LexGuard: AI Powered legal advisor for women & minorities

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pressing SOS button -> notifying the emergency contacts that the user is in danger
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Inspiration

Every day, countless women and marginalized individuals face legal challenges—domestic violence, workplace harassment, discrimination—without knowing their rights or the legal steps they can take. LexGuard is an AI-powered legal advisor designed to bridge this gap by offering instant, accessible, and reliable legal guidance.

Powered by Gemini AI, LexGuard provides personalized legal resources, step-by-step guidance on legal procedures, and emergency support to those in vulnerable situations. With a user-specific profile, it enables users to alert emergency contacts instantly in crisis situations, ensuring rapid response and safety.

Unlike generic legal aid platforms, LexGuard tailors advice based on individual cases, making legal protection accessible, actionable, and empowering. By leveraging AI, we aim to democratize legal awareness, ensuring that no one is left uninformed or unprotected.

LexGuard isn't just an app—it’s a lifeline, a shield, and a guide.

What it does

LexGuard provides legal guidance, procedural steps, and emergency alerts for women and minorities facing domestic violence, assault, and other legal challenges. It ensures timely, AI-driven legal assistance.

How we built it

We developed LexGuard as a React Native app, making it accessible both as a mobile application and as a web platform.

The backend is built using Node.js, and we used MongoDB as the database.
The app allows users to create accounts, authenticate via login, and seek legal advice using Gemini AI.
We integrated Twillio API to enable emergency alerts and WhatsApp-based notifications for SOS situations.
Although we couldn't fully implement it, we explored Midnight blockchain for secure legal data handling.

Challenges we ran into

Exploring Midnight Blockchain : We successfully created wallets but faced issues generating transactions using them.
Learning React Native : As newcomers to React Native, installation and understanding its workflow took time.
Frontend and Backend Integration : Connecting the React Native frontend with the Node.js backend was a challenge.
Gemini AI API Implementation : We discovered that the API requests were stateless, making it difficult to maintain user conversations.
Working with Twilio API : We explored Twilio's free services to enable emergency alerts.
Git Integration Issues : At one point, we encountered challenges merging the backend and frontend in our Git repository.
Auth0 integration : the Auth0 website was unsupportive for quite a long duration of the hackathon. So we faced difficulty in integrating login features following the OUAuth 2.0 protocol.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Successfully developed a fully functional React Native app
Built a working application beyond just a Figma design
Explored and integrated notification systems, a feature lacking in existing legal aid apps
Laid the foundation for future tie-ups with NGOs like UN Women, Refuge, and local women's safety groups
Researched blockchain for case tracking (Midnight Blockchain / Hyperledger Fabric for tamper-proof documentation)

What we learned

React Native development and how to integrate it with a Node.js backend
Blockchain exploration for legal documentation security
AI API handling (Gemini AI) and maintaining conversation data
Twilio API usage for real-time emergency alerts
Effective team collaboration and overcoming Git integration challenges

What's next for LexGuard: AI-Powered Legal Advisor for Women & Minorities

NGO & Legal Organization Partnerships: Collaborate with legal aid organizations for real-world impact.
Blockchain for Case Tracking: Implement Midnight Blockchain / Hyperledger Fabric for tamper-proof legal records.
Multilingual Support: Expand support for diverse languages to increase accessibility.
AI-Powered Legal Assistance Expansion: Enhance AI capabilities to provide case-specific legal advice.
SOS Feature Enhancements: Integrate real-time location sharing for emergency contacts.

LexGuard is more than just an app—it's a movement towards legal empowerment and safety.