Konstantinos “Kosta” Ligris
Konstantinos “Kosta” Ligris
Title: Attorney, Founding Partner of Ligris & Assoc., P.C.
Age: 39
Experience: 14 years
Konstantinos Ligris is a Newton native who grew his legal practice from three attorneys in one office to 30 attorneys in five eastern Massachusetts locations (including headquarters in his home town), with title insurance offices in Florida and New York. He’s a big sports fan who works hard, plays hard and strives to maintain a balanced lifestyle. He’s got plans to keep growing his firm – and no plans to slow down.
Q: What percentage of you is an attorney and what percentage is an entrepreneur?
A: I started with a small firm in Brookline with my buddy from law school, who is my chief legal officer now. He was sort of employee number one and another friend from college was employee number two. As we saw the industry change, we saw an opportunity to create something. We started as a boutique firm and we’ve still managed to capture that boutique feel as the attorneys manage their relationships with the individual banks and clients.
There’s the practice of law and there’s running a business. I remember a time when I represented a guy who worked directly for [retired GE CEO] Jack Welch. I was trying to micromanage a piece of the transaction. He said, “Jack Welch taught me something I’m going to teach you. Hire smart people and get out of their way.” That still resonates with me. I still represent clients on a daily basis, but I have a lot of management responsibilities too. I have great teams. So what does my day look like? It depends on the day. Some days I’m 90 percent lawyer, 10 percent business guy; other days, it’s the other way around. They go hand in hand.
Q: Is that what you envisioned in law school?
A: No, not at all. My background is in the sciences. I studied physiology and chemistry at Boston University and originally thought I’d go to law school to become a patent lawyer. Then, the tech bubble burst and those jobs went away and I had to figure out what I wanted to do. I had my real estate license and had rented some apartments while I was in school, so I knew enough to be dangerous. I never envisioned being a real estate lawyer.
When you start to think like a scientist, it translates into everything you do. You set up a systemic approach to your research, and that’s what we did with the real estate process. We broke down files into stages and that’s how we manage the operation of our pipeline. I thought about bringing on a full-time operations person and the firm just grew organically. We started having paralegals go to law school and we supported them and got them through and they’ve stayed on as associates. Then we’ve had people come to us that just wanted the infrastructure of a big firm. That’s our trajectory in terms of growth.
Q: How much of your business is residential and how much is commercial?
A: It used to be 85 to 90 percent residential. We recently merged with a commercial firm in Boston and they’ve expanded our commercial work significantly. We’re moving in the direction of doing 25 to 30 percent commercial now. We like the balance; we represent a lot of developers and they need commercial support. It’s nice to have a group dedicated to that.
Q: How did you get involved in meditation?
A: I got into fitness and nutrition a couple of years ago. Building the business in the beginning meant long hours and poor choices. I lost about 120 pounds in the last couple of years by focusing on taking care of myself. I love spinning and boxing. They’re a great way to start and end your day. I believe in acupuncture and meditation and do them every week, sometimes more than once a week. I’ve gotten into restorative yoga and meditation as a way to balance the stress I have to deal with.
Q: What are your goals?
A: Our goal is to continue to grow. We look for opportunities to bring people on board that are the right fit. We’re very selective about who we bring into the family. We all get along and that’s important. We all try to find better ways to bring a better customer service experience. I believe that doing your job well shouldn’t be a selling point. That’s the baseline. You have to do your job, but optimizing the experience for the client is our goal. We’re also working on a system where we text message all of the parties in a deal the moment the deed is recorded, so there’s no waiting.
Q: What do you think is coming in 2016?
A: The attestation piece for title service providers in the CFPB’s new “Know Before You Owe” guidelines is going to become important. We just had one of our national lenders come to us and do a site visit to take a look at our technology. I think you’re going to see a lot more of that. I think banks will either take the position that they want a third party to ensure that attorneys are complying with best practices. I think that will be a hot topic going forward. Ultimately, there will be a lot of consolidation in the title insurance field. I think it will be challenging for the smaller firms. Our industry has become a lot like a financial services provider because we house sensitive non-public information social security numbers and loan applications and we have to worry about protecting data in motion and data at rest. Cyber-related incidents will continue to be growing concern.
Top Five Items On Ligris’ (Partially Completed) Bucket List:
- Run the Boston Marathon (done)
- Be proficient in all romance languages (partially done)
- Pilot a plane
- Get a speaking role in a film
- Go on a meditation retreat in Tibet
