Open the systems that govern people to the people they bind.
We build software so people can see and use the rules that shape their lives. Institutions use it to help more people at the door. We start with legal aid.
The problem
Too many doors still need a private guide
The law decides who keeps a home or a paycheck. Most people who face it cannot afford a lawyer. Legal-aid offices turn away about half the requests they get, because they lack staff. Getting what government already owes you is often buried in forms and long waits.
Help of this kind used to take rare expertise. That is changing. We are building tools institutions can run, and people can trust, so the open path becomes the usual path.
What we build
Software for institutions
Lychnos is a product offices use, not a consumer chatbot. Language models help people tell their story and help staff write. Screening follows rules the organization owns, can version, and can show. Only a licensed attorney decides whether to take the case. We will not exploit people who come for help; institutions are the natural payers.
Where we start
Legal-aid intake
A person speaks in ordinary words. The office’s rules run the screen. Counsel gets a file they can use. The person leaves with a clear next step.
We want one or two design partners to run this on real intake, starting in Washington, DC. If that is your office, write to us.
Who is building this
Jacob Jove is a Georgetown Law student and a former software engineer. Before law school he built software at Indeed and spent a year evaluating and training model outputs; earlier he co-founded a software consultancy and a civic-education nonprofit. He is building Lychnos to put the law within everyone’s reach.