Adelina Prokhorova, co-founder of Legapass: coding memory, securing digital legacy
Interview by Pascale Caron
In the hushed world of notary practice, few trajectories resemble that of Adelina Prokhorova. Born in Smolensk, between Moscow and Minsk, arriving alone in France at eighteen to study computer science, she embodies this generation of engineers for whom code is not an end in itself, but a lever to transform traditional professions. Co-founder of Legapass, a French legaltech specialized in notary compliance and the search for omitted assets in estate matters, she operates at the intersection of law, technology and the intimate.
Her journey illuminates a strong conviction: computer science is a universal language that allows entry into any profession, provided its rules and culture are respected.
From Smolensk to Grenoble: learning to think in another language
Adelina grew up in a western Russian city, marked by a solid scientific culture but where women remain a minority in computer science fields. Her interest in coding emerged very early, almost by osmosis. Her grandfather took apart computers, tinkered, observed. She watched, questioned, learned.
At school, she found a teacher willing to give her private lessons. The decision was made. It would be computer science.
At eighteen, she left her country to join the Grenoble Alpes University, still known then as Joseph Fourier University. Officially, she possessed the B2 level in French required for enrollment. In practice, she quickly measured the gap between the language certificate and daily reality.
She could have switched to English. She chose total immersion. Few foreign students around her. She forced herself to speak French. This language gradually became her second language, to the point that she now says she handles it better than Russian, which she is beginning to forget.
This geographical and linguistic displacement constitutes her first major break. She learned to adapt, to rebuild reference points, to think within another cultural framework. This cognitive plasticity still irrigates her entrepreneurial approach today.
Computer science as a key to enter professions
After her bachelor’s degree in Grenoble, she continued with a master’s, the second year of which was completed in Germany, at Karlsruhe University, right in the middle of the Covid period. The experience trained her, but did not convince her to settle there. She returned to France and joined Qwant, a French search engine positioned on data protection.
This stage was decisive. She discovered the complexity of a large-scale technological product and the necessity of understanding real uses behind the lines of code. She insists on one point: working in computer science requires learning the client’s profession.
Whether intervening in medicine, finance or notary practice, the developer cannot be content with writing code. They must integrate the legal, regulatory and operational constraints of the sector. Computer science then becomes a tool for hybridizing knowledge.
This transversality fascinates her. She regrets, moreover, that too many young girls turn away from these fields for fear of “spending their lives behind a screen.” In her view, the issue is not to stay behind the computer, but to automate what can be automated to free up time and value.
The genesis of Legapass: when the intimate becomes a project
The creation of Legapass does not stem from an abstract market opportunity. It is rooted in a personal experience. When Adelina lost her father, he, hospitalized and aware of the imminent outcome, transmitted his digital access codes to her. The objective was not financial. It was about recovering photos, memories, a legacy.
This moment acted as a revelation. What becomes of our digital heritage after our death? Who has access to our accounts? How do we find assets whose very existence may be unknown to loved ones?
In the era of platforms, online bank accounts, crypto-assets and dematerialized services, succession is no longer limited to tangible goods. It includes a set of digital elements often dispersed and poorly documented.
With her associates, Adelina first imagined a service intended for individuals, in connection with notaries, to organize the transmission of digital heritage. Very quickly, a difficulty appeared: “selling death” is a delicate exercise. Few people wish to anticipate this subject.
The strategic pivot was necessary. Rather than directly targeting families, Legapass chose to work closely with notaries, on their concrete problems.
Successions and omitted assets: investigating like digital genealogists
In estate files, notaries regularly encounter an impasse: families are convinced that the deceased held assets, but no document allows them to attest to it. Research is long, fragmented, sometimes unsuccessful.
Legapass develops tools to support these investigations. Adelina describes their work as that of digital genealogists. It involves reconstructing a person’s trajectory: places of residence, potential banking establishments, administrative traces, life histories.
Each file becomes a puzzle. Computer science does not replace human analysis, it structures it. Data is cross-referenced, clues consolidated, leads prioritized. The objective is clear: enable the notary to secure the liquidation of the estate and provide answers to heirs.
Beyond the search for assets, Legapass also intervenes on compliance issues, particularly in terms of combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The notary profession, subject to increasing obligations, must document and trace its diligence. Technological tools then become allies to reduce risk and standardize processes.
Adelina insists on one principle: never create unnecessary friction. Solutions must integrate with existing professional software, align with notarial office practices and respect their regulatory framework. Technology is only acceptable if it integrates seamlessly into the professional ecosystem.
Artificial intelligence: orchestrate, do not submit
Questioned about artificial intelligence, Adelina adopts a pragmatic position. For her, AI is no longer an option. “Without it, we can’t do anything anymore.” But she refuses any naive technophile posture.
She speaks of orchestration. The entrepreneur or developer must remain master of the tools. AI agents can assist, analyze, propose. They must not decide alone. Vigilance remains central, particularly in sensitive areas such as successions or regulatory compliance.
This requirement for control is found in her vision of digital education. Mother of a three-year-old child, she envisages neither total prohibition nor uncontrolled exposure. The challenge, she says, will be to learn to use tools intelligently, to verify information, to limit the sharing of personal data.
In a context where children’s overexposure on social networks is becoming a major societal issue, her caution testifies to an acute awareness of systemic risks.
Building your path: the strategy of small steps
Adelina does not recognize herself in heroic narratives based on immense and immediate ambition. She advances in stages. Her mantra is simple: “I am the one building my path.”
She never dreamed of becoming a global Tech figure. She set achievable goals, one after another. Leave to study in France. Obtain her degree. Find a permanent contract. Change countries. Launch into entrepreneurship despite having a young child.
This method, based on breaking down complex tasks into smaller steps, aligns with the principles of performance psychology: reinforcing confidence through the accumulation of intermediate successes. Far from being modest, this strategy reflects a fine understanding of progression dynamics.
She acknowledges the inspiration that a partner or mentor can represent, but refuses any simplistic generalization about differences between women and men. Each trajectory is singular. The engine remains internal.
Reading to change universes
Adelina reads little, for lack of time, but she mentions a work that has accompanied her for some time: Shantaram. A sprawling novel recounting the story of an Australian escaped from prison and taking refuge in India, the book immerses her in a universe radically different from her own.
She seeks less a method than a shift in perspective. Step out of her daily framework. Explore other cultures, other relationships to the world. This openness indirectly nourishes her capacity for adaptation and professional curiosity.
A legaltech anchored in reality
What strikes one about Adelina’s journey is the coherence between personal experience, technical training and fine understanding of a traditional profession. Legapass does not present itself as a disruptive platform in the caricatural sense of the term. It is built in dialogue with notaries, at the pace of their constraints.
In a context where regulation is strengthening, where compliance obligations are multiplying and where digital heritage is taking an increasing place in successions, the value proposition appears structural. Secure, document, find.
