Slaughter and May announces winner of 2025 Student Innovation Competition

Slaughter and May is pleased to announce the winner of its 2025 Student Innovation Competition, which challenged students to design a generative AI training programme for legal professionals.

This year’s winner is Sebastian Kot, an Engineering student from City, St George’s University of London, who developed a web-based legal AI skills training platform. The platform is tailored to the user’s learning needs and includes a unique feature – an AI-generated podcast to support each user’s learning journey. The judges were impressed by ‘the originality of the concept, the functionality of the prototype, and the integration of personalised AI-powered elements’.

Sebastian will receive a £1,000 prize and a work placement with the firm’s Client and Practice Solutions team in summer 2025.

Zahwa Asad Shaikh, a Global Development and Politics student at SOAS University of London, was awarded second place for a comprehensive prototype of a web-based platform offering training on ethics and AI in law, smart contracts, and legal research, with built-in quizzes, case studies and course tracking.

Third place went to Thenushaa Ratnasapapathy, a Law student at Queen Mary University of London, who created an educational video game that teaches users about real-life use cases for generative AI in legal practice, combining learning and entertainment in’ a highly original way’.

The judges also awarded Henry Miller, a Law student at Durham University, a Highly Commended Entry. Henry designed a sophisticated AI training platform for legal professionals, featuring interactive modules, hands-on exercises, and real-world case studies.

Emma Walton, Senior Client and Practice Solutions Manager said, “The quality and range of submissions this year were truly impressive. We received a remarkable variety of formats – from video games and animated explainers to podcast-generating platforms and interactive web apps. Many students went beyond simply proposing ideas, building functional prototypes and web-based tools powered by generative AI. The creativity and thoughtfulness shown across the board made it extremely difficult to select winners. It was a powerful reminder of the transformative potential of generative AI, not only in legal practice but also in the way we develop and share ideas.”

The 2025 competition attracted around 70 entries from students at a wide range of universities, reflecting the growing interest in the intersection between law, innovation, and technology.