Founding Partner, Lawyer

Overview

This role is part of a venture to build an AI-native law firm in New York using infrastructure that supports the practice end-to-end (intake, conflicts, research, drafting, review, matter management, and billing). The effort is currently operating in Switzerland; the New York practice is planned to be the next market.

The arrangement is structured as two co-founder “hats”:

• A lawyer who owns and runs the law firm (including license, entity, clients, and professional judgment)
• A co-founder who builds and co-found the management services organization (MSO) that runs everything other than the practice of law

Responsibilities

• Own and operate the law firm, including licensing, firm entity, client relationships, and professional judgment
• Build client relationships and convert conversations into engagements
• Co-found the MSO together, with real equity, to develop and run non-legal-practice functions such as:
  • AI systems the firm runs on
  • Engineering, operations, finance, marketing, administration, and recruiting
• Ensure the MSO operates for the firm under an arm’s-length services agreement and charges a services fee for providing those functions

Requirements

• Admitted in New York and in good standing
• Senior enough that clients hire you directly
• Ability to bring and leverage a book of business (knowledge of GCs, partners, founders, and alumni who will take your call)
• Experience and interest aligned with leaving practice to start a firm, without wanting to spend three years building a back office
• Desire for ownership rather than a salary track (founder equity in the MSO plus the economics of your own firm)
• Deep familiarity with legal ethics, including:
  • independence of judgment
  • fee-sharing
  • confidentiality
  • unauthorised practice
  • ability to understand MSO structures and where limits sit
• Preference for solving cases over discussing how cases are solved
• Tech-curious mindset toward AI in law
• Comfortable being early, with limited precedent and minimal support staff in the beginning

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building or advising on MSO, ABS, or other alternative legal service structures
• Prior ownership of a P&L or a practice group
• Litigation experience alongside advisory work
• Second language

Compensation & Benefits

• Founder equity in the MSO plus the economics of your own firm
• Seat at the table and upside that scales with both entities

Location

• New York
• Remote

Employment Type

• Full time