Talk Justice: Episode 80
Upsolve’s New Student Debt Relief Tools
Guests from the online bankruptcy service Upsolve and Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA) discuss a new, free web resource for people struggling with student debt on Talk Justice. PLA received funding from a 2023 LSC Technology Initiative Grant for the project and brought on Upsolve to develop the tools. Their goal is to raise awareness of available debt relief programs and provide guided assistance for qualified borrowers to pursue student debt elimination.
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Featured Guests
Jonathan Pyle is the Contract Performance Officer at Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA), where he is responsible for LSC compliance, reporting, and implementing new uses of technology to analyze, streamline, and expand service delivery. Before joining PLA, he practiced law in the areas of class action defense and government investigations, and served as vice-president of a management consulting company. In his spare time, he develops and maintains Docassemble, a free, open-source expert system platform for creating on-line guided interviews and document assembly applications.
Ben Jackson, Chief Product Officer of the debt relief nonprofit Upsolve, had to file for bankruptcy without a lawyer after his small business failed. Wanting to make the law more accessible to other low-income Americans in debt, Ben went on to graduate from law school at Chicago-Kent Law School before joining Upsolve’s founding team. Ben played a leading role in automating Upsolve’s bankruptcy application review from 90 minutes to 3 minutes and has built numerous generative AI tools. In 2022, Ben was also recognized by FastCase as one of the 50 most innovative leaders of the legal profession.
Host
Ronald S. Flagg was appointed President of the Legal Services Corporation effective February 20, 2020, and previously served as Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel since 2013. He previously practiced commercial and administrative litigation at Sidley Austin LLP for 31 years, 27 years as a partner. He chaired the firm’s Committee on Pro Bono and Public Interest Law for more than a decade.
Flagg served as president of the District of Columbia Bar in 2010-2011 and currently serves as Chair of the Bar’s Pro Bono Task Force. He presently also chairs the board of the National Veterans Legal Services Program. He has also served as Chair of the District of Columbia Bar Pro Bono Committee, Chair of the Board of the AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly, as a member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, on LSC’s Pro Bono Task Force, and as a member of the Board of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, the Board of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Foundation, and the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission.