Jonathan Fouch is the Chief Technology Officer of Shea Law, PLLC. He has spent the greater part of his 12-year career helping families protect their legacy through technology.
Jonathan began his career at Shea Law Firm in 2011, starting as an estate planning paralegal. In that role, he drafted thousands of estate plans, from basic wills to complex trusts for million-dollar estates.
From 2014-2016, Jonathan served as liaison to the firm’s biggest client, a large financial planning conglomerate.
In 2016, Jonathan became the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Firm. As CTO, Jonathan created the firm’s online estate planning platform, dubbed “Dolphin Trust.” This platform allows clients to log into the firm’s website and design their estate plan with a turbo-tax like interface. Clients can choose who will be in charge and who will receive an inheritance. The firm’s attorneys can then review their answers and provide feedback and advice. Since 2016, this software has been used by over 4,000 clients to create estate plans of various complexities. In 2021, Jonathan added the ability for this software to generate the estate planning documents themselves.
In 2019, Jonathan started History Creators, a digitalization company that preserves photos and movie film for clients throughout the country. Jonathan largely works with individuals, families, and organizations to preserve their history through digital means.
In 2022, Jonathan, as part of Shea Law, founded BluHarbor Legal. BluHarbor Legal is a first-of-its-kind, online estate planning firm that provides an easy-to-use interface for clients to create their estate plan from the comfort of their own home. But unlike other online “will and trust” platforms, BluHarbor Legal is an actual law firm and can provide clients with legal advice. It is a “best of both worlds approach” and gives clients the convivence of an online interface with the peace of mind that comes with being able to ask real attorneys their questions.
Prior to joining the firm in 2011, Jonathan co-founded Excellence for Detroit, a nonprofit organization that helped hundreds of high school students in Detroit prepare for college success. Jonathan assisted the organization with curriculum development, teaching, and fundraising. In total, the organization helped Detroit youth receive over a half-million dollars in scholarship money. Jonathan was with the organization from 2010 to 2015.
Jonathan graduated magna cum laude from Oakland University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and German Language and Literature. Using research he completed at the German Federal Archives in Berlin, his senior thesis examined the effects of mass media in 1930s Germany.
Outside of work, Jonathan revels in his role of official storyteller for his group of longtime friends. He enjoys traveling, whether it’s to Dublin or Vienna, or to small towns throughout the Midwest. He also is an avid consumer of gadgets, especially anything made by Apple. He lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan, just outside of Detroit.
