Yewoubdar Solomon

Ethiopian legal innovator who created Africa's first mobile legal aid network

Yewoubdar Solomon transformed access to justice in Ethiopia by launching e-Legality in 2015, a mobile platform providing free legal consultations to marginalized communities. This service has resolved over 50,000 cases related to land disputes, domestic violence, and labor rights. Her system uses AI chatbots in Amharic and Oromo languages, reaching rural areas where only 2% of citizens previously had legal representation.

In 2017, she pioneered the Justice For All initiative, training 500 community paralegals across 10 regions. This network helped secure land rights for 12,000 indigenous families during Ethiopia's controversial land reforms. Her work was highlighted at the 2018 World Justice Forum in The Hague, where she proposed a pan-African legal tech framework adopted by 12 countries.

Solomon's 2019 book 《Digital Justice: Reimagining Legal Systems》 has become required reading in African law schools. She also developed the continent's first blockchain-based land registry in collaboration with IBM, piloted in Addis Ababa's slums. Her TED Talk "How tech can build a fairer legal system" (2020) has over 1.5 million views.