AI startup accused of illegal legal practice

DoNotPay, the company developing an AI-powered lawyer, faced a collective lawsuit over allegedly practicing law without a license.

The plaintiff is California resident Jonathan Faridian. His interests are represented by Edelson, a Chicago-based law firm.

“DoNotPay is actually not a robot, not a lawyer, and not a law firm,” the complaint states.

Faridian asserts that he used DoNotPay to draft demand letters, arrange minor disputes and operating agreements with corporate entities. As a result he received “poor quality and poorly executed” results.

DoNotPay’s CEO Joshua Browder called the claims “baseless.” According to him, Faridian “had dozens of successful consumer-protection cases with DoNotPay.”

There are two problems, among others, with the case. First, the plaintiff has had dozens of successful consumer rights cases with DoNotPay, including canceling subscriptions, which he conveniently leaves out of the lawsuit. (6/10)

— Joshua Browder (@jbrowder1) March 9, 2023

Also Browder said that Edelson founder Jay Edelson “inspired [him] to create DoNotPay.”

“He epitomizes all that is wrong with the law. For example, in a recent deal with Facebook he earned $97.5 million. A minority of consumers received $375, and the majority, who could not fill out the complex “demand forms”, — $0,” wrote the startup’s founder.

Edelson replied that Browder and his company are trying to “distract attention from their unlawful actions” and that “DoNotPay has deceived many people.”

Earlier in January, the startup offered lawyers $1 million for using the AI attorney in any upcoming case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the same month, Browder said that professional associations in some states threatened him and his company with lawsuits. As a result, DoNotPay postponed using the AI attorney in the upcoming trial.