Program

Fractional Chief AI Officer

Senior AI ownership for the firm, without a full-time hire.

The problem

Clients want a name. The firm needs someone accountable for AI across practices, vendors and risk — and the partners who could do it already have a practice to run.

The evidence

  • 68%

    of buyers would consider changing a firm that isn't delivering clear AI value, within five years.

    Thomson Reuters Legal Department Operations Report, 2026

  • 11%

    are already reconsidering their firms over AI value.

    Thomson Reuters Legal Department Operations Report, 2026

  • 2%

    of 1,054 outside counsel guidelines mention AI at all.

    Fulkerson Advisors, September 2026

What you get

  • A named accountable person for AI, in your governance and available to clients
  • Firm AI policy and approved tooling kept current
  • Answers to client questionnaires and panel reviews, maintained as a set
  • Oversight of pilots and builds against the method
  • Quarterly reporting to the board or executive committee

How it works

  1. MONTH 1

    Evidence and baseline

    Inventory tools, policies, pilots and client commitments. Establish what the firm has already promised.

  2. ONGOING

    Own the agenda

    Fixed days each month: governance, client questions, vendor decisions and delivery oversight.

  3. QUARTERLY

    Prove

    Report to the board against the baseline, and reset the priorities for the next quarter.

Every engagement leaves an instrument behind. Here it is: A standing AI governance pack the firm takes to clients.

How it runs in practice

Illustrations of how the program typically runs. Not accounts of client engagements.

Illustration

A firm with AI pilots running in five practice groups, no firm-wide policy, and a panel review from its largest client eight weeks away.

  1. Month 1Inventory the tools and pilots, including personal-account use, and collect what the firm has already told clients. Draft the policy with the risk lead.
  2. Month 2Approved-tool list and human-review rules land with practice heads. The client's AI questions are answered once, properly, and approved for reuse across the panel review and future RFPs.
  3. Month 3Pilots are assessed against the method: the two with a measurable baseline continue, the others stop. Reporting for the client is built from the baseline rather than assembled from anecdotes.
  4. OngoingTwo to four days a month: governance, client questions, vendor decisions, and a quarterly report to the executive committee.

Signals it is working

  • The panel review is answered from an approved set, not assembled overnight
  • A named person owns AI across practices, and clients can be told who
  • Pilots either have a baseline or have stopped

Illustration

A firm whose clients have begun adding AI clauses to their outside counsel guidelines, with different requirements from each client.

  1. Month 1Collect the clauses already accepted across the client base and find where the firm has committed to things it cannot currently evidence.
  2. Months 2–3Set a firm position that satisfies the strictest guidelines, then map each client's requirements onto it so compliance is a check rather than a project.
  3. OngoingMaintain the position as guidelines change, and handle the questions as they arrive instead of at renewal.

Signals it is working

  • One firm position covers most client requirements
  • Commitments made in guidelines can be evidenced on request
  • New AI clauses are answered in days, not escalated

What it costs

Scoped range

Ongoing, monthly

Scoped on days per month with a three-month minimum. Firms usually start at two to four days while the governance and client questions are heaviest.

What it does not include

This is not a full-time role, it is not an indemnity, and it does not make us your firm's counsel on professional obligations. Delivery work is scoped and quoted separately from the retainer.

What it typically leads to

  • Program

    AI Adoption & Enablement

    Get AI into the work your fee earners actually do, with evidence for clients.

    Read more →

  • Program

    Data & KM Foundation

    Make your own work findable, so AI has something good to work with.

    Read more →
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