Clearing the Slate

Shortly after graduating from Trinity, Yousef Kassim ’08 was arrested for a misdemeanor crime.

Kassim wanted to clear his name by expunging the charge from his record. But when he turned to a lawyer for help, Kassim shocked by the size of the lawyer’s fees. So, he decided to change the game.

In 2010, Kassim created EasyExpunctions, a software-driven company that helps seal and expunge criminal records for citizens with certain minor offenses, helping them get their lives back on track. 

“Sometimes, EasyExpunctions is the first call people make when they leave the courthouse because this is something that has impacted their life,” Kassim says. 

Kassim’s company, which offers the expunction service at a fraction of the cost of a lawyer and uses a unique, automated system that speeds up the process, has already had a tremendous track record. The company has finalized a partnership with Bexar County’s Goodwill Industries, that will give the charity giant access to a specialized version of Kassim’s product. This partnership has the potential to annually help more than 18,000 local job-seekers figure out whether they’re eligible for an expunction.

Thanks to this type of success, Kassim’s company has expanded to seven states and has more than 30 employees. This past summer, the company even brought on a current Trinity student, Daniela Molina ’20 as a summer intern.

Molina, a business analytics and technology major from Seattle, Washington, worked with the company’s delivery team to generate legal documents for filing in court. “It’s hard to do this work in a way that’s fast, and accurate, and good,” Molina says. “But that’s a challenge I don’t shy away from, and that’s what we’re doing at Easy Expunctions.”

Molina wasn’t just a basic intern at the business: her internship gave her the chance to contribute to high-level discussions with Kassim and other company leaders.

It’s the type of internship opportunity, Molina adds, that’s unique to Trinity’s alumni network, and unique to San Antonio as well.

“I love collaborating, so to work in a place where you feel like you’re being heard, that was amazing,” Molina says. “I don’t think I would have experienced anything like this if I didn’t work for Easy Expunctions.”

With the emergence of San Antonio’s startup community, Kassim says he is grounded by the phone calls and testimonies of customers who have reached out to the company in gratitude, thanking them for services rendered.

“I have customers leaving the courthouse on Cloud Nine because now they can apply for a job or gain some closure," Kassim says. That is rewarding, as a business, to know that this transaction really meant something to them.”