NuLawLab

What NuLawLab does

NuLawLab is the interdisciplinary innovation laboratory embedded within Northeastern University School of Law, founded in 2013 and directed by Dan Jackson since inception. Its mission is to apply art, design, and technology to legal-empowerment work — translating legal complexity into accessible tools and experiences for self-represented parties, communities facing housing displacement, veterans, LGBTQ+ individuals navigating adult adoption, and other historically marginalized populations. The lab operates through co-design, co-creation, and participatory design methodologies, positioning end-user community members as the most important team members.

Its product portfolio is project-based rather than a single unified platform. Named products include the smartphone-based RePresent Games for simulating legal proceedings (built with Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut), the Colorado Virtual Courthouse interactive web simulation (launched January 2022 with Colorado Legal Services and HELM Studio, funded by a 2020 LSC-TIG grant), the MAPLE legislative-testimony platform (launched April 2023 with Code for Boston), the Veteran Caseworkers Triage Platform hosted on PTLA's Stateside Legal site, the Boston Housing Support Stations / Stable Ground initiative, the East Boston Spatial Justice Lab, the Mapping Historical Racial Violence interactive visualization (300+ incidents), the Inconvenient Human Rights interactive map of 80+ Roma evictions in Sweden, and the Smart Human Rights Cities AI-governance framework (launched July 2025). Pedagogically, it delivers a JD x Graduate Certificate in Legal Design, a Master Class, a Laboratory Seminar, Residencies & Fellowships, and paid co-op placements through Northeastern.

The business model is non-commercial. NuLawLab generates no product or service revenue; operating capital comes from external grants (Legal Services Corporation Technology Initiative Grants in 2016 and 2020; two rounds of Kresge Foundation Arts & Culture funding, the second disclosed at $250,000 in January 2020; a $150,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant in FY2023; Northeastern University Tier 1 Grants in 2014, 2019, and 2020) plus individual donations routed through Northeastern's giving portal and in-kind institutional support from the School of Law. Core staff consists of three named employees (Executive Director Dan Jackson, Creative Director Jules Rochielle Sievert, and Project Manager Stephen Evans) supplemented by faculty directors, an advisory board, and student co-op placements.

Name

NuLawLab

Legal name

NuLawLab

Website

https://nulawlab.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NuLawLab is the interdisciplinary innovation laboratory at Northeastern University School of Law that co-designs art, design, and technology tools — including serious games, interactive simulations, and civic-tech platforms — to advance legal empowerment for self-represented parties and marginalized communities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Design & Empowerment Services

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Legal Services (5411), Software Publishers (51321)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAHAIAE

Online / Hybrid Law Schools & Programs

Education/Higher Education (Colleges & Universities)/Law Schools

SECONDARYBPAEAPAI

Policy Management, Training & Ethics/Whistleblowing

Business & Public Services/IT & Digital Services (Managed Services, Systems Integration)/Governance, Risk, Compliance (GRC) & Legal Tech

SECONDARYEDAGANAK

Legal & Governance Professional Development

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Professional Development & Training Materials

SECONDARYMPACALAI

Certification & Credentialed Creator Programs

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Digital Media & Content Platforms (Online Video, Podcasts, Creators)/Online Learning Content Platforms (Creator-Led Courses)

Keywords

• Legal design services
• Legal empowerment tools
• Civic technology platforms
• Community legal research
• Interdisciplinary design research

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Grants from foundations and government programs: Primary funding comes from external grants including Legal Services Corporation Technology Initiative Grants (LSC-TIG, e.g., 2016 and 2020), The Kresge Foundation Arts & Culture program (two rounds for Stable Ground), the National Endowment for the Arts (2023 NEA grant of $150,000), Northeastern University Tier 1 Grants (2019, 2020), and Raoul Wallenberg Institute research funding.
2. Donations (Northeastern University giving page): A "Donate" CTA on the website routes contributions through Northeastern University's giving platform to the "Nulawlab Fund" (profile 211), functioning as charitable giving rather than commercial sales.
3. Institutional support from Northeastern University School of Law: Operates as the interdisciplinary innovation laboratory embedded within Northeastern University School of Law, which provides faculty directors, faculty advisor participation (e.g., Profs. Martha Davis, Emily Spieler, Miso Kim), and infrastructure such as Dockser Hall space, 360 Huntington Avenue.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

NuLawLab is the interdisciplinary innovation laboratory at Northeastern University School of Law that co-designs, builds, and deploys research-backed tools, interactive simulations, civic technology platforms, and educational programs to make legal systems more accessible and to empower self-represented parties and marginalized communities. Outputs are produced in partnership with legal aid organizations, courts, technologists, artists, and community groups, and are distributed free to end users via the web and partner organizations.

Product overview

NuLawLab is not a conventional SaaS product company but rather an interdisciplinary innovation laboratory at Northeastern University School of Law that produces a portfolio of distinct community-engagement and legal-design products. Its core offering is structured around four engagement channels — research projects, educational programs (Legal Design JD x Graduate Certificate, Master Class, Laboratory Seminar, Residencies and Fellowships, Independent Study, and Co-op), publications/podcasts, and partner-driven practice. The portfolio of named products is project-based and includes interactive civic technology platforms (MAPLE, Colorado Virtual Courthouse, Veteran Caseworkers Triage Platform on Stateside Legal), serious-game learning tools (RePresent Games), community-deployment programs (Boston Housing Support Stations / Stable Ground, East Boston Spatial Justice Lab), research/policy deliverables (Smart Human Rights Cities, Risking Justice, Boston Desegregation Archive, Mapping Historical Racial Violence, Inconvenient Human Rights, This Land, Improving Access to Adult Adoptions in Massachusetts, Legal Access in Urban India, Redesigning Housing Court, Domestic Violence COVID-19 Rapid Response, Time To Vote), and educational or experiential artifacts (Fight Displacement! board game and the ...first in thought, then in action. ICA collaboration). These products are typically produced in partnership with community organizations, courts, technologists, and other academic units at Northeastern, and are released as standalone tools or prototypes rather than as modules of a single unified platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 100+ eviction-defense cases handled by first cohort of law student volunteers at Boston Housing Support Stations
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments8 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability2 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

38 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerNuLawLab is the interdisciplinary innovation laboratory embedded within Northeastern University School of Law; NUSL provides the institutional home, faculty directors (Martha Davis, Emily Spieler, Miso Kim), classroom space, and course/program infrastructure. The lab offers NUSL students the JD x Graduate Certificate in Legal Design, Laboratory Seminar, Master Class, Residencies & Fellowships, Independent Studies, and co-op placements.
• City of Boston Office of Housing StabilitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developer on the Stable Ground initiative and the Boston Housing Support Stations. Stable Ground embedded artists, legal designers, and trauma experts into community settings to inform OHS services. The Boston Housing Support Stations introduced "housing stability stations" across Boston neighborhoods during the COVID-19 crisis.
• Violence TransformedcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCross-sector collaborator on the Stable Ground initiative addressing the relationship between chronic housing insecurity, psychological trauma, and municipal housing policy through community-based art and cultural programming.
• Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developer of the Mapping Historical Racial Violence project (300+ incidents), which is used in CRRJ restorative-justice trainings in Massachusetts and the U.S. South. CRRJ is also a partner on the Time to Vote election research project.
• NULab for Texts, Maps, and NetworkscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerText-and-network-analysis collaboration partner on the Mapping Historical Racial Violence interactive map and co-led by David Lazer (Advisory Board member).
• Khoury College of Computer Sciences (Northeastern)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCross-school collaborator on the Risking Justice interdisciplinary examination of automated decision-making algorithms in the U.S. criminal justice system (2020 Tier 1 Grant).
• College of Arts, Media and Design (CAMD), Northeastern UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHouses the Design Director Dr. Miso Kim; provides the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. and graduate programs that connect with NuLawLab's pedagogy and design-research output. Dr. Sievert's doctorate on Transformative Transdisciplinary Legal Design was earned through CAMD.
• Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI), Lund UniversityflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-authored the 2016 "Inconvenient Human Rights" report on evictions of Roma in Sweden; the NuLawLab built the interactive map displaying 80+ evictions and linked documents. Faculty Director Martha Davis is now an affiliated scholar of RWI.
• Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut (SLSCT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term collaborator funded by LSC-TIG that produced the RePresent Games smartphone applications for self-represented parties; the games are accessible via representgames.org.
• Colorado Legal Services (CLS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developer of the Colorado Virtual Courthouse (launched January 2022) along with HELM Studio; funded by a 2020 LSC-TIG grant. The interactive web-based simulation is publicly available at coloradovirtualcourthouse.org.
• HELM StudiocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesign partner with Colorado Legal Services and NuLawLab on the Colorado Virtual Courthouse interactive web-based simulation.
• Pine Tree Legal Assistance (PTLA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-developer (via 2016 LSC-TIG grant) of the Veteran Caseworkers Triage Platform, hosted on PTLA's Stateside Legal website to link veterans and caseworkers to the right legal services nationally.
• Code for BostoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on MAPLE (Massachusetts Platform for Legislative Engagement), the free platform for submitting and reading testimony of Massachusetts legislation, available at mapletestimony.org.
• IDEOcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerDesign consultancy partner on the early design investigation for Redesigning Housing Court in partnership with the Massachusetts Trial Court.
• April De Simone / Designing the WEminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner on the This Land cross-collaborative initiative to redefine land use and tenure in communities across the United States through participatory design.
• Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) BostoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner on the "...first in thought, then in action" engagement, which produced the Fight Displacement! trivia board game and ICA-based community workshops on housing displacement.
• Anthony Romero (artist)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal artist and Tufts/SMFA faculty member who collaborated on the "...first in thought, then in action" engagement and ICA Boston exhibit on migration through the lens of contemporary art.
• Quadrant 2 (social good app developer)coreTechnology or IntegrationApp-development partner on the Domestic Violence COVID-19 Rapid Response (Jotto for secure client documentation) and on the Time to Vote mobile application.
• Suffolk Law School LIT Lab (Suffolk LIT Lab)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner on the Domestic Violence COVID-19 Rapid Response for digitally automated court form generation and filing (Document Assembly Line Project).
• Maverick Landing Community ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosted the first Boston Housing Support Station / Eviction Defense Terminal in East Boston, providing laptops, printers, and access to legal tools for residents facing eviction. Also a co-collaborator on the East Boston Spatial Justice Lab.
• City Life Vida UrbanaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition partner on the Boston Housing Support Stations to fight displacement and eviction during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
• Eastie Mutual AidminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition partner on the Boston Housing Support Stations in East Boston.
• Ropes & Gray LLPminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerLegal industry partner providing pro-bono support on the Boston Housing Support Stations coalition.
• Runcible StudiosminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesign partner (Marilyn Moedinger is Founding Principal and NuLawLab Advisory Board Chair) supporting the Boston Housing Support Stations and Stable Ground initiatives.
• Tufts University / School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition partner on the Boston Housing Support Stations, providing academic and creative capacity for the cross-sector response.
• Connecticut Legal Help (ctlawhelp.org)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed partner on NuLawLab's Our Partners page as part of the broader legal-aid ecosystem serving self-represented parties.
• Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal user-friendly justice partner recognized NuLawLab's RePresent Games as a finalist for the 2014 Innovative Idea Award.
• Massachusetts Court SystemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCourt-system partner on the Redesigning Housing Court investigation with IDEO and the Massachusetts Trial Court.
• New Hampshire Legal Aid (LARC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed partner on the Our Partners page as part of the regional legal-aid network.
• New Haven Legal Assistance (NHLegal)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed partner on the Our Partners page as part of the regional legal-aid network.
• Massachusetts Legal Help (masslegalhelp.org)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed partner on the Our Partners page as part of the Massachusetts legal self-help ecosystem.
• Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy (PHRGE), NortheasterncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternal Northeastern program co-directed by Faculty Director Martha Davis; co-collaborator on Time to Vote and human rights research projects.
• Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration (CPIAC), NortheasterncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternal Northeastern center co-collaborator on Time to Vote and other civic engagement research.
• Studio REVminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreative partner listed on the Our Partners page as part of the design and arts ecosystem.
• CLVUminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization listed on the Our Partners page within the Massachusetts legal services network.
• Mutual Aid Eastie (mutualaideastie.org)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMutual aid partner listed on the Our Partners page, supporting community-based work in East Boston.
• Boston Research Center (BRC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint collaborator on the 2018 Boston Desegregation Archive project with the Northeastern University Archives and NuLawLab, exploring archival materials at the center of major Boston race-equity legal cases.
• Margaret Hagan (Open Law Lab)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLegal design pioneer invited via the Givelber Lecture series to lead a two-week intensive with NUSL students in 2016, informing the evolution of the Lab Seminar.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Legal Aid Design Lab: Stanford-affiliated legal design research lab founded by Margaret Hagan (who lectured at NuLawLab via the Givelber Lecture series). Operates at the same intersection of law, design, and access to justice, producing user-centered legal information tools, guides, and curricula for self-represented litigants.
• Suffolk LIT Lab: Document-assembly and access-to-justice technology lab at Suffolk University Law School that collaborates directly with NuLawLab (e.g., Domestic Violence COVID-19 Rapid Response). Focuses on document automation for pro se litigants using the A2J Author platform—highly overlapping mission and methodology.
• HiiL (Hague Institute for Innovation of Law): Global justice-innovation organization based in The Hague that recognized NuLawLab's RePresent Games as a finalist for its 2014 Innovative Idea Award. Both organizations prioritize user-friendly justice and design-driven innovation in legal services, with overlapping funder ecosystems (HiiL convenes global innovators).
• Stanford CodeX (Stanford Center for Legal Informatics): Academic legal-informatics center at Stanford Law School exploring how technology can transform legal practice and access to justice. Comparable as an academic-law-school-based innovation hub with cross-disciplinary research, though broader in scope (commercial legal tech, blockchain, AI) than NuLawLab's access-to-justice focus.

Others

• Pro Bono Net: National nonprofit that builds technology tools (LawHelp, HotDocs, others) and runs programs supporting civil legal aid for low-income communities. Shares NuLawLab's access-to-justice orientation but is a larger, more established service-delivery organization rather than an academic lab.
• American Bar Association Center for Innovation: The ABA's innovation arm advancing technology and new models in legal services delivery. Shares the legal-innovation agenda but operates from inside the professional bar rather than as an academic or community-embedded lab.

Emerging players

• Center for Justice Innovation: NYC-based nonprofit focused on criminal-justice and community-justice innovation, including court redesign, alternatives to incarceration, and community-based programs. Overlaps with NuLawLab's court-redesign work (e.g., Redesigning Housing Court) and Risking Justice algorithm research, though more focused on criminal justice specifically.
• Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII): Academic publisher of open legal information including statutes, case law, and the Wex legal encyclopedia. Comparable as a law-school-based producer of public legal information tools, though primarily text-based rather than design-driven interactive tools.

Broad incumbents

• Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI): Established legal-education technology nonprofit hosting eLangdell casebooks and the A2J Author document-automation platform used by legal-aid organizations. Comparable in mission (legal tech for access to justice) but operates at much broader scale and longer history than NuLawLab.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NuLawLab
• Facebookfacebook.com/nulawlab
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/julesrochielle

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NuLawLab