Ep 194: Paralegal Kathryn Tewson On Her Quest for Accountability from DoNotPay

<p dir="ltr"><a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-tewson-0b252124/">Kathryn Tewson</a> was a little-known paralegal when, on Jan. 24, she was suddenly thrust into the spotlight. That day, she published a <a href= "https://twitter.com/KathrynTewson/status/1617917837879963648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1617917837879963648%7Ctwgr%5Eb48ae135194da7360ea9dcb983a908557aeaa1ed%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawnext.com%2F2023%2F01%2Fa-bad-week-for-donotpay-and-its-robot-lawyer-but-it-should-not-reflect-on-self-help-legal-tech.html"> scathing series of tweets</a> recounting her investigation of <a href="https://donotpay.com/">DoNotPay</a>, the company that describes itself as “the world’s first robot lawyer.” She concluded that the company’s supposed AI-driven products were little more than smoke and mirrors and that its representations about its products constituted consumer fraud. </p> <p dir="ltr">Her findings stirred intense interest both on social media and in the traditional media. Soon after she published her findings, DoNotPay’s founder <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-browder-b0b573116/">Joshua Browder</a> announced he was taking down the products she tested. Now, Tewson has <a href= "https://www.techdirt.com/2023/02/14/kathryn-tewson-invites-donotpay-to-use-its-ai-lawyer-in-court-to-address-her-petition-for-pre-action-discovery-for-a-consumer-rights-claim/"> filed a legal action</a> against DoNotPay and Browder in New York state that is the first step in a potential consumer class action. </p> <p dir="ltr">Last week on this podcast, <a href= "https://www.lawnext.com/2023/02/on-lawnext-podcast-a-bit-of-a-nothingburger-joshua-browder-speaks-to-the-donotpay-controversy.html">Browder was our guest</a> to respond to Tewson’s allegations and other criticisms of him and his company that have come out over the past month. In the interview, he dismissed much of the controversy as “a bit of a nothingburger.” Today, Tewson joins LawNext host Bob Ambrogi to share her s