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Miami-based People Clerk acquired by larger justice-tech venture

Doreen Hemlock
Doreen Hemlock
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Quest for Justice buys Miami startup for its marketing and customer-service strength

By Doreen Hemlock

Four years after starting a venture to help people navigate small claims court, Camila Lopez has sold her Miami-based firm, People Clerk, to a larger tech company with a similar mission, Quest for Justice. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition combines Quest for Justice’s strength in software with People Clerk’s strength in marketing and customer service to reach more people who represent themselves in U.S. civil courts without lawyers, said Patrick Forrest, co-founder and Chief Legal Officer at Quest for Justice. More than 70 percent of working families in the U.S. can’t afford to hire lawyers for civil cases, Forrest says. 

“By coming together, we can serve a greater share of the self-representing market and make positive changes in the access-to-justice space,” Forrest told Refresh Miami.

A lawyer by training, Lopez launched People Clerk in March 2020 after recognizing the challenges that non-lawyers face in using small claims courts, which typically handle cases involving less than $10,000, such as security deposits on apartment rentals or car accidents. The company helps litigants file paperwork, notify the party being sued and prepare evidence for hearings in California and select states. (See the Refresh Miami profile on the venture here.)

Lopez developed People Clerk with her husband and co-founder Gustavo Lozano [pictured above]. In 2022, their venture was awarded $100,000 in cash, plus mentorship, from the Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund. Lopez also took part in a cohort of the two-month EndeavorLAB accelerator program.

Along the way, she helped start the Justice Tech Association, a group of tech companies aiming to help people in the court system. She also met the founders of Quest for Justice, including CEO Binh Dang. Quest initially focused on building self-help platforms for courts to make their procedures easier for non-lawyers.

“The timing just worked for this acquisition now, because Quest for Justice was looking to expand into the direct-to-consumer space and we were in that space from the beginning,” said Lopez, 31. “We’re super excited to join together. Quest for Justice is bigger, well-funded, and has an experienced team – their CEO is a second-time founder.  We’re both very mission-aligned on how to improve access to the courts and how to help people who can’t afford lawyers to be able to exercise their rights.”

Before the acquisition, People Clerk worked with a team of five: three staffers and two contractors overseas, Lopez said. Quest for Justice, a Delaware company, had a team of 18, mostly software engineers, all working remote. The combined staff now numbers 21, with plans to expand.

Today, Quest for Justice helps people using civil courts in California and select states but has no plan to extend services for Florida’s civil courts. “Unfortunately, Florida has been hostile to private sector innovation in the delivery of legal services,” said Forrest, citing “overly complex regulation” and a “protectionist” attitude by lawyer groups in the Sunshine State.

With the acquisition, People Clerk services come under Quest for Justice’s JusticeDirect platform, which seeks “to democratize legal assistance by leveraging technology.” Lopez shares that mission. “We’re very passionate,” said Lopez, “about making justice not a privilege, but a right.”

READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:

Doreen Hemlock
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