AI Governance Counsel
Legal counsel for companies building, buying, and deploying AI in regulated settings. The EU AI Act, state AI laws, vendor contracts, and incident response.
What AI Governance Counsel Is, and Is Not
AI governance counsel is legal work. When a company builds, buys, or deploys artificial intelligence in a regulated setting, the law already has something to say about it. The EU AI Act, a growing set of US state AI laws, and existing statutes on discrimination, privacy, consumer protection, and sector-specific safety all apply at once. Consilium Law reads the rules against your specific deployment and delivers a written legal view of what has to happen.
This is a legal practice. The work is interpreting the statute, drafting and reviewing documents, representing the company on the legal record, and responding when something goes wrong. Non-legal engagements such as program design, policy drafting for in-house teams, and board education sit outside this practice. When that kind of engagement is the right next step, Consilium refers the work out.
The practice runs through Consilium Law's founding attorney, who has spent two decades on both sides of the table: practicing law, building and running technology companies, and coming back to practice with a different view of what these rules actually do to operations. Matters are taken under flat-fee outside general counsel engagements or as discrete representations.
Where AI Governance Counsel Shows Up
Regulated Companies Deploying AI
Healthcare, financial services, clean energy, hiring, insurance. The AI tool is a vendor product but the legal obligation stays with the deployer.
AI Product Companies
Providers placing systems on the EU market or selling to regulated US buyers. Article 9 through Article 15 obligations, conformity assessment documentation, and provider-deployer contract allocation.
Boards Asking the Right Questions
Directors who need a written legal view on what the AI exposure actually is, what the company is obligated to do, and whether the governance record will hold up to a regulator or a plaintiff.
The Practice
EU AI Act Obligation Mapping
Written legal analysis of what the EU AI Act requires of your specific deployment.
- Scope determination: provider, deployer, importer, distributor
- Risk classification: Article 5 prohibited, Article 6 and Annex III high-risk, Article 52 transparency
- Obligation matrix against Articles 9 through 15 with legal conclusions
AI Vendor Contracting
Drafting and redlining the contracts that decide who carries which AI obligation.
- Provider-deployer allocation, documentation handoff, and audit rights
- Model change notice, training data representations, and IP indemnities
- Cross-border data transfer clauses and regulator cooperation terms
High-Risk System Counsel
Representation on the record for deployments inside Annex III and sector-specific regulated uses.
- Legal review of technical documentation and conformity assessment record
- Human oversight obligations under Article 14 and post-market monitoring
- State AI law obligations: Colorado SB 205, Illinois HB 3773, NYC Local Law 144
AI Incident Legal Response
Representation when a deployment goes wrong and the record has to come together fast.
- Serious incident reporting under Title VIII-A and state analogs
- Privileged internal review, root-cause documentation, and vendor claims
- Regulator and counterparty communications and board reporting
Legal Review of Governance Programs
A written legal opinion on a program your team or an outside provider has already built, focused on where the record has to hold up.
- Legal sufficiency of NIST AI RMF programs
- Board-approved AI policy review and redline
- Vendor risk framework legal review against in-scope statutes
- Written legal opinion with gap list and remediation priorities
Frequently Asked Questions
What is AI governance counsel?
Legal work a company needs when it builds, buys, or deploys artificial intelligence in a regulated setting. That includes interpreting the EU AI Act and state AI laws, drafting and redlining AI vendor contracts, representing the company on high-risk AI system obligations, and responding to AI-related incidents. It is legal practice.
Does my company need AI governance counsel if we do not build AI?
Deploying AI is a regulated activity under the EU AI Act and a growing number of US state laws, even when the model is built by someone else. A deployer using a third-party tool for hiring, underwriting, healthcare, or other high-risk purposes carries its own legal obligations. Counsel helps the deployer understand those obligations, allocate them correctly in the vendor contract, and document the record that regulators will later ask for.
What is the EU AI Act high-risk deadline?
Obligations for high-risk AI systems under Article 6 and Annex III of the EU AI Act become enforceable on August 2, 2026. US companies placing high-risk AI on the EU market, or whose AI output is used in the EU, fall inside the regulation even without an EU office. Counsel determines whether a system is in scope, maps the Article 9 through Article 15 obligations, and reviews the technical documentation and conformity assessment record for legal sufficiency.
Can you review a governance program our team already built?
Yes. Consilium Law reviews AI governance programs and policies for legal sufficiency. That includes NIST AI RMF programs, board-approved AI policies, and vendor risk frameworks. The review produces a written legal opinion on where the program meets applicable legal obligations and where the record needs work. Non-legal program design and board education sit outside this practice.
Do state AI laws apply to companies outside that state?
Many do, through extraterritorial provisions that follow the user or the data. Colorado SB 205, Illinois HB 3773, and similar statutes reach companies that deploy covered AI on residents of those states regardless of where the company is headquartered. Counsel reviews your deployment footprint against the current multistate map and identifies which obligations actually apply.
Have an AI Deployment With Legal Exposure?
Schedule a call. The first session is a working review of where the record stands.
Schedule a Strategy Session