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

Kathryn Tewson was a little-known paralegal when, on Jan. 24, she was suddenly thrust into the spotlight. That day, she published a scathing series of tweets recounting her investigation of DoNotPay, 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.  Her findings stirred intense interest both on social media and in the traditional media. Soon after she published her findings, DoNotPay's founder Joshua Browder announced he was taking down the products she tested. Now, Tewson has filed a legal action against DoNotPay and Browder in New York state that is the first step in a potential consumer class action.  Last week on this podcast, Browder was our guest 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 story of how she came to investigate DoNotPay, what she uncovered, and why she has now taken the first steps towards a potential class action. She also responds directly to some of what Browder said in last week's show.    Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out.  Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase and LollyLaw; the e-payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks. Lawmatics, providing legal client intake, law practice CRM, marketing automation, legal billing, document management, and much more, all in one easy-to-use law practice software. Legalweek, the one week where thousands of legal professionals gather to network with their peers, dive deeper into their professional development, and gain the tools to get legal business done, presented by ALM and Law.com March 20-23, 2023.   If you enjoy listening to LawNext, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.