In an effort to feature more insurtechs, Digital Insurance has modified the format of our Meet the insurtech series.
Grahame Cohen, Epoq founder and CEO, shared the following responses, which have been lightly edited.
What's the origin story of the company?
The inspiration came from a family member who was starting a business. This relative and his business partner focused their capital investments on computer equipment and failed to draft a partnership agreement. When a dispute eventually arose, my relative was saddled with a fortune in legal fees.
This raised an important question: why do so many emerging businesses fall short in protecting their legal rights? The answer comes down to one thing—legal services are incredibly expensive.
I was motivated to seek a solution and began developing Desktop Lawyer, an automated expert system that could put digital legal document preparation in the hands of consumers and small businesses. This offered more than simple templates. Desktop Lawyer was an intelligent system that guided users through complex legal processes.
When was it founded and/or when was the product launched?
Founded in 1997, Epoq started in the United Kingdom. The company introduced the first online divorce service and facilitated the entry of both a major consumer insurance brand and a major bank into the legal services sector.
Epoq expanded into the United States life insurance market in 2016, followed by the launch of its initial service offering in the U.S. property and casualty market in 2019. Building on the success of these ventures, the company's newest innovation is an expanded suite of legal services paired with groundbreaking mediation coverage that is a first-to-market solution in the U.S.
Can you tell me about the founders/founding team?
The founding team brought together technological innovation and deep legal expertise. I partnered with Nikki Casali, who remains one of the senior developers at Epoq, to build the original automated legal document system. My brother Richard, a practicing lawyer, along with our father Frederick, a barrister and solicitor, provided the company's initial legal content and expertise. Richard Cohen continues to advise the company.
This combination of technologists and legal professionals was essential to creating an expert system that could automate complex legal processes rather than just digitizing static forms. Together, they developed what became the world's first automated digital legal service for consumers and small businesses.
Any meaning behind the company name?
The name has both personal and industry significance. From an early age, I was fascinated by time—or rather the lack of it—and had a deep interest in physics, the universe and concepts like time travel. This personal connection to time led me toward the name Epoq.
At the same time, when the company was founded, it was clear amid the dotcom boom that the way legal services were delivered was inevitably going to change. In this sense, it was truly an epoch, meaning something significant enough to mark a before and after, a defining moment that changes the course of events that follow.
How many employees?
Nearly 40.
Where is the company based?
The company's leadership, development team and U.K. content and legal advice team are based in the U.K., while the U.S. sales, marketing and content team are based in the U.S.
What pain points is the technology trying to solve?
The traditional model of legal services is broken, so Epoq has spent the last two decades trying to re-engineer it. Consumers and small businesses struggle to obtain documents and advice at a reasonable cost. Central to the company's mission is the use of technology to deliver comprehensive digital legal documents and attorney support at an affordable price point. Epoq is pioneering the use of mediation coverage with cost reduction in mind because it reduces the likelihood of disputes ending up in court.
Another core aim is to help tackle fundamental problems in the insurance industry, primary among these are value and engagement. In the traditional insurance model the only interactions between policyholders and carriers are billing and infrequent claims. Carriers have limited touchpoints with customers and struggle to differentiate their offering. Epoq assists by providing a service of genuine value to insureds that can be employed to help address issues with rising costs and social inflation. Meanwhile the carriers benefit from a source of non-risk income by encouraging policyholders to protect their interests through vetted legal documents and access to mediation coverage.
Additionally, clients often ask insurance agents legal questions and even seek their input on certain documents. Epoq positions the agent as a more well-rounded and trusted solution provider who can point clients to the legal services available via their policy.
What funding rounds has the company had?
None. Epoq is self-funded.
What's ahead?
Over the past five years, Epoq has proven to carriers that legal bolt-ons represent a massive opportunity in the U.S. insurance market. An initial limited-service offering validated the concept and helped the company overcome early challenges. Now Epoq is ready to launch what the business has been building toward all along—a comprehensive legal service for policyholders available nationwide.
The enhanced Epoq platform includes four integrated services: precision legal document preparation, first-to-market mediation insurance coverage, AI-enhanced legal Q&A and professional legal review services.
Epoq's next five years will focus on capturing the market potential, expanding carrier partnerships and establishing legal services as a bolt-on category akin to cyber or identity recovery. Epoq is positioned to help carriers combat rising liability costs while providing agents with tools that make them better trusted advisors for their clients.
