Ravid Yoeun, a Cambodian American software engineer who spent the previous five years as a digital product engineer at manufacturer BSH Home Appliances Group, founded ClerkHero as a self-serve artificial intelligence tool to assist Californians fighting traffic tickets without hiring a lawyer.
Yoeun said the startup grew out of frustration with defending against traffic tickets in the state. While researching how to fight a ticket, he discovered a California court form known as TR-205, or the Trial by Written Declaration process, that lets drivers freely contest tickets by mail without appearing in court. Yoeun said lawyers charge hundreds to fill it out for clients who are unaware it exists.
"I went online and saw lawyers charging $400 to fight a $200 ticket," Yoeun said in the announcement on Tuesday. "That's not justice. That's a racket."
The ClerkHero software reads traffic citations, fills out the required court documents and generates a ready-to-mail defense packet.
Yoeun said he designed the technology based on assisting his immigrant parents through the U.S. legal system.
"I grew up translating legal letters and DMV notices for my family," he said. "We couldn't afford lawyers. I watched my parents pay money they didn't have because they didn't know the rules. I built ClerkHero so no one else has to feel that powerless again."
Yoeun cautioned that the service does not give legal advice, but simply gives self-represented litigants access to tools the government never explained. He said the service soft launched this summer and has helped more than a dozen California drivers fight their tickets.
"If TurboTax helped people do their taxes without an accountant, ClerkHero does the same for traffic tickets," Yoeun said in a statement Tuesday. "The court system is full of fine print and legal traps. I built a machine that reads the system and fights back."
AI is increasingly being proposed as a means to close the access to justice gap. For instance, the University of Chicago Law School in August introduced a new Artificial Intelligence Lab ahead of its fall semester, with a mandate to workshop and build a chatbot that helps renters nationwide.
--Editing by Alanna Weissman.
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