Hiring a lawyer for a parking ticket appeal is not only aheadache — 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 bot made by British programmer JoshuaBrowder, 19, it costs nothing. Browder's bot handles questions about parking ticket appeals in the UK. Since launching in late 2015, it hassuccessfully appealed $3million worth of tickets.
聘请律师为停车罚单进行上诉不仅是一件令人头痛的事情，而且它所耗费的成本会比罚单本身更多。根据不同的个案和律师，一宗诉讼的成本在400-900英镑之间。但在英国19岁程序员约书亚•布劳德发明的项目帮助之下，它的成本是零。布劳德的项目处理在英国的停车罚单上诉的各种问题。自2015年末启动以来，到2016年2月已成功完成金额达300万的罚单上诉。
Joshua Browder is helping people save a lot of money on legal fees with his latest project. The 19-year-old developed a free service that allows users to ask any kind of legal question and receive relevant answers autogenerated by bots.
约书亚•布劳德只有19岁，他的新项目——世界上第一个机器人律师，能帮人们省下不少法律费用。用户询问的任何法律问题，机器人程序都可以自动生成相关答案，而且此项服务是免费的。
Browder first started the project last summer as a free website to help people appeal unfair parking tickets. He came up with the idea after getting a series of tickets himself for "trivial reasons".
Having wasted several hours on writing appeals to these tickets, he realised that many people do not have the time,legal knowledge or even the energy to appeal. So he decided to create an automatic appeal generator, using previously successful letters as a template. He aptly named the service DoNotPay, giventhat the legal fees involved in challenging tickets could mount up to sizable amounts between $400 to $900.
这个项目去年夏天刚开始启动，当时布劳德只是想做一个免费网站，帮助人们对不公平的停车罚单进行上诉。他萌生出这个想法是因为他自己就因"无关紧要的原因"被开了一连串的罚单。
在浪费了几个小时写上诉书后，他意识到很多人并没有时间、法律知识、甚至精力对这些罚单进行上诉。所以他决定做一个自动申诉生成器，以之前成功的申诉书为模板。鉴于对罚单进行上诉的法律费用可以达到400至900美元之多，他恰当地给这项服务命名为"不要付钱"。
DoNotPay was a huge success, and the tech genius has now gone a step further with the website, converting it into a full fledged robo lawyer equipped to help with a range of legal issues.
"不要付钱"取得了巨大的成功，这个科技天才在网站的基础上又向前迈出了一步，把网站转化成一个受过充分训练的机器人律师，可以帮助人们解决许多法律问题。
Joshua Browder's robot can help answer questions about parking tickets.To use the service, users need to go to the website donotpay.co.uk and sign up for free.Once you sign in, a chat screen popsup. To learn about your case, the bot asks questions like, "Were yout he one driving?" and "Was it hard to understand the parking signs?" It then spits out an appeal letter, which you mail to the court. If the robot is completely confused, it tells you how to contact Browder directly.
布劳德的机器人能回答关于停车罚单的各种问题。使用这项服务，用户需要到网站donotpay.co.uk免费注册。一旦你登录进去，一个聊天荧屏会马上出现。为了了解你的情况，机器人会提问例如"你是驾驶员吗？""理解停车标志会困难吗"等，然后它会自动弹出一份上述信，你可以据以寄到法庭。如果机器人对你的情况完全困惑，它会告诉你怎样直接联系布劳德。
Beyond parking tickets, Browder's bot can also help with delayed or cancel led flights and payment-protection insurance (PPI)claims. It can also answer some general legal questions like ‘I can't afford my ticket. What do I do?’ Although the bot can only help file claims on simple legal issues — it can't physically argue a case in front of a judge — it can save users a lot of money.
除了停车罚单，布劳德的机器人还能帮助航班延误、取消及支付保护保险（PPI）索赔问题。它还可以解答一些基本的法律问题，比如‘我付不起罚单，该怎么办？’虽然这个机器人只能帮助为简单的法律问题准备上诉文件，它不能在法官面前进行辩护，但这已经能为用户节省很多金钱。
Although Browder programmed the bot according to UK law, he says it can be helpful in the US too. For example, if a flight is delayed from New York City to London, the ticket holder can use the robot to claim compensation. Browder is working to program US city laws into the bot, starting with NYC.
虽然布劳德是根据英国法律来编程创造这个机器人，但他说在美国同样有帮助。例如，一个从纽约到伦敦的航班延误，持有机票的人可以使用他的机器人进行补偿索赔。布劳德现在正根据美国法律，从纽约市开始，为机器人编入程序。
"If it is one day possible for any citizen to get the same standard of legal representation as a billionaire, "Browder says,"how can that not be a good thing?"
"如果有一天，有可能让每一位公民象亿万富翁那样拥有同等水准的法律顾问，那怎么不会是件好事呢？"布劳德说。
