Today we’d like to introduce you to Charlie “Carlos” Hernández.
Hi Charlie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in a family of lawyers. My mother is a lawyer, my father is a lawyer and my sister is a lawyer. In fact, my sister even married a lawyer. As you can imagine, dinner in my family gets pretty interesting.
Surrounded by attorneys, I was hearing stories of people’s challenges with the legal system long before I ever went to law school. We grew up between Miami and Los Angeles, and it always surprised me that the stories I heard started out the same way, whether the case took place in Florida or 3,000 miles away in California. “I don’t understand my rights,” “I’m being taken advantage of,” “I can’t afford a lawyer” – I can’t tell you how many times I heard this. I remember thinking, there has to be a better way.
I eventually became a lawyer myself, though as you’ll see I didn’t take the traditional route of working inside a law firm. I went to law school, as many bright-eyed students do, because I wanted to do something good for the world. I had seen people face legal challenges, and I felt a law degree would help me help them face those challenges. But upon graduating, I was faced with a few realities of working in the legal system. First, the biggest law firms in the country really only focus on large corporate clients. While the work can be incredibly rewarding and impactful, if you want to help individual people, you won’t get much of a chance to do that there. Alternatively, those that want to help individuals often go to legal aid organizations, which offer free or low-cost legal services to the public. Those places face their own challenges: funded by government grants or donations, they are chronically understaffed and must turn away many of the people they wish they could help. I found myself facing a familiar thought: there has to be a better way.
These observations kept me away from the traditional path. Rather than going to either a law firm or a legal aid organization, I went into the world of tech. I founded two companies: one called Crediverso, focused on helping those in need with their financial issues, and one called My Pocket Lawyer, focused on legal issues. By building solutions that are technology-based, I found I could address the problems I saw in a scalable way that ultimately impacted far more people than I could as an individual.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting any company is challenging, but I found it particularly difficult to build a company whose target users are people whose needs are often forgotten by much of society. Crediverso is designed to help recent immigrants to the U.S. with things like getting their first credit check or sending money to family living abroad – not problems most Silicon Valley investors are familiar with. My Pocket Lawyer is designed to provide legal help to those who can’t access high-priced lawyers – again, not a problem many people in Silicon Valley have had to experience. Fortunately, we were able to find incredible investors who recognized the human element of the problems we are trying to solve, and understood that a big problem means a big opportunity.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about www.mypocketlawyer.ai?
My Pocket Lawyer is a pioneering legal technology company that is built to help consumers and small businesses get the legal help they need. Traditionally, individuals and small businesses have struggled with accessing reliable and affordable legal information and services, often deterred by high costs or complex, irrelevant online resources. My Pocket Lawyer empowers users with free, precise, and clear legal information, making legal help accessible to anyone. Users simply need to go to www.mypocketlawyer.ai and start asking questions. We provide you with the answers and resources you need to understand your legal rights and protect yourself. If we can’t solve your problem outright, we can help you identify the right lawyer in your area who can, and arm you with all the right questions to ask so you stay in charge of your legal future. The platform is entirely free to use and is available in English and Spanish.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I fundamentally believe the way people access legal help is about to entirely change. In the few months My Pocket Lawyer has been live, we
have helped more people with their legal issues than any than any law firm will this entire year. Likewise, we have helped more people than any legal aid organization in the country will this entire year. This is a testament to the inherent scalability of technology. Law has always been a one-to-one service model, meaning a lawyer can only help one person at a time. Our technology lets thousands of people receive legal help at the same time. This helps more people resolve their legal issues and even helps lawyers see more clients every day, and at more affordable prices. Seeing all this taking place, it is clear to me that the future of law is technology.
Pricing:
- The service is free to use
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mypocketlawyer.ai
- Instagram: @mypocketlawyer.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cphernandez/
