NextGenJustice offers 'key to the courthouse'

Idea for local veteran-owned business started on battlefield

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In Iraq and Afghanistan, Army veteran Derek Distenfield heard his soldiers loud and clear.

"Soldiers just kept having really simple issues, and they kept coming to me, and it really just set me on this journey of how we could solve this problem," he said.

The problem, he learned, whether military or not, is that red tape can keep legal matters from being handled.

"Soldiers were having what were relatively simple legal dilemmas, but they didn't have a place to go that they could afford, and it really started to affect them, both personally and professionally, and it really struck me as a challenge that needed to be solved," Distenfield said.

It was then that NextGenJustice was born -- a business designed to hand clients the "key to the courthouse."

In the heart of downtown Jacksonville, tucked away just blocks from The Jacksonville Landing, Distenfield's storefront is at 205 N. Laura St. NextGenJustice promises to give clients the power to handle their own legal matters quickly, without any extra hassle or expense.

"For too long, members of the military have only had two options: high-priced hourly providers and national faceless websites to solve their legal dilemmas, and we wanted to be a new choice," Distenfield said.

It provides a new alternative for people to solve problems in family law, estate planning, business law, even tax preparation.

"The way it would work is you would spend 10 minutes with us, answering some simple questions, similar to TurboTax, and you would sign it and our team will take it to the courts immediately," Distenfield said.

NextGenJustice has the software and the know-how to get the documents clients need, so they don't have to pay the added price or wait for someone else to do it for them.

"We empower people to represent themselves, to solve their own problems," Distenfield said. "We make that easy and affordable, and we do that by employing smart technology that allows them to generate their own forms. We provide them information that Florida attorneys have authored, so they can learn about what they are going through."

When Distenfield came home from serving his country, he opened his first NextGenJustice in Watertown, New York. But he saw the same needs existed in other communities and branched out.

"Jacksonville is a perfect opportunity for us, because of the demographics," he said. "We have the Navy population, which is huge. We have working-class families, and we have self-motivated entrepreneurs that really need legal solutions that we provide."

The co-founder of the nonprofit CoLabJax, which helps local entrepreneurs, is an Army veteran himself, who joined the military because of 9/11. Jason Salvagni was deployed with the 82nd Airborne, attached with the United Nations Peacekeeping. He's also a proud customer of NextGenJustice.

"There is a level of understanding, whether it be spoken or unspoken, that you get with someone who's been deployed, and Derek gets that," Salvagni said. "A lot of times, when you are dealing with legal issues, personal or business, there is a level of comfort that has to occur, because it's such an important thing in your life -- whether it's divorce or starting your own company -- Derek provides that level of comfort that just kind of takes the weight off your shoulders."

While NextGenJustice was born from seeing the needs of service members, the business is open to everyone, and is even giving back to the community. The business recently received a thank-you note from the Hubbard House, which works to help victims find safety from abusive situations.

"Hubbard House was having some challenges, trouble, with their temporary restraining orders," Distenfield explained. "We went in and developed software specifically for members of the Hubbard House where they could come in here and get a free temporary or permanent injunction."

NextGenJustice works closely with the organization to make it seamless, anonymous and safe for them. He said that anyone needing a restraining order can come in 100 percent free of charge, no questions asked, and his business will get the paperwork done for them.

Distenfield said he has a mantra: #GiveFirst. He lives up to that by offering another free service: free business tax returns for veteran-led businesses.

News4Jax found NextGenJustice through Veterans List, a nationwide company that compiles an easy-to-use database of veteran-owned businesses. Its mantra is "Helping Veteran-Owned Businesses Be Found." 

Anyone can search VeteransList.US for free. You can search by product, place or zip code. Also, veteran-owned businesses wanting to be in the company's database can request to be for free, as well.


About the Authors:

Kent Justice co-anchors News4Jax's 5 p.m., 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts weeknights and reports on government and politics. He also hosts "This Week in Jacksonville," Channel 4's hot topics and politics public affairs show each Sunday morning at 9 a.m.