Mission
Democratizing information about the criminal legal system
We are the trusted advisor for defendants and their families as they navigate the legal system. We aim to deliver valuable and relevant legal information (but not legal advice) to the user in plain language, empowering them to advocate for themselves and proactively plan for the future.
Through aggregated feedback & user stories, we hope to pinpoint & address systemic inequities that were once invisible.
Story
We are an interdisciplinary team who met at a scope-a-thon hosted by Hack Cleveland in 2018 addressing systemic inequity in the criminal legal system. Our winning idea focused on creating a bail revolving fund accessible to defendants via a mobile application.
A few months later we learned that an established national bail fund was expanding its operations to Cleveland. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, we pivoted. We began exploring the idea of a mobile app to help defendants navigate the complex legal system with information specific to a defendant's case.
We have since created unBail, the trusted advisor for defendants and their families as they navigate the criminal legal system. We aim to deliver valuable and relevant legal information (but not legal advice) in plain language, empowering defendants to advocate for themselves, proactively plan for the future, and access social services if necessary. Defendants are also encouraged to give feedback on their experience at each step of the process in the hope that this can be used to improve the system.
Timeline
Hack CLE Scope-a-thon
October 2018
Organized by Hack Cleveland. Where the team met, won first prize, and unBail was born.
Pivot to Democratize Legal Info
January 2019
Pivoted after learning that a national bail fund would soon be operating in Cleveland.
Cleveland State Law Practicum
May - July 2019
Pop-up Practicum facilitated by the Marshall College of Law to generate legal content for the product.
The Lab @ Cuyahoga County
June - August 2020
Gained valuable insights and contacts through The Lab @ Cuyahoga County accelerator
JumpStart Market Validation
June 2020
Completed the market validation track at JumpStart to solidify our value prop and market position
gBeta Social Impact Accelerator
July - August 2019
Participated in Gener8tor's gBeta Social Impact Accelerator.
Civic User Testing
August 2020
Worked in conjunction with the City Tech Collaborative & NeighborUp to design and implement a user testing session to get feedback on our app
Team
Paul Gehrig
Co-founder, Product Development Lead
Cait Kennedy
Co-founder, Executive Director
Mary Waters
Co-founder, Research & Content Development
Joyce Huang
Co-founder, Steering Committee Co-Director
James Huang
Co-founder, Steering Committee Co-Director
Rachel Krantz
Co-founder