Ep 213: DoNotPay, Legal Regulatory Reform, and the Op-Ed the ABA Wouldn’t Publish, with Maya Markovich and Tom Gordon

<p dir="ltr">Today’s episode offers a different perspective on the DoNotPay controversy – and ended up having an unexpected twist.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Earlier this year, <a href= "https://donotpay.com/">DoNotPay</a>, which described itself as the world’s first robot lawyer, and its founder <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-browder-b0b573116/">Joshua Browder</a> became the subject of harsh criticism after paralegal <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-tewson-0b252124/">Kathryn Tewson</a> tested several of DoNotPay’s self-help legal apps and concluded they were little more than smoke and mirrors – in some cases getting the law wrong, in others failing even to deliver the promised output. </p> <p dir="ltr">In the wake of Tewson’s allegations, this podcast recorded an <a href= "https://www.lawnext.com/2023/02/on-lawnext-podcast-a-bit-of-a-nothingburger-joshua-browder-speaks-to-the-donotpay-controversy.html"> exclusive interview with Browder</a>, in which he called the criticism “a bit of a nothingburger.” I followed that Interview <a href= "https://www.lawnext.com/2023/02/lawnext-podcast-paralegal-kathryn-tewson-on-her-quest-for-accountability-from-donotpay.html"> with one with Tewson</a>, in which she described in detail how she tested the DoNotPay products and responded to Browder’s dismissal of her critique. </p> <p dir="ltr">Following those events, our guests today, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayamarkovich/">Maya Markovich</a>, executive director and cofounder of the <a href= "https://justicetechassociation.org/">Justice Technology Association</a> and executive in residence for Justice Tech at <a href="https://vilcap.com/">Village Capital</a>, and <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-gordon-dc/">Tom Gordon</a>, executive director of <a href= "https://www.responsivelaw.org/">Responsive Law</a>, an organization that represents the consumers’ voice in the legal system, co-authored an op-ed in which they argued that reforms in the regulation of the practice of