The exchange for the debt economy
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NEW YORK—For years, New York-based nonprofit Upsolve, Inc., trained volunteers to give basic legal advice to New Yorkers facing debt-collection lawsuits under the protection of an injunction holding that this kind of advice was protected free speech. Upsolve’s program was successful, and in recent years other states have increasingly recognized that trained nonlawyer volunteers can offer valuable and necessary help to people who can’t afford lawyers—which is most people. But yesterday, a federal district court dismissed Upsolve’s lawsuit, holding that the First Amendment provides no right to talk to people about the law without a license. The Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit, public interest law firm that protects the First Amendment nationwide and that represents Upsolve in the lawsuit, promised to appeal.
“The First Amendment protects your right to talk to people about their lives, their problems, and even the law,” said IJ Attorney Betsy Sanz. “Realistically, New Yorkers get this kind of advice all the time from bartenders, barbers, and even chatbots. The only difference here is that Upsolve wants the advice to come from people with some relevant training and experience.”
Upsolve began with an award-winning app that helps people navigate Chapter 7 bankruptcy—relieving hundreds of millions of dollars in debt—and then launched the American Justice Movement to train volunteers to give basic guidance to New Yorkers facing debt-collection lawsuits.
Debt-collection actions make up a huge share of the New York civil docket, and defendants routinely lose by default—not because the debt is valid, but because people don’t know how to respond. Upsolve’s trained volunteers help clients understand basic legal terms on New York’s standardized answer form, including defenses like the statute of limitations, and decide whether and how to respond—while making clear they are not lawyers and will not represent anyone in court.
“States nationwide have started to recognize that programs like ours are an essential part of solving the national access-to-justice crisis,” said Upsolve Co-Founder and CEO Jonathan Petts. “But New Yorkers need help, too, and we’re committed to continue this fight until we’re allowed to provide it.”
In 2022, a federal district court agreed that the First Amendment protects Upsolve’s limited, one-on-one advice and issued an injunction allowing the program to operate. In 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dissolved that injunction, holding that the district court had applied the wrong standard of review. Upsolve and IJ have asked the Supreme Court of the United States to review that ruling. But yesterday’s ruling goes further, holding that no possible evidence could ever show that a licensing law like New York’s squelches too much speech. That decision conflicts directly with free-speech victories in other IJ cases challenging licensing laws that forbade advice on topics ranging from veterinary medicine to end-of-life care.
“In this country, we rely on people to decide who they want to listen to rather than relying on the government to decide who’s allowed to speak,” concluded IJ Deputy Litigation Director Robert McNamara. “The government cannot flip that principle upside-down just by passing a licensing law, and IJ will continue litigating until bureaucrats everywhere understand exactly that.”
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