The law might seem all about lines in some dusty old books. However, technologist Hamid Kohan, President & CEO of Legal Soft Inc., has enhanced traditional working methods with his unique vision. Coming from the high-tech arena of Silicon Valley, Hamid has brought technology to the legal code, quickly establishing a 100% growth on a per-year basis for his company.
Legal-Tech or Legal technology is a notion that has been around since the 1980s when personal PCs became the game-changers in the industry. This introduced the concepts of litigation software programs, the ability to send emails, and connecting directly to clients online.
A glimpse of 2020, when the covid-19 pandemic forced the whole justice system to become virtual and accelerated the development of the whole industry, making it undergo rapid transformation. A recent research by Gartner estimates that in the next couple of years, legal departments will increase their spending on legal technology by threefold and will have automated about half of the legal work related to major corporate transactions.
Legal Soft Solution has a motto, “You do the law and let us do the business of law.” The company provides an expert service in areas like business development, marketing, lead generation, automation, and operations. All these areas are traditionally considered separate from the practice of law but have become increasingly relevant to the industry in recent times. Legal Soft Inc also employs a number of legal industry practice experts whose expertise ranges from Personal Injury, Employment, Immigration, Workers Comp, and other practice areas.
The company deploys a group of experts to assist firms at a fraction of the cost of local staffing. Today, Legal Soft Solution is working with over 100+ law firms nationwide to expand and grow each practice coast to coast with a 100% success rate. Hamid Kohan—in an exclusive interview with Insights Success—sheds light on his journey from tech offices of Silicon Valley to working in those in the legal profession.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Hamid, briefly describe your professional journey up until now.
I received my bachelor’s degree in engineering from California State University at 17 and was quickly recruited to Silicon Valley to begin my High-Tech career. While working with several companies in the high-tech arena, I received my MBA at the age of 21.
I was involved with several high-profile companies, such as the first pioneers in Terminal Technology and the successful Initial Public Offering of the company on the New York Stock exchange. I was recruited by a first-ever company that created the first Lap Top computer Grid System as Sr. Manager of Product Development.
I joined SUN Microsystem as Sr. Engineering Manager in 1984, establishing my career as Sr. Business Development Management and participating in the company’s growth from 200 staff to 13000 employees in 8 years.
I was part of the team that took the company public and worked with one of the most established groups of entrepreneurs, such as Eric Schmidt (Google CEO), Carol Bartz (Yahoo CEO), and many others. After that, I moved to head Hitachi Computer Products and Northern America Director of Business Development & Technology planning and then as Director of Product Management at Tandem Computer (HP Computers).
In 1999, I was recruited to run Emblazed Technology (Webradio), a publicly traded company, as Division President, where I grew the operation by 300% in 12 months. In 2004 I co-founded CAPLUCK Inc., a leading provider of Data Management systems with clients in 40 states and the largest provider of services to Not-Profit Organizations countrywide.
In early 2016, I created Legal Soft Inc., a source of Practice Management Solutions, working with several local Law Firms to achieve a growth of more than 100% year per year. We established several Nationwide Law Firms and expanded practices in areas of Personal Injury, Employment, Immigration, Business Law, and others. We have taken several law firms from inception to the multi-state and multi-practice area in less than 12 months.
I have also served as COO of several successful practices and managed each practice’s growth and development over the years. I have worked with over 100+ law firms nationwide and helped them expand and grow each practice with a 100% success rate.
What challenges did you face along the way?
Scaling is always a challenge, significantly if you are growing at the rate of 300% year after year. Staffing, Technology development, and market adaptability are several other challenges in scaling a company. Becoming an industry expert overnight is difficult, and then a mentoring attorney in each practice area becomes very challenging.
What significant impact have you brought to the legal tech industry?
Creating a systematic approach to the operation of a law firm was our biggest achievement. We were creating several technologies and solutions to streamline the Law Practice operation and optimize the ROI.
Several organizations attempted to do so in the past but were not scalable. In 18 months, we have implemented Legal Soft Services into over 300 Law firms nationwide. An increase of 300% in fees collected and a 200% increase in staffing was achieved in several law practices.
Tell us about Legal Soft Solution and its foundation pillar.
Bringing a “High Tech” company mentality and scalability for Silicon Valley training and success was the pillar of Legal Soft Solution’s growth. Ability to utilize technology, “Thinking outside of the box,” utilizing outsourcing, and tracking all KPIs with each practice.
How does Legal Soft Solution promote workforce flexibility, and what is your role in it?
Workforce flexibility has been the most significant contribution to our growth. The ability to recruit, train, and onboard over 500 Virtual Legal Staff globally and successfully place them into Law Practice nationwide has significantly contributed to our growth.
What is your take on technology’s importance, and how are you leveraging it?
Technology is essential to any business growth, accountability, and scaling. This is apparent in every industry. I don’t mean just a Case Management Technology, the only existing technology footprint in Law Practices. We have and continue to develop advanced technology to improve operational efficiencies, reduce redundancies and increase ROI in this industry.
What will be the following significant change in the legal tech industry, and how are you preparing for it?
Virtual Law Practices consists of attorneys and Sr. Paralegals at the firm. All other virtual resources include Legal Assistants, Intake Staff, Case Managers, Document Collections, Case Workers, Marketing, Case generation, Finance, and accounting. All are integrated with state-of-art technologies.
What are your goals in the upcoming future?
We are providing Legal Soft Solution services globally and partnering with other service providers in this industry to streamline the entire operation.
What advice would you like to give the next generation of aspiring business leaders?
Not to give up, deal with the challenges, and it is impossible without a great team of contributors. Innovate, adjust and implement.
