2020 Best Invention

Paralegal (Full-Time)

In a Nutshell

Upsolve is an award-winning nonprofit that helps low-income families file for bankruptcy for free, using technology. To date, Upsolve has relieved over $400 million in debt for low-income families trapped in debt from medical bills, predatory loans, and layoffs. We combine the scale of tech startups with the quantifiable impact of the most effective nonprofits.

Written by Upsolve Team
Updated February 15, 2022


Upsolve is an award-winning nonprofit that helps low-income families file for bankruptcy for free, using technology. To date, Upsolve has relieved over $450 million in debt for low-income families trapped in debt from medical bills, predatory loans, and layoffs. We combine the scale of tech startups with the quantifiable impact of the most effective nonprofits.

Upsolve is funded by Y Combinator, Eric Schmidt, and the Robin Hood Foundation. Our funders also include Jim Breyer, who led the Facebook Series A, Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures and SUN Microsystems, and Chris Sacca, an early investor in Instagram, Facebook, and Uber. To date, we've raised nearly $10 million.

In 2020, TIME named Upsolve one of the Top 100 Inventions of the Year. In 2019, Fast Company named Upsolve World Changing Idea of the Year in Social Justice. In 2018, the New York Times gave Upsolve the Good Tech Award

The Role

Upsolve is hiring a paralegal to help us provide the best level of service possible to low-income families trapped in debt. As a paralegal, you’ll be responsible for assisting our users over email and text when they need information about bankruptcy and our service. You’ll also be responsible for helping our users update their forms, addressing any complications in their cases, and keeping them up to date around important deadlines.

Along with supporting our users, you’ll provide weekly feedback to our engineering team on how we improve our product, based on what you hear from users. 

You don’t need any prior experience in bankruptcy. We’ll teach you. If you’re interested in nonprofits, startups, and advocacy, we’d love to chat with you about how you can help us change the way low-income families in America receive legal help. 

You're a good fit if:
  • You have a track record of helping low-income communities or a personal connection to our work.

  • You have experience as a paralegal or in a customer success role.

  • You’re a great writer and problem solver with experience breaking down complicated topics for lay audiences.

  • You have top 1% empathy, work ethic, and organizational skills, and you'd be obsessed with providing the best level of customer service ever provided at a legal services nonprofit in the United States.

You're not a good fit if:
  • You have plans to apply to law school in the next 2-3 years.

  • You have no prior experience in a paralegal, customer support, or direct service role.

How to Apply?

We’d love to talk to you. Send an email to joinus@upsolve.org. Please include your resume and a couple of paragraphs about why you think you'd be a good fit for the role.



Upsolve is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that started in 2016. Our mission is to help low-income families who cannot afford lawyers file bankruptcy for free, using an online web app. Spun out of Harvard Law School, our team includes lawyers, engineers, and judges. We have world-class funders that include the U.S. government, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and leading foundations. It's one of the greatest civil rights injustices of our time that low-income families can’t access their basic rights when they can’t afford to pay for help. Combining direct services and advocacy, we’re fighting this injustice.

To learn more, read why we started Upsolve in 2016, our reviews from past users, and our press coverage from places like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.