Meet Me! Q&A with Dan Lear, Gravity Legal 

Tell us a little more about yourself and how you came up with the idea for your company.

Lawyers have very specific and fairly highly regulated financial needs. Additionally, many lawyers fail to meet their entrepreneurial potential because capital can be so scarce in legal.

Where did your business concept come from? How were you considering the legal services landscape at the time, and what sort of needs do you aim to fill?

Gravity Legal was born when a team at Gravity Payments, GL’s parent company, attempted to pay a legal bill issued by one of its outside law firms. The process was far harder than it needed to be, particularly for a company who did payments. 

That was the genesis of Gravity Legal.

How did you find us, and why Auxana, Inc.? What is your goal for partnering with the Community?

Beth, Auxana’s CEO, was introduced to me by a mutual friend – and I very much value this friend’s opinions. Beth and I hit it off immediately and it was clear that we both saw the challenges and opportunities in legal the same way. After that, it didn’t take long for us to find something to work on together.

What is your stance on the innovation of the legal industry?

Um, pro?

Seriously, though: I’ve been preaching that the wave has been coming for a long time. It’s both here and not here. On the one hand there is so much more going on in legal technology and innovation than when I started paying attention to this space back in 2013-2014. At the same time, so much of the “innovation” is window dressing and so much of what’s going on is still at the margins

There is still a ton of room for change and evolution.

What gets you up in the morning? How do you typically start your day?

I try to exercise at least 4x/week in the mornings. Usually a run around my neighborhood in Seattle. 

I like to make breakfast for my boys, or at least get it started so they can make it when they wake/are ready.

My boys are my motivation. I’ve chosen a crazy unconventional career path for a lawyer. I both want to be able to help them find their own paths and to have them have watched me have an unconventional path and know it’s possible. I want them to know that they can find success and build something that means something to them or at least to them if not to the rest of the world.

What would you be doing if you were not currently running this business?

Geez. That’s really hard. I’ve worked really hard to find myself in this crazy place so it’s hard to say what else I’d be doing. I fantasize about quitting once I feel financially secure enough and flipping houses with my wife. I guess I fantasize or I used to fantasize about being a rock star – honestly. But their half-lives are so short and, at the end of the day, you’re just a traveling minstrel. Working to change the legal system has so much more longevity and feels more meaningful day-to-day.

A day on the beach or a day on the slopes?

Probably the slopes, but hopefully the snow is good. And the sun is out. I love the beach too. I just don’t surf or boogie board as well as I ski. I’d want my kids to come in either case.

Thank you! Before you go, is there anything you would like to add?

U rock 🙂

 

We think you rock too Dan!