What is the MADE system and how does it increase access to legal services?

MADE, short for Massachusetts Defense for Eviction, is an AI-driven platform developed by GBLS that acts as a 'clinic in a box' for tenants facing eviction. It uses a guided questionnaire, decision trees, and automated document generation to help tenants produce legally sound documents and navigate eviction proceedings. This increases access to legal services by reducing completion time from three to five hours in traditional clinics to about 20 minutes, and it aided over 4,000 tenants in 2023.

MADE is an AI-driven eviction defense tool developed by GBLS. Instead of attending a traditional in-person eviction clinic, tenants answer a carefully designed questionnaire. The system uses decision trees to adapt to each user's circumstances and then automatically generates legally sound documents, such as an answer to an eviction complaint. For example, if a tenant raises an improper notice defense, the interview asks specific questions about the notice, the tenancy arrangement, and the eviction filing, then assesses whether the notice was legally valid and generates related discovery queries. The platform also provides integrated guidance on the eviction process and offers electronic legal intake. By automating these steps, MADE cuts the time needed to produce an answer from roughly three to five hours to about 20 minutes. In 2023 it helped more than 4,000 tenants, thereby narrowing the access-to-justice gap for self-represented litigants.