Doug Luftman/courtesy photo

Doug Luftman has been named general counsel of Nomis Solutions Inc.

At Nomis, Luftman will be tasked with overseeing the legal function for the Brisbane, California, company that licenses price optimization software to banks and financial institutions for deposits, lending and mortgages.

“Financial services and fintech is an exciting environment,” Luftman told Corporate Counsel in an interview Tuesday. “Nomis has huge growth potential as interest rates are rising and banks are further appreciating deep analytics and personalization and the like.”

He will serve as the first in-house lawyer at Nomis, which was founded in 2004, and steps into the role April 9 overseeing transactions, compliance, IP protection and corporate work for the company, which has about 100 employees.

Before Nomis, Luftman served as the top lawyer and chief innovation officer at IP management and analytics firm Lecorpio for nearly two years. He helped guide Lecorpio through its sale in July 2017 to IP software company Anaqua Inc.

He recalls that as he prepared to close the deal, he expected to look for employment elsewhere. “You're excited the deal closes, but realize it is basically time to seek another opportunity,” Luftman said.

Since leaving Lecorpio last summer, Luftman briefly served as outside GC for smart home products company Brilliant in San Mateo, California. He helped the company with transactional matters and negotiations.

He also served as an adviser to other tech firms as he explored new opportunities, with a focus on finding a position in the fintech space.

“Fintech is at a transition point where I think Nomis is really well positioned in that space, so I'll be heavily involved in navigating the fintech universe,” Luftman said.

The longtime IP and technology lawyer also worked in-house at NetApp Inc., CBS Corp., Palm Inc., Intel Corp. and Ciena Corp.

His first in-house role came in 2000 with Caspian Networks after spending three years with Fenwick & West.

In a 2013 interview with ALM publication The Recorder, Luftman said about his time with Caspian, “It was very exciting jumping into the fray, just before the [tech] bubble burst. I had every intention that if it should blow up, I would come back [to the firm], but I caught the in-house bug, and I've been in-house ever since.”