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AI that fits how your firm practices.

You start with a proof of concept, not a sprawling transformation program, so you see the value before committing to more. It's on your terms, while we guide you through every step, and into the next.

Where firms quietly stall

The tool was the easy part.

Your people are using AI, and many of them love it. Individually, it helps them get a lot more done. The harder question is whether the firm is any better for it, in its work product, its margins, what clients actually experience. For most firms it isn't, because the value stays individual and ad hoc rather than built into how the firm practices.

95%
of corporate AI pilots, across industries, show no measurable return on investment.
54%
of law firms provide no AI training at all, so most use stays informal and unstructured.
190 hrs
per lawyer, per year, the time AI is expected to save, captured only by the firms that get it right.
3.9×
more likely to see a return on their AI investment, at law firms with a deliberate strategy.
See the data behind these numbers →

This is what getting AI right looks like.

AI isn't something you drop in overnight. Getting it right means a few deliberate steps, in the right order, and here's how it's done, by the book.

1

Proof of concept

What we do▾

We agree on one kind of work your lawyers handle often and set out how your best people do it. We configure that into the tool your firm already uses: the firm’s approach spelled out in the instructions the AI works from, your own precedents and templates behind it, and a defined standard for what the output has to contain. Your early adopters run it on live matters while we train them and correct the configuration against what those matters expose.

What you walk away with▾

One workflow running to a standard your partners set. The method is set out, so the firm can see what it does, correct it, and hand it to a new lawyer without the original author in the room.

2

The Roadmap

What we do▾

We assess each practice group and rank the candidates by the return to the firm: how often the work comes up, what it costs the firm today, how well it suits this kind of setup, and who would champion it. We help you identify your next adopters and secure the partners whose support the next stage depends on.

What you walk away with▾

A focused roadmap the firm can share with partners and staff. They know what is coming and are ready when it reaches them, and the firm is not experimenting in several places at once.

3

Rollout

What we do▾

We build out the rest of the workflows on the roadmap, group by group, to one standard. The lawyers at this stage need more support than your early adopters did, so most of the work is training them, sitting with them on their own matters, and staying with them.

What you walk away with▾

The workflows on the roadmap are running across the whole firm, not in a few practice groups and not only with the early adopters. Those who needed more help have received personalized support, and the firm is seeing the returns it wanted.

4

AI counsel of record

What we do▾

We keep the workflows current as the tools change and as your lawyers improve, train laterals and new associates, and bring new work into scope as the firm takes it on. At agreed intervals we review with firm management what the program has returned, what has changed outside the firm that it should act on, and what the firm should take on next.

What you walk away with▾

The return grows as new work comes into scope. The firm does not have to follow the market and the tools itself, and will not be managing another catch-up project in two years, because the program is kept current.

The day after

A partner opens a new matter and the first draft is already there, built the way your firm builds, in your firm's voice, the citations already checked.

What this looks like across the firm →
A senior lawyer at her desk reviewing a complete first draft already prepared

Discovery

Understanding the firm, its practice, and the tools already in it

Proof of concept

Six to eight weeks from kickoff to a working workflow

The Roadmap

Three to four weeks across the practice groups

Rollout

Scaled to the roadmap, typically four to six months

AI counsel of record

An annual retainer, with periodic reviews

How we engage

What to expect.

Every engagement opens with a discovery call about your firm and what it already has running. If we’re a fit, we begin with a proof of concept, then move one stage at a time.

The early stages run mostly remotely, so we work with firms across the US without friction. We’re on-site for the moments that need it, including key milestones and periodic reviews.

Questions we get asked.

What is legal engineering?

Every firm has a way of doing its work that was never written down, because until AI there was no reason to write it down. Legal engineering takes that expertise, judgment and process and builds it into the tools the firm uses. The work then comes out consistently, efficiently, and to the standard the firm sets, and the firm can go on improving it. This is an established role, not a new idea: large firms staff it internally, and so do the companies building the AI tools.

Does this turn our firm into a technology company?

No, and we'd push back on that framing. Treat AI the way you treat the internet: a utility that runs quietly in the background so you can deliver your core work more efficiently. You stay a law firm practicing law, while the technology makes the practice sharper. We're not asking you to build a tech function or become something you're not. We're giving your lawyers the leverage to be exceptional at what they already do.

If one model is the best for what we need today, why stay model-agnostic?

Two reasons. We don't know where AI is going, which model will be best tomorrow, or how the providers will change their limits, pricing, and terms. And we don't know where your firm is going, what you'll need a year from now. Either way, the real work is in your firm, not the model: we set out how it works and configure that into whatever tool you use. So you can change models without redoing the work, and we keep you current on where things are heading.

Do we need developers for this?

Almost never. Nearly all of this is configuration inside the tools your firm already pays for, and we do that work ourselves. We don’t sell software and we don’t take commissions from vendors. Occasionally something does need building, usually a connection to a system with no off-the-shelf integration, and when it does we bring in the people for it and manage them.

Who will we actually be working with?

Codified Counsel is founder-led by design. The senior partner you first speak with is the one who scopes the work and runs it, start to finish, never handed down to a junior team. Capacity is deliberately limited to keep it that way.

We've already bought an AI tool, is it too late?

Not at all, many of our engagements begin with a firm that already has AI running, often ungoverned, and our job is to make it work the way it should. The Roadmap takes stock of what you already have, and the Shadow AI Audit surfaces what's quietly in use before it turns into a risk. Setting out how your firm works still comes first, and the tools you already have are reconfigured to fit it.

Do we have to commit to the whole program up front?

No. The full path is how this work extends across the firm and its workflows, and that takes time. After the proof of concept, you decide which work comes next and when. Plenty of firms start by seeing what the proof of concept returns and go further only when it is warranted. No auto-renewals, no escalation clauses, no lock-in.

After the engagement, are we dependent on you to keep going?

No, independence is the goal. We set out how your firm works, train your team for as long as it takes, and make sure they have genuinely adopted it before we step away. From there, they can build and adjust automations themselves, without paying for outside development every time something changes. The foundation is yours to keep. We're here when you want us for the larger moves, but you're never locked in.

Will a new AI workflow work from day one?

No, and you should be wary of anyone who promises it will. A new workflow is like a talented new hire: it needs onboarding, documented procedures, and hands-on training before it performs at its best. Judging a freshly built system against a human process your firm has refined over years is the wrong comparison. The firms that see real results invest the same rigor in their AI that they'd give a new employee, which is the work we structure with you. We make the full case here →

Not sure which tier is right?

Tell us where your firm is. A discovery call clarifies the path.

Schedule a discovery call →