Built because the existing options weren't good enough.

Why this exists

A consumer-protection problem hiding inside a marketing problem.

The market for "find a lawyer after a crash" is dominated by lead brokers and pay-to-rank directories. The people who need representation most — first-time claimants, drivers without a network, anyone navigating a hospital bill and an adjuster phone call in the same week — are precisely the people that infrastructure is least set up to serve well.

tortl was founded to close that gap on the consumer side: educate drivers about their own coverage, help them document the crash accurately the day it happens, and connect them with attorneys based on fit rather than on who paid the most this month. tortlconnect is the matching layer that makes the last part honest.

A consumer-protection tool that only works for people who can afford it isn't really consumer protection.

What we build

Consumer software, on three surfaces.

The app

tortl is published on the App Store as a free iPhone and iPad app, currently in an invite-only family beta ahead of a Summer 2026 public launch. The consumer-facing surfaces are coverage decoding (read a declarations page in plain English), crash documentation (a five-step reporter with offline support, photos, GPS, voice notes, and a one-tap PDF export), state-specific legal education, and the attorney directory.

The directory

A consumer-facing list of bar-verified PI attorneys, filterable by state and case type. Available in two views: your matches, ordered by tortlconnect's fit algorithm, and all attorneys in your state, a browseable directory where impression order can be bid on by participating attorneys. The line between the two is named in product, every time.

The engine

tortlconnect — the matching engine. Pure scoring, bidirectional, weighted, documented in full on the algorithm page. The score that ranks an attorney for a consumer is the same score that ranks a case for an attorney, with different weights.

Where we operate

Every U.S. state and the District of Columbia, except South Dakota.

tortl serves drivers in 49 states plus DC. South Dakota is excluded because its slight-and-gross contributory-negligence rule (SDCL 20-9-2) creates outcomes our consumer tools cannot safely navigate — guidance that's correct in 49 states could meaningfully mislead an SD driver about what they're owed. We will return when the law does.

Attorneys can apply from any state we operate in. Paid listings in each state are gated behind a written ethics opinion from counsel in that state confirming the model. Some markets will open before others as those opinions land.

Where the product stands today

Soft family beta, with a known runway.

The consumer app is live on the App Store but currently distributed as a soft beta to family and close-circle users for real-world testing. Public consumer access — the day the directory and matching engine open to the general public — is targeted for Summer 2026.

For attorneys: the founding cohort is open. Apply now and your listing is built, your bar standing is verified, and your profile is ranked into the algorithm the moment public access opens. Billing begins on that day, not before. The $149 founding rate is locked for life for every attorney who joins before that window closes.

Who's behind it

A small team, working in the open.

tortl was founded by Josh Graybill, who built the product after watching what currently happens to drivers in the immediate aftermath of a crash. The engineering, design, brand, and most of the writing are his. State-by-state legal content is reviewed by counsel in the relevant jurisdiction before it ships to drivers there.

We publish the algorithm because the alternative — selling rankings without telling anyone how the rankings are produced — is what we spent years watching the rest of the market do.