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A 19-Year-Old Made A Free Robot Lawyer That Has Appealed $3M In Parking Tickets (businessinsider.com)
schwit1 writes: Hiring a lawyer for a parking-ticket appeal is not only a headache, but it can also cost more than the ticket itself. Depending on the case and the lawyer, an appeal -- a legal process where you argue out of paying the fine -- can cost between $400 to $900. But with the help of a robot made by British programmer Joshua Browder, 19, it costs nothing. Browder's bot handles questions about parking-ticket appeals in the UK. Since launching in late 2015, it has successfully appealed $3 million worth of tickets. He is cutting into the government trough and lawyers' jobs. That's a double whammy. How long is it before the bar association and government get automated lawyers disqualified?
A world with less lawers is a nicer world.
OR usher in the new age of high-frequency lawmaking! Though, with the way our congress is moving right now, it would likely get stuck in a recursion trying to pass and repeal laws over and over again.
Yeah, his website lets you choose from one of several forms which it then emails. This is a "robot lawyer" like my kindle is a "robot author" since I can call up different stories depending on what I want to read.
It's a handy website I'm sure. But usually my parking tickets are more complicated, like "I applied for a zone renewal 3 times but your system still hasn't sent me my sticker. I called the parking office and they said our neighborhood had a backlog and therefore shouldn't be enforced for expired tags."
I still didn't need a "lawyer" I just had to explain my situation in 4-5 sentences and email it off.
One of her coworkers (a surgeon) gave her the name of a lawyer and suggested calling him. She did just to see how they could possibly get her out of a speeding ticket. The lawyer said that the speeding ticket will be negotiated down to a non-moving violation such as improper parking. She would have to pay the full fine for the speeding ticket plus the lawyer's fee, but it wouldn't affect her insurance rates or add points to her license.
She went along to see if it would work and sure enough, the ticket was negotiated down and she paid the fine and lawyer's fee- IRIC the lawyer charged $150. No points, no increase in insurance rates.
My wife finished her anesthesiology residency just a few years ago, so life as 1%ers is pretty new to us. This event was a real eye opener. I guess this is how the 1% gets away with murder. I can't imagine what it's like to be a 0.1%er.
Parking tickets are not a "trough"
Driving is one of the most heavily subsidized personal actions in the world.
Parking fees and fines are a very very small tip of the balance back toward something remotely resembling a level playing field. Just pay for your parking and if you screw up, pay the fine and move on. You're still tens of thousands of dollars ahead of whe you would be if you actually have to pay for all that infrastructure, hit to mention the war and the pollution.
That's was my first thought, it's likely a robot issued the fine, so it's obvious a robot should have the right to dispute it.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Although it's reasonable to appeal parking tickets, and a 40% success rate suggests far too many bullshit ones are being issued, there's something else in the article that hasn't been discussed:
He's 19 and he's received 30 parking tickets since he passed his test.
In the UK that means he's getting at least 10 parking tickets per year. I'm averaging less than one per decade. The issue isn't the parking rules or enforcement, the issue is that this guy is quite clearly some form of total cunt.
Learn to fucking park.