The Ticket Clinic, a 30-year veteran of traffic ticket law in Florida, is going head-to-head in court with a new app trying to break into the industry.

Tikd, a startup founded three months ago by nonlawyers, allows people with minor traffic infractions to upload their tickets via smartphone. The large ticket firm claims Tikd is misleading consumers and violating Florida Bar rules about advertising, splitting fees with nonlawyers and agreeing to pay fines or costs for clients, which lawyers are forbidden from doing.

“Essentially, they advertise that they are an alternative to using a lawyer, and yet that's exactly what they do,” said The Ticket Clinic attorney Louis Arslanian of Hollywood. “There's no other way to fight traffic tickets than to utilize lawyers. And we believe that under the rules regulating the Florida Bar, there are a number of ethics opinions that mandate that what they're doing is incorrect.”