Towson Legal Tech Founder Naomi Kessler Signs Deal With State Court System

Naomi Kessler, founder of Towson-based legal technology company FilePoint Systems, signed a contract this month to modernize electronic case filing systems for several Maryland county court systems, the company's largest government contract since its founding.

Kessler, a former paralegal, started FilePoint seven years ago after growing frustrated with outdated electronic filing software used across many county court systems, building a replacement platform designed around a simpler interface for both attorneys and self-represented litigants who file cases without a lawyer.

"A huge number of people filing court cases don't have an attorney walking them through the software, and most of these systems were clearly built assuming everyone using them would be a legal professional," Kessler said. "We designed this specifically so someone filing their first small claims case can actually get through it without calling the clerk's office five times."

The contract will bring FilePoint's platform to several county circuit courts that have relied on the same filing software for over a decade, a system Kessler said has become increasingly difficult for the state's judiciary to maintain as the original vendor scaled back support. FilePoint will need to hire additional implementation staff to manage the rollout across multiple county systems simultaneously.

FilePoint Systems currently employs 22 people at its Towson office. Kessler said the government contract, while smaller in immediate revenue than some private-sector deals the company has pursued, gives FilePoint a reference client that should help it compete for similar modernization contracts in neighboring states.