Expect a legal AI that directly automates tasks frequently performed by lawyers

New position: IT Director

Company: LigalTrack AD

 

Introduce yourself in a few sentences and highlight key points from your career development so far?

My name is Atanas Mihnev and I have over 10 years of experience in creating software innovations in small and large organizations. Back in 2015, I was the team manager at Mtel (now A1), which created the first digital loyalty program in the industry in the region. After that, I gained managerial experience at LigalTrack AD, where I was a product manager of innovative web-based software for legal teams, and later became an investor in the company. In 2020, we created OMNIO – the Bulgarian software for preventing banking fraud, whose technological solution continues to win awards today. After a short stay in the National Assembly, I returned to the industry as the director of the fintech company Infinо. My return to the company as IT director is part of a larger restructuring related to a successful management buyout by a foreign institutional investor, with the goal of creating new technologies for lawyers and attorneys based on artificial intelligence.

What motivates you to accept this new role and what are your main goals in the position?

I am motivated by the ambitious growth plans of the shareholders in the company and the new attracted funding for growth. We are already the first provider of legal software in the country with a mobile application, and we will be the first to launch on the market an integration with legal AI that directly automates tasks frequently performed by lawyers.

I am motivated by the desire to ease the lives of our clients in Bulgaria and Europe. Amid the chaos of implementing new technologies, there are opinions that due to AI, lawyers will lose their jobs. My opinion is quite different. In the next 2 years, AI will become an assistant to the lawyer, whether in private practice, in a firm, or as part of a corporate legal department. The use of technology will significantly increase the efficiency of lawyers who are not afraid to experiment with it and – like any innovation – will make the world a much better place. But lawyers, like most busy providers of professional services, do not have time to learn by trial and error. It will be the job of their technology providers to deliver a working solution. That’s why we are working with the best AI experts in the world, and my goal is for our team to be the first bearer of innovation in Bulgaria and the region again.

What professional or personal qualities do you think will help you succeed in your new position?

Well, I move fast and break things, as Mark Zuckerberg says. In 2020, our team worked entirely remotely, and our management has maintained this trend to today. It was something new for everyone, some are dropping out today, but the company continues to rely on a distributed team across the country. We are not afraid to do something we haven't done yesterday and to throw away something done the day before, replacing it with something new. This is what we teach the many new additions to the company, as in a time when companies are downsizing their IT teams, I am hiring people in mine. So I move fast, break things, I am not afraid to swim against the current, and I love to see how people learn by doing something that challenges them. I myself created an AI agent today, and that is something I find exciting. I rely on these qualities, and I think people in our industry should rely on them going forward!

What challenges do you expect to face and how do you approach change management?

We manage change by leading it, being the first to do it, and offering it to our clients. They say, lawyers are conservative. I think that since they sell their time and expertise, they have just learned to quickly assess what has value for them. If something is valuable, legal professionals are very progressive in adopting it. So the challenge will be to impose our innovative ideas on the market, but I rely on my over 10 years of experience in this.

What is your approach to teamwork and building a strong internal culture?

The team is built around a common goal. When we are heading towards a peak, metaphorically speaking, and someone falls, and the others help them up, or when we go through a storm together, we build a team. This is challenging, but it is possible even without gathering in the office and eating pizza, we still work remotely. Somehow, however, it always works out.

What would you like people to say about you in the company after a few months?

I want them to say that because of me they no longer do only things they have already done.