Startups have always been underserved by traditional law firms. The matters are too small for BigLaw economics, too varied for a generalist, and too important to skip. AI is finally making it economical to serve them well.

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A traditional firm couldn't afford to give an early-stage company the attention it needed. The hourly rates required to keep partners engaged were higher than the company's runway could support, so the work either went undone or went to a less experienced attorney.

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The Old Math

The result was predictable: founders signed agreements they didn't fully understand, captable mistakes propagated through later rounds, and regulatory issues surfaced at exactly the wrong moment.

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The New Math

AI changes the math. The same partner who used to charge a startup six hundred an hour can now spend twenty minutes on a matter that used to take three hours, and deliver better work. The unit economics that excluded startups from senior attention now include them.

We've structured our startup practice around this. Fixed-fee packages cover the most common work — formation, founder agreements, financing rounds, IP assignments. Senior attention is included; it's just delivered more efficiently than the old model allowed.

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Regulatory Navigation

The hardest part of advising startups isn't the corporate work — it's the regulatory landscape they're operating in. Privacy law, employment law, AI-specific regulation, sector-specific rules: any of these can become existential, and few founders have the training to spot the issue.

Our regulatory practice uses AI to monitor relevant developments across jurisdictions and surface what's relevant for a specific company. Founders get briefings tailored to their business — not generic newsletters.

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What Founders Should Look For

If you're a founder choosing legal counsel, our advice is to look for two things: clear pricing for the work you can predict, and senior partner availability for the work you can't.

Most early-stage legal pain comes from getting one of those two things wrong. The right firm gets both right.

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