“Robot Lawyer” Faces Lawsuit For Practicing Law Without A License In US

The circumstance is Faridian v. DoNotPay Inc

DoNotPay Inc, which works by using AI to supply legal expert services is facing a new lawsuit from a Chicago-primarily based regulation organization. The firm has claimed that DoNotPay has been practising law inadequately and lacks a license, Reuters noted.

DoNotPay “is not really a robot, a law firm, nor a regulation firm,” legislation firm Edelson claimed in a proposed class motion in San Francisco point out court dated March 3 and posted to the court’s public web site on Thursday. The criticism further argues: “DoNotPay does not have a regulation diploma, is not barred in any jurisdiction, and is not supervised by any lawyer.”

The lawsuit was submitted by California resident Jonathan Faridian, who explained he utilised San Francisco-based DoNotPay to draft demand from customers letters, a small claims courtroom filing and LLC functioning agreements and got “substandard and poorly carried out” outcomes.

DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder responded on Twitter, saying the statements have “no merit” and that Faridian has “had dozens of prosperous purchaser rights situations with DoNotPay.”

Mr Browder reported Edelson founder Jay Edelson “encouraged me to begin DoNotPay,” proclaiming Edelson and legal professionals like him enrich them selves by way of course steps with minimal profit to consumers.

Bad information! Jay Edelson, America’s richest class motion law firm, is suing my startup @DoNotPay in California. Mr Edelson, who has created billions suing organizations, is attacking us for “unauthorized observe of legislation” and looking for a courtroom buy ending any A.I solution.

Here is my response: pic.twitter.com/6PvFVW65rB

— Joshua Browder (@jbrowder1) March 9, 2023

According to Reuters, Edelson responded in an e mail that Mr Browder and DoNotPay are seeking to “distract from their misconduct in any way achievable” and that “the difficulty for them is that DoNotPay has cheated so a lot of folks.”

Mr Browder launched DoNotPay in 2015 with a focus on responsibilities this sort of as preventing parking tickets, and it has expanded to include some legal providers, the lawsuit explained.

The assure of generative synthetic intelligence applications for apps these types of as lawful perform has received steam with the increase of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other AI “chatbots” in modern months. DoNotPay created buzz previously this year when Browder said on Twitter the organization experienced strategies to use an AI chatbot to advise a defendant in website traffic courtroom.

Browder also mentioned his company would pay back $1 million to any individual willing to put on headphones and use its robot law firm for an argument prior to the U.S. Supreme Court docket.

Following criticism, he later on explained on Twitter that he experienced been given “threats from Condition Bar prosecutors” and DoNotPay would postpone its targeted visitors courtroom circumstance.

He also said in the January tweet that DoNotPay would promptly get rid of “non-customer authorized legal rights solutions.” According to the lawsuit, those items are even now available on its web page.

The lawsuit mentioned DoNotPay violated California’s unfair level of competition law by engaging in the unauthorized practice of regulation. It seeks a court get declaring the firm’s perform illegal and unspecified damages.

The situation is Faridian v. DoNotPay Inc, Remarkable Court of the Point out of California for the County of San Francisco, No. CGC-23-604987.