LLMthon Legal 2026: the event where legal talent and AI have come together
As we announced a few weeks ago, the LLMthon Legal 2026 has become a reality. The competition, organised in collaboration with the research team of the Citcom.ai project at the University of Valencia, was finally held from 13th to 18th February, culminating on the 19th with a day dedicated entirely to AI applied to the legal sector, and was a complete success.
As we already explained, this was conceived as a legal hackathon focused on the use of Large Language Models (LLMs), and it proposed an ambitious challenge: to apply the potential of Artificial Intelligence and Data Intelligence to solving real legal problems posed by leading firms in the sector.
Real legal challenges and AI-based solutions
For five days, the participating teams worked intensively on challenges provided by Grant Thornton, Varona Legal & Numbers, and Andersen Tax & Legal. These were not simulated academic exercises, but cases with real-world implications that required legal rigour, critical thinking, and strategic integration of LLM-based tools.
In a limited amount of time, the teams analysed the documentation provided, designed working methodologies based on language models, and developed innovative solutions that were subsequently evaluated by a panel of experts from the legal and technology sectors. According to the panel members themselves, the high standard of the proposals submitted demonstrated not only the technical capabilities of the participants, but also the real potential of AI as a tool to support legal reasoning.
A seminar dedicated to AI applied to the legal sector
As a grand conclusion to this competition, a conference dedicated to Artificial Intelligence applied to the legal domain was held on Thursday 19th in the Auditorium of the Faculty of Law of the University of Valencia (Tarongers Campus), which explored this growing synergy between AI and the field of law in greater depth.
The programme included:
- An institutional opening ceremony led by Nuria Martínez Sanchís, Regional Councillor for Justice, Transparency and Participation of the Valencian Regional Government (Generalitat Valenciana), José Francisco Ortiz Navarro, senior prosecutor of the Valencian Community Prosecutor's Office, Clara Viana Ballester, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Valencia, Grisel Giunta Santimoteo, Justice Manager and Head of the Legal Tech & AI Chair at Minsait, and ‘our’ Rafael Magdalena Benedicto, Director of the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Valencia, and also Lead Researcher on our team.
- Round tables and debates on the impact of AI on the Legaltech ecosystem and the current situation of AI in the legal sector and its future prospects. These featured the participation of multiple experts from the sector, among whom we must undoubtedly highlight ‘our’ Emilio Soria, as Professor at ETSE-UV specialising in AI, researcher in our team and one of the main people involved in organising this conference.
- Announcement of the winning teams for the various challenges set.
- Presentation of the solutions developed by the winning teams.
- An institutional closing ceremony led by Rafael Sebastián, Director General of Science and Research at the GVA, Emilio Soria, Rafael Miramón, Director of the Minsait-UV Chair of Legaltech & AI, and José Luis Bosch, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law at the UV.
Beyond the competitive aspect, the event served as a space for collective reflection on how the practice of law is changing in the era of foundational models.
A gathering point for universities, businesses and innovation
In fact, the Legal LLMthon has not been conceived solely as a one-off competition, but rather as a space where universities, businesses and technological innovation come together each year to rethink the practice of law in the age of artificial intelligence. Our participation in coordinating the event, together with other organisations and institutions, such as the Minsait-UV Chair in Legaltech and Artificial Intelligence, reinforces our clear commitment to building solid bridges between academic research, emerging talent and the practical application of artificial intelligence in professional environments.
This first edition has demonstrated that the dialogue between law and artificial intelligence is not a future issue, but a present reality that requires training, experimentation, and spaces such as the LLMthon Legal. We at Citcom.ai-UV will continue working to promote projects that connect research, talent, and the real application of AI in real environments.
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