MoForever Alumni News - Summer 2019

MoForever Summer 2019 | 18 PRO BONO UPDAT E and their lives are much less stressful. That transformative power of Chapter 7 was something I learned for the first time in Judge Stong’s courtroom.” It was a lesson that Jonathan—who was in law school because he believed lawyers can change the world—took deeply to heart, planting the seed for what would later become Upsolve. Automating Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Today, Jonathan is the executive director of Upsolve, a 501(c)(3) legal aid nonprofit that uses technology to aid low-income Americans in filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy at no cost. “We built the first national legal aid organization to guide folks through the Chapter 7 process to get a fresh start. And we do that leveraging technology so one lawyer, rather than helping one client at a time, can help thousands of clients,” Jonathan says. The idea for Upsolve came to fruition in 2015 when Jonathan, who had been an associate in MoFo’s New York Business Restructuring and Insolvency Group, was introduced by Judge Stong to Rohan Pavuluri, a Harvard student majoring in statistics. Both men shared a vision of combining the power of technology with the knowledge of attorneys to create a new online tool that would help Americans file bankruptcy without hiring an attorney. Rohan had studied under Professor James Greiner at the Harvard Law Access to Justice Lab, an expert at simplifying bankruptcy laws and forms using cartoons and plain language. “Our idea was to take the paper packets simplifying the bankruptcy forms and transform them into an end-to-end web application that could help a lot more people through the internet,” Jonathan explains. Upsolve Helps Thousands Erase Debt In 2016, Jonathan and Rohan cofounded Upsolve, which automates the mind-numbing data entry and document preparation tasks attorneys perform manually. Upsolve also eliminates the need for attorney-client interviews that can last two or three hours. The first job Jonathan and Rohan had developers work on was creating the branching logic within the tool. Upsolve guides filers through the entire bankruptcy process, about 95% of which is the same in every U.S. state. Upsolve users complete a mobile-friendly questionnaire and upload required documents such as pay stubs. Before the forms are filed, a bankruptcy attorney from Upsolve or one of its legal services partner organizations reviews them. Upsolve also prepares users for the required mandatory financial literacy course and tracks the progress of cases on the docket. In 2018 Upsolve, the “TurboTax of Bankruptcy,” helped people in 47 states discharge more than $13 million in debt. This year, Upsolve is poised to help more than 2,000 people erase over $50 million in debilitating debt. Conquering the Fear of Risk Upsolve is successful now, but Jonathan faced a lot of fear and uncertainty in its early days. Thankfully, he was in the right place to find the backing he needed. “Our first funder was the MoFo Foundation, which still plays a vital role in helping us financially,” Jonathan says. “I talked with Larren Nashelsky, Chair of Morrison & Foerster, and Jim Peck, Global