Ep 081: Court Buddy Founder James Jones Jr. on Being A Black Entrepreneur in Legal Tech

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2015, the husband-and-wife team of</span> <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-jones-jr-esq/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">James Jones Jr.</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">and</span> <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinabingham/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Kristina Jones</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">founded</span> <a href= "https://www.courtbuddy.com/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Court Buddy</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a service that matches consumers with vetted lawyers at affordable prices. Last November, the couple stepped aside from the business to pursue other interests. In their time running the company, they had raised $7.1 million and won numerous awards and honors. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Achieving success as a legal tech startup is notable in itself, but James and Kristina Jones also were among the few Black founders in an industry with a striking diversity problem.</span> <a href= "https://www.lawsitesblog.com/2018/05/women-and-minorities-woefully-underrepresented-among-legaltech-founders-study-finds.html"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">One survey</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">of the legal tech industry found that only 2.3% of founders were Black and 3.1% were Latinx. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Among the milestones they achieved, Court Buddy was named the winner of the American Bar Association’s</span> <a href= "https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2017/01/bay_area_law_center0/"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Brown Select Award for Legal Access</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">in 2017, a winner of the inaugural</span> <a href= "https://www.libra.com/en/news-and-insights/american-entrepreneurship-award-names-2016-winners/"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">American Entrepreneurship Award</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">in 2016, and a winner of a</span> <a href= "https://www.webbyawards.com/winn