Founding Partner, Lawyer

Overview

This full-time role is based in San Francisco, with remote work available.

This role involves co-founding and building an AI-native law firm that is structured to meet California requirements. You will have primary responsibility for owning and operating the practice of law, while also co-founding the management services organization (MSO) that builds and runs the non-legal infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Own and run the law firm, including:
  • Your license, your entity, your clients, and your professional judgement
  • Exercising independent professional judgement as the lead lawyer, with no decision-making authority ceded to the MSO side
• Co-found and incorporate the MSO together with the team as founders, including real equity on both sides
• Ensure the MSO is responsible for everything other than the practice of law, including:
  • AI systems the firm runs on
  • Engineering, operations, finance, marketing, administration, and recruiting
• Participate in a two-hat model:
  • Lead the practice of law as the lawyer-owner
  • Co-found and help build the MSO so the firm becomes faster than traditional firms
• Operate under an arm’s-length services agreement where:
  • The MSO serves the firm
  • The MSO takes a services fee for those services

Requirements

• Admitted in California and in good standing
• Senior enough that clients hire you rather than the letterhead behind you
• Bring a book of business, including the ability to engage with general counsel, partners, founders, and alumni who take your call and convert those conversations into engagements
• Experience or thought process related to leaving practice to start your own firm, with the key limitation being avoiding a multi-year effort to build a back office
• Strong preference for ownership over a salary line, including interest in founder equity and the economics of your own firm
• Solid command of legal ethics, including:
  • Independence of judgement
  • Fee-sharing
  • Confidentiality
  • Unauthorized practice
• Understanding of how MSO structures work and where legal limits sit
• Prefer solving cases and building legal craft over discussing how you solve cases
• Tech-curious mindset regarding AI in law
• Comfortable being early in an environment without brand precedent, an established support staff, or existing infrastructure from day one

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
• A second language

Location

• San Francisco (remote work available)

Employment Type

• Full time