Fractional CTO · Practice of Law

Strategic technology
leadership, built for
the practice of law.

AI deployment. Practice modernization. Vendor diligence. Security and compliance. One operator who codes, ships, and stays in the room when the architecture decisions get hard — without the partner-track salary line.

Schedule a 30-min Intake → See the work
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01 The Problem

The most urgent tech decision your firm makes this year is about AI — and most firms are about to make it wrong.

A SaaS that ships your client's discovery to a third-party server is not a productivity tool. It is future Bar complaint dressed in a monthly subscription.

Every major legal AI vendor processes your case files on their infrastructure. Their privacy policy is your malpractice exposure. Their breach is your ABA Model Rule 1.6 violation. Their training-data clause — if you read it — quietly waives the very confidentiality you owe your client.

Meanwhile, your associates are pasting privileged work into ChatGPT anyway, because the alternative is staying late. The risk is already inside the firm. The only question is whether you address it before discovery does.

There is a better path. The technology to run capable AI entirely on a partner's own machine has existed for a year. What's missing is a CTO who understands both the engineering and the ethics rules. That is the gap I fill.

98%
of firms surveyed use AI in some form — most through tools their managing partner has never reviewed.
1.6
ABA Model Rule that governs every paste into a third-party AI tool. The exposure is not theoretical.
$0
marginal cost per query when AI runs on hardware you already own. The ROI is not the problem.
6wks
from kickoff to a partner using a private AI workstation in production. Fixed scope, fixed price.
02 Capabilities

A complete CTO function. Without the partner-track salary line.

01 AI Systems & Deployment Local-first AI for privileged work. Retrieval, citation, audit log, ACP-safe by architecture.
02 Practice Modernization Migration off legacy stacks. Practice management, document management, billing, e-signature.
03 Vendor Diligence Independent evaluation of every tool the firm pays for. No referral fees, no kickbacks, ever.
04 Security & Compliance ABA Rule 1.6 / 5.3 oversight. Encryption, breach response, SOC 2 readiness, retention policy.
05 Cloud & Infrastructure AWS, Azure, on-prem, hybrid. Cost optimization, disaster recovery, business continuity planning.
06 Custom Integrations The Clio → QuickBooks → DocuSign → calendar work nobody on staff can build.
07 Engineering Hiring Technical interviews, reference calls, comp benchmarking. Stop hiring the wrong developers.
08 Strategic Roadmap Three-year hardware, software, security plan. Annual review. Tied to firm growth model.
03 Engagements

Three ways we work. One operator through every line.

A · Diagnostic

A 90-minute
session

For firms ready to ask one good question.

A working call to map your current technology, AI exposure, and the highest-leverage move on the table. You leave with a written 10-page report inside five business days.

  • 90-minute deep-dive call (Boris, no junior)
  • 10-page written assessment delivered in 5 business days
  • Specific recommendations — not a sales pitch
  • Vendor / tooling shortlist when relevant
  • Counts toward any retainer signed within 30 days
$375 one-time  ·  credited if you engage
B · Productized Install

Knight Legal AI
install + support

For solo and small-firm partners.

The flagship system — the software is free — installed on the partner's own machine. ACP-safe by architecture, citation-grade output, audit log built in.

  • ~1-hour install on partner's Mac — data never leaves the device
  • Onboarding call & matter-library connection
  • Court-ready citations with page and line numbers
  • Monthly model + prompt updates
  • Direct support — you have my mobile number
$250 install  ·  $250/mo maintenance
C · Bespoke Retainer

Fractional CTO
services

For firms that need a CTO function without the headcount.

Standing technical leadership across every domain that touches the firm's technology. Bespoke scope, custom builds and migrations included. Effective rate capped at $250/hour.

  • Weekly strategy call & standing async access
  • Custom systems, integrations, vendor migrations as needed
  • Vendor evaluations, contract reviews, RFP oversight
  • Engineering-hire interviews and reference calls
  • Annual security audit & partner-level roadmap
  • M&A diligence when applicable
Bespoke scoped per firm  ·  from $2,500 / mo
04 · Selected Work

Knight Legal AI — built for one attorney,
now installed across his practice.

The brief.

A solo family-law attorney needed a way to query thousands of pages of case files in plain English. Existing tools required uploading client material to vendor servers — a non-starter under California Rule of Professional Conduct 1.6.

We built a local-first system. The AI runs on his MacBook. Document processing, indexing, retrieval, drafting — all on the device. The only outbound traffic is to Anthropic under their commercial DPA, with no data retention.

Result: a 932-line trial examination guide, generated from the full case record with page-and-line citations, in five minutes for $2.80 in API cost. The same work used to take a paralegal three days. He now uses it daily.

Build Time 6 weeks
Files Processed 3,200+
Cost / Query $0.04 avg
Time Saved ~12 hr / wk
Knight Legal AI  —  Vinokur Matter
Matters
Vinokur, B.
Reyes Estate
Khoury Trust
Tools
Discovery
Drafts
Audit Log
Counsel Find every contradiction in the Petitioner's income declarations.
✓ search_documents · 3,247 chunks · 1.2s
✓ read_document · FL-150_2024.pdf · pp. 3–5
Knight Legal AI Three material contradictions identified — FL-150 (3/14/24, p.4, l.12) states monthly income of $4,500; declaration filed 7/22/24, p.2, l.7–9 states $7,200; and bank deposits produced under RFP No. 14 show $11,400 average monthly inflows over the same period.
05 The Operator

One person. End to end. No juniors, no handoff.

Boris Knight, founder of Knight CTO

Boris Knight. Twenty years building production systems for regulated industries. MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. Operator who codes, ships, and stays in the room when the architecture decisions get hard.

I built Knight Legal AI because my own family-law attorney asked for it, and nothing on the market could meet the duty of confidentiality. What started as a favor became a methodology — one I now bring to every firm that engages me.

I work with a small number of firms at a time. I do not subcontract, I do not white-label someone else's product, and I do not bill for slide decks. If we engage, you have my mobile number and a working system within ninety days.

20+Years engineering
HaasUC Berkeley MBA
$0Subcontracted work
3Active engagements max
He delivered a working system that respects every line of Rule 1.6. I open it before my coffee. I cannot imagine practicing without it.
Michael R., Esq. Family Law Partner · Northern California

If your firm is going to use AI anyway — let's make sure it's defensible.

A 30-minute intake call. No pitch deck, no junior on the line. You describe the problem; I tell you whether I'm the right fit and what it would cost. If I'm not, I'll point you to someone who is.

Schedule the call  →

boris@knightcto.com  ·  replies within one business day

Fractional CTO · Practice of Law

Strategic technology leadership, built for the practice of law.

AI deployment. Practice modernization. Vendor diligence. One operator, end-to-end.

Schedule a 15-min chat →
01 / 07  ·  swipe →
01 · The Problem

The most urgent tech decision your firm makes this year is about AI.

A SaaS that ships your client’s discovery to a third-party server is not a productivity tool. It is future Bar complaint dressed in a monthly subscription.

98% of firms use AI — most through tools the managing partner has never reviewed.
1.6 ABA Rule that governs every paste into a third-party AI tool.
$0 marginal cost per query when AI runs on hardware you already own.
6wk to a partner running private AI in production.
02 / 07  ·  swipe →
02 · Selected Work

Knight Legal AI — built for one attorney, now installed across his practice.

5 min Knight Legal AI
3 days Paralegal · same task

A 932-line trial examination guide, generated from the full case record with page-and-line citations. $2.80 in API cost. Local-first, ABA 1.6 by architecture.

03 / 07  ·  swipe →
03 · Engagements

Three ways we work. One operator through every line.

A · Diagnostic A 90-minute session $375 one-time B · Flagship Knight Legal AI install + support $250 install · $250/mo C · Bespoke Fractional CTO services From $2,500 / month
04 / 07  ·  swipe →
04 · The Operator Boris Knight

One person. End to end.

Twenty years developing production systems for industries that can’t afford to ship them wrong. I built Knight Legal AI when my own attorney needed AI on his own machine because the market sold him surveillance.

05 / 07  ·  swipe →
05 · Free Resources

Working tools your firm can adopt tomorrow.

.docx + .pdf · ~22 pages Law Firm AI Use Policy View & download  → .pdf · 60 questions Legal AI Vendor Evaluation View & download  →

No email gate. No newsletter signup.

06 / 07  ·  swipe →
06 · Talk

If your firm is going to use AI anyway — let’s make sure it’s defensible.

A 15-min quick chat. No pitch deck. No junior on the line. You describe the problem; I tell you whether I’m the right fit. If I’m not, I’ll point you to someone who is.

Schedule a 15-min chat → Or 30-min Diagnostic →
EMAILboris@knightcto.com
PHONE(415) 787-9000
BASED INWalnut Creek, CA
07 / 07  ·  end · swipe back ←