#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Camila Lopez, Co-Founder, People Clerk
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Complete Guidance Through Small Claims Court Procedures
People Clerk’s innovative legal technology platform works to create a more accessible legal system and helps users of different social, economic, and cultural backgrounds navigate the bureaucracy of small claims courts. Co-Founder Camila Lopez spoke with us about why she decided to start People Clerk, the challenges that arise when complying with state patchwork privacy laws, and the unique challenges founders face when building a legal tech company.
Tell us about your background. What led you to create People Clerk?
I'm an attorney. And every time I have a family member or friend with a legal problem, they always reach out to me. I would tell them, for example, which landlord tenant attorney to reach out to when they needed help with their issue. What I didn't realize was that the majority of their disputes had $3,000 or so in damages at stake. One time, someone came to me with a car accident case—they had property damage—and no attorneys wanted to take their case because the dollar amount involved was so small. An attorney might spend 10 hours trying to help that client resolve the case and the economic payoff wasn’t worth it to them. That's why we started People Clerk. My co-founder is an engineer and we built an end-to-end platform for consumers to navigate the small claims court process on their own without an attorney.
How does People Clerk work?
Our platform helps them prepare the lawsuit and their evidence, file their lawsuit, notify the other party that they have been sued, and helps them get ready for the hearing. The People Clerk portal will ask the clients to complete an intake process—that takes no more than 20 minutes—which asks them who they are suing, how much they’re suing for, and how they calculated the value of what they’re suing for. From there, the client uploads all of their evidence. Let's say they have a security deposit dispute where their landlord didn't return their security deposit. The client will upload their lease agreement and pictures of the apartment when they left it or when they moved in—everything you need to prove their case. Our platform then creates their court documents and organizes an evidence packet they’ll need to present to a judge. The system then files the lawsuit with the court and will also assist the client with the process of serving the lawsuit and help them prepare for the hearing with the guidance of our case preparation content.
They can also use the People Clerk platform if they’re a defendant in a case. Going back to the previous example, if they’re a landlord and their tenant sued them, they can upload the same types of things onto our platform, such as their lease agreement, pictures, and communications with the other party. They still have to prove their case in court to the judge or at least counter what the other party is saying, but our system will help them organize their materials and prepare. Think of it like a case management system where you log in, see every step of your case, and it provides you with guidance on what you need to do.
Your platform handles potentially sensitive client data. What has been your experience navigating compliance with different state privacy laws?
We haven’t had any issues with putting all necessary safeguards in place to protect our clients’ information, but it is difficult navigating compliance with the different privacy laws out there. Currently, the rules can vary significantly on a state-by-state level. On top of that, our attorneys keep telling us that they’re still changing fast, which means it’s hard to have a stable, up-to-date privacy policy you feel confident is fully compliant. It's pretty frustrating.
Have you participated in any accelerator or incubator programs? If so, what has your experience been like with those programs?
I'm a huge fan of accelerators. Our team has participated in a few so far—including one with Duke University called the Duke Law Tech Lab, one with UC Hastings called LexLab, one with LexisNexis called the LexisNexis Legal Technology Accelerator, and we were part of the TechStars program. Currently, we are participating in Village Capital’s Innovations in Justice Tech fellowship. This array of programs have given us a great mix of experiences in legal technology accelerators and general startup accelerators. They are also great at helping founders build a network, especially with potential investors. Plus, it's given me—at least as a non-technical co-founder—the fundamental skills to build a startup. These programs are critical to the success of startup founders who are building a company for the first time.
Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
There’s an important distinction specific to the space we operate in—we're not a law firm, we’re a legal technology company. There are a lot of rules around the unauthorized practice of the law. For example, what constitutes legal advice? What can and what can’t we say? For example, someone might ask us, “How much can I sue for? Where can I sue?” We have to determine how to respond under a certain state’s rules, which is a big factor in our ability to give people access to affordable legal services using software. It can sometimes be hard to know or predict where to draw those lines when it comes to building a legal technology product that complies with various states’ rules. We have to mold the People Clerk product to always fall in line with those regulations that vary on a state-by-state level. I invite policymakers to interact with the Justice Technology Association, an organization for entrepreneurs and allies, to understand the issues facing companies operating in this space.
What are your goals for People Clerk moving forward?
We’re going to continue to empower as many people as possible to access their legal rights. We’re thinking through how we launch in more states where we can serve more people. That’s our North Star.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
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