ODR impact in creative ways

● Event Support
○ Outreach to participants
○ Developing pre-event materials
○ Running events such as webinars, closed room online meetings and
innovator exchanges

● Direct Support to ODR Startups

○ Marketing writing
○ Data gathering
○ Training to be Online Mediators & Arbitrators
 ● Building and sustaining Autonomy, a 100+ growing Telegram
community of ODR entrepreneurs, catalysts and people interest in
moving ODR forward
○ Sharing interesting news updates
○ Profiling the work of members
○ Other creative ideas!

Work Areas in Realizing the Digital Future of

Courts
● Research Projects
○ Studying specific laws, regulations and court specific processes that will be
need to considered while moving towards Digital Courts
○ Global lessons and experiences in moving towards digital courts
○ Identifying and reviewing existing technologies, protocols and design that can
be leveraged

● Outreach & Data Collection

○ Interviewing and speaking to users (judges, lawyers, registry, litigants) to get
their perspectives and feedback on solutions
○ 1Identifying potential collaborators for Digital Courts
○ Undertaking surveys needed from time to time

● Communication & Writing

○ Drafting reports and documents needed from time to time
○ Developing communication materials to communicate ongoing and planned
efforts
○ Writing or ghostwriting articles on digital courts for the public
○ Evolving creative strategies for communication

Work Areas in Unlocking the Power of Legal Data

● Research Projects
○ Find more data-driven justice-related research projects (eg. ​IDP​ on Aarogya
Setu)
 ○ Support organization in scrapping and maintaining data (RTI, NCRB etc.) -
someone with some tech skills will best fit into the role
○ Catalogue open datasets and tools that can be applied in India to train AI/ML
solutions building off justice data
○ Examples of successful incentive building for greater sharing of data and
technology

● Peer Support
○ Organizing peer learning webinars for early adopters of the ​Justice Hub

● Writing & Communication

○ Drafting grant proposals for the Justice Hub
○ Writing articles on how legal data can unlock valuable new products and
services
○ Writing data-driven articles on how access to legal data and sharing of data
and tools has helped accelerate Justice-related and other sectoral initiatives
○ Support creating better social media creatives for Justice Hub marketing

Work Areas in Agami Prize 2020:

The Agami Prize recognises ideas that reshape the experience of justice in India. These are
innovations and initiatives that create new possibilities for increasing effectiveness, access
and inclusion in our systems of justice delivery. They find new ways to look at old problems
and how to solve them for the good of all. The biennial Prize, conceived in 2018, serves to
support and catalyse such ideas in 3 categories - Industry, Citizenship and Idea - through a
network of highly regarded institutions in social innovation, business and tech. It invites
participation from across sectors, be it health, education or the arts, as long as the idea
serves to fulfill the purpose of accessing justice in India.

● Sourcing and outreach

○ To innovators and changemakers in Tier1 and Tier2 cities, as potential
applicants. Reaching out to organisations (business, CSO, media) and
universities (law++) for the same.
○ Search and selection for innovations happening by the system - govt - courts
etc.

● Marketing
○ Help social media team with campaign: content writing skills; design skills
○ Come on board as a Communications Consultant - to generate ideas on the
fly to maximise outreach for the prize and increase nominations
○ Manage partnerships with outreach partners, journalists and media partners
 ○ Storytelling and knowledge capture to be shared through blog posts and
social media threads

● Research
○ Help build Agamiscape 2.0 (here is a ​link​ to Agamiscape 1.0) - a landscape
study of innovations in the field of law and justice in India.

Work Areas in (soon to be launched) Pioneer

Circle/AgamiShaala:
This is a soon to be launched initiative at Agami that seeks to curate a learning journey for
innovators and entrepreneurs that will build capacity and further enable their leadership. The
disruptions caused by COIVD19 have necessitated that leaders recognise and identify what
could be their potential blindspots so that they may work towards better more inclusive
solutions. An understanding of the whole ecosystem is a step towards that and this journey
facilitated by expert mentors will help them see the whole, and lead for the future.

● Research & Design of the Journey

- Help in speaking to relevant stakeholders on the content and design for the
journey.
- Ideate journey and outcomes.
- Work on the curation of participants and mentors.
- Assist with relevant communication.