Attorney

AI Innovation & Internal Compliance Staff Attorney

AI Innovation & Internal Compliance Staff Attorney

Location: Washington, D.C. (or other Finnegan offices as applicable)
Position Type: Full-time, Exempt

Position Overview

Finnegan is seeking an attorney to help accelerate the firm's adoption of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies while ensuring the responsible use of those tools in legal practice.

This role sits at the intersection of legal practice, innovation, and quality assurance. The attorney will work closely with practice groups, attorneys, and the firm's AI, Knowledge Management, and technology teams to identify opportunities where AI can improve client service, legal work, knowledge sharing, and operational efficiency.

During the initial stages of the role, a substantial portion of time will be devoted to reviewing AI-assisted legal work product, including research, citation validation, legal analysis, and court filings. This work will help ensure high-quality outcomes while providing valuable insight into attorney workflows, common challenges, and opportunities to improve the firm's use of AI. Over time, this position will play an increasingly important role in driving adoption, identifying high value use cases, and helping develop AI-enabled solutions across the firm.

In addition to quality assurance responsibilities, the attorney will engage directly with attorneys across the firm to understand practice specific challenges, identify opportunities for improvement, help design AI-enabled solutions, and support the successful adoption of emerging technologies.

The ideal candidate combines strong legal judgment, intellectual curiosity, practical problem-solving skills, and a genuine interest in understanding how lawyers work and how technology can help them deliver even greater value to clients.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

AI Work Product Review & Quality Assurance

Review AI-assisted legal work product, including briefs, motions, memoranda, legal research, claim charts, analyses, and other attorney-generated materials.
Evaluate the reliability, accuracy, completeness, and practical usefulness of AI-generated or AI-assisted content.
Verify legal authorities, quotations, citations, and references generated or suggested by AI tools.
Assess whether AI-generated legal analysis accurately reflects underlying authorities and supports the legal arguments presented.
Identify hallucinated citations, misquoted authorities, unsupported conclusions, misleading summaries, or other inaccuracies.
Provide feedback and recommendations to attorneys regarding appropriate validation and review of AI-assisted work product.
Identify recurring patterns, risks, and opportunities for improvement across AI tools, prompts, workflows, and use cases.
Help establish and evolve firm standards regarding attorney review and quality assurance of AI-generated content.
Partner with attorneys to improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of AI-assisted legal work.
Conduct periodic audits of AI-assisted work product, both pre and post-filing, to identify systemic risks, recurring errors, training opportunities, and policy compliance concerns.

Pre-Filing Review & Citation Validation

Assist with targeted review of briefs, motions, and other court submissions in which AI tools have been substantially utilized or where additional validation is appropriate.
Confirm that cited cases, statutes, regulations, and quotations exist, are accurately represented, and support the propositions for which they are cited.
Verify authorities using primary legal research platforms such as Westlaw and Lexis and confirm continuing validity using Shepard's and KeyCite.
Serve as a resource for attorneys seeking additional review of AI-assisted filings before submission.
Help develop scalable review processes that balance quality, efficiency, and attorney accountability.
Analyze trends and recurring issues identified through reviews and provide recommendations for improving attorney workflows and AI practices.

Practice Group Engagement & Solution Development

Attend practice group meetings, attorney roundtables, and innovation discussions to understand legal workflows, client demands, recurring challenges, and emerging opportunities.
Build strong relationships with attorneys across offices and practice areas to identify opportunities where AI can improve legal work and client service.
Gather attorney feedback regarding AI tools, workflows, and adoption barriers.
Translate attorney needs into practical technology solutions, pilots, workflows, and new use cases.
Partner with the firm's AI, Knowledge Management, and technology teams to develop, test, refine, and implement solutions.
Identify successful attorney-developed workflows, prompts, agents, and use cases and help scale them across the firm.
Serve as a bridge between practicing attorneys and the firm's technology and innovation teams.
Help prioritize future enhancements, investments, and opportunities based on attorney needs and firm strategy.
Evaluate the effectiveness of AI solutions and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

Attorney Education & Adoption

Support firmwide adoption of AI tools through training, demonstrations, workshops, office visits, and practice group discussions.
Share best practices and successful use cases developed by attorneys across the firm.
Help attorneys understand both the capabilities and limitations of AI tools.
Develop practical guidance that enables attorneys to incorporate AI into their work while maintaining high professional standards.
Serve as a trusted advisor to attorneys evaluating potential AI applications in litigation, PTAB proceedings, prosecution, investigations, counseling, knowledge management, and business development activities.
Help attorneys improve prompting techniques and leverage AI tools more effectively in their daily work.

Quality Control & Risk Mitigation

Identify risks associated with AI-assisted legal work, including hallucinated citations, inaccurate authorities, unsupported legal conclusions, confidentiality concerns, and improper reliance on AI-generated content.
Ensure AI usage complies with firm confidentiality standards and ethical and professional responsibility obligations.
Recommend practical controls and safeguards to improve quality and reduce risk.
Assist in the development and refinement of attorney review procedures, quality assurance workflows, validation processes, and firm best practices for AI-assisted legal work.
Collaborate with the Office of General Counsel, Knowledge Management, and other stakeholders as needed on matters relating to responsible AI use.
Support attorneys in leveraging AI tools confidently and effectively while maintaining the firm's standards for accuracy, professionalism, and client service.

Court Rule & Standing Order Compliance

Maintain awareness of court rules, standing orders, and filing requirements relating to AI-assisted legal work.
Maintain a current tracker of judge-specific standing orders, local rules, and certification requirements governing AI use in each jurisdiction where the firm files, and confirm that filings satisfy the presiding judge's AI disclosure, certification, or prohibition requirements before submission.
Assist attorneys in understanding and complying with applicable AI disclosure or certification requirements in jurisdictions where the firm practices.
Incorporate relevant court requirements into review processes, training materials, and attorney guidance.

Guidance, Documentation & Reporting

Develop internal guidance, checklists, training materials, and best practices.
Document recurring issues, adoption trends, lessons learned, and opportunities for improvement.
Prepare periodic reports and recommendations regarding AI adoption trends, quality observations, and emerging opportunities.
Assist in measuring the effectiveness and impact of AI-related initiatives across the firm.

Education Requirements

Juris Doctor (J.D.) from an accredited U.S. law school.
Admission to at least one state bar and in good standing.
Technical or scientific background is not required, though comfort with technology and legal research platforms is preferred.

Experience Requirements

2 to 8 years of legal experience in cite checking, document review, motion drafting, legal research, litigation, or other roles requiring strong analytical and writing skills.
Demonstrated ability to conduct rigorous legal research and validate authorities with precision.
Experience reviewing, editing, or quality-checking sophisticated legal work product.
Substantial cite-checking experience and strong command of The Bluebook, Shepard's, and KeyCite.
Must have experience using or evaluating generative AI tools, preferably in a law firm.
Familiarity with legal technology, innovation initiatives, knowledge management, or process improvement efforts preferred.
Experience with legal research tools such as PACER, Westlaw, LexisNexis, etc.
Comfort researching and applying local rules as necessary.
Ability to identify patterns, synthesize feedback, and translate legal or business needs into practical solutions.
Familiarity with federal and state court filing procedures and requirements.
Understanding of, or interest in, AI regulations, ethics opinions, and court rules affecting legal practice.
Strong attention to detail and the ability to identify subtle inconsistencies or inaccuracies.
Ability to earn credibility with attorneys across all levels of the organization.
Strong project management, communication, and collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in a law firm, or similar environment emphasizing high-quality written work.
Prior involvement in legal technology, innovation, knowledge management, or AI-related initiatives.
Experience with Cocounsel, Harvey, Legora and/or other generative AI legal tools.
Experience with intellectual property law.
Experience developing or delivering attorney training programs.
Demonstrated interest in the future delivery of legal services and emerging legal technologies.
Experience working directly with attorneys to identify practice needs and implement solutions.

Key Competencies

Exceptional legal research and analytical skills
Strong judgment in evaluating AI-generated legal outputs
Ability to identify AI and patterns of AI-generated models, writings, and mistakes
Ability to distinguish between reliable and unreliable legal authorities and sources
Ability to rank the value and persuasiveness of different legal authorities
Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality
Consultative problem-solving abilities
Ability to uncover attorney needs and identify opportunities for improvement
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Ability to build trusted relationships across practice groups and business functions
Strategic thinking regarding the future of legal service delivery
Ability to balance innovation, practicality, and risk management
Adaptability in a rapidly evolving technology environment
Strong presentation, facilitation, and attorney engagement skills
Ability to perform meticulous verification work accurately and quickly under filing deadlines

Please apply here.

The base annual pay range for this role is between $170,000 - $220,000. The base pay to be offered will vary and depend on skills and qualifications, experience, location and will also take into account internal equity. A full range of medical, financial and/or other benefits dependent on the position will also be offered.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: 

Finnegan is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The firm is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment, as defined by applicable state and federal laws, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, physical or mental disability, medical condition, military or veteran status, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, or any other protected status in accordance with all applicable federal, state and local laws.

Our privacy policy for applicants can be found  here.