The diagnostic
An assessment, not a sales process. A document your board can read without editing.
A four-to-eight-week assessment. It produces a written deliverable set specific to your institution. It is not a sales process, not a pilot, and not a proof of concept. You authorize one engagement. You receive the deliverables. Nothing else is implied.
The scope is fixed before the work begins. There are no hourly overruns, no change orders, no scope expansion without your written approval. You know what you are getting before you sign.
Your team participates in the diagnostic. They begin learning the AI landscape as part of the work — what is possible, what is prudent, and where the boundaries are. This is not a report you receive. It is a capability your team starts building.
For community banks
A CEO who authorizes the diagnostic receives four deliverables and a team that has started learning.
01
An AI readiness assessment specific to your bank
Not a generic maturity model. A mapping of where AI will make your employees most productive — your credit analysts, your BSA team, your loan officers, your deposit team — and where it will not. The assessment is built against SR 11-7 effective-challenge expectations and OCC Bulletin 2023-17 guidance. Your CRO can read it without a briefing.
02
A prioritized implementation roadmap
Which use case to build first, based on your bank's specific pain points, staffing, and risk posture. The roadmap names the employees affected, the expected productivity gain, the governance requirements, and the sequence. It is not a list of possibilities. It is a recommendation with a rationale your board can evaluate.
03
A governance practice sized to your bank
Not a 200-page framework written for a $50 billion institution. A governance structure proportional to your asset size, your team, and your risk appetite. Model risk documentation, third-party risk posture, data-handling protocols, and examiner-ready narrative — all built to the standard your next examination will apply.
04
A board-ready summary
A document the CEO can place in the board packet without editing. It names what the diagnostic found, what the roadmap recommends, and what the governance posture looks like. Written in the language your board speaks — efficiency ratio, NIM, non-interest income, safety and soundness. Not in vendor language.
Your team — the people who will eventually run whatever gets built — participates throughout. They see the landscape. They ask questions. They begin forming their own judgment about what AI can and cannot do at your bank. That early learning compounds.
For law firms
A managing partner who authorizes the diagnostic receives five deliverables and attorneys who have started learning.
01
An AI-use audit and productivity roadmap
A candid assessment of how AI is already being used at the firm — including unsanctioned use by associates and paralegals — and a map of where AI will make your attorneys most productive going forward. Most firms discover tools in use that no one authorized, and workflows where a week of associate time could be a day. Both sides of the picture come out of the audit.
02
A partner-meeting memo
A two-page summary the managing partner can place in front of the equity partnership without rewriting a sentence. It names what the audit found, what the roadmap recommends, and what the economic case is. Written in the language your partners speak — realization, PPEP, matter economics, origination credit. Not in technology language.
03
A practice policy for the firm
A compact AI practice policy built for your firm's size, practice mix, and jurisdictions. Not a template downloaded from a CLE provider. A policy that addresses your state bar's specific opinions, your firm's practice areas, and the supervision obligations under Rules 5.1 and 5.3. The ethics partner reviews it as part of the engagement so the firm signs it once and runs.
04
Engagement-letter language
Specific language for your engagement letters that addresses AI-assisted work product under your state bar's rules. The language satisfies Opinion 512's informed-consent standard and reflects your firm's actual workflow — not a hypothetical one. Your attorneys can use it in client-facing documents the week the diagnostic concludes.
05
An ABA Formal Opinion 512 alignment brief
A document that maps your firm's AI posture against Opinion 512's operative requirements: competence, confidentiality, communication, candor, supervision, and fees. The artifact the ethics partner uses to confirm the firm's position is defensible — and the document the malpractice carrier will want to see at your next policy renewal.
Your attorneys participate throughout. They see where AI can make them more productive and where the boundaries are. Associates and paralegals who were already experimenting on their own now have a framework. Partners who were skeptical now have evidence. The firm's collective understanding of AI moves from anecdote to informed judgment.
How long it takes
Four to eight weeks.
The duration depends on the size and complexity of your institution. A 15-attorney firm with two practice areas is closer to four weeks. A $5 billion bank with a full BSA operation is closer to eight.
The engagement has a defined start date and a defined end date. There is no open-ended discovery phase. The deliverables are complete when the engagement concludes.
Who approves it
Within your personal authority.
For banks: The CEO authorizes the engagement. No board vote required. The engagement can appear in the next board packet as an item already underway — with the board-ready summary as the artifact.
For law firms: The managing partner authorizes the engagement under management discretion. No partnership meeting required. The partner-meeting memo is the artifact used to brief the equity partners after the work concludes.
The contract goes through your standard review. The scope, data-handling provisions, and termination language are written to survive a careful redline without extended negotiation.
What is not implied
A self-contained engagement.
The diagnostic does not imply a second engagement. No auto-renewal, no retainer, no assumed build phase.
The deliverables stand on their own. Many institutions use them on their own and do not engage further. That is a successful outcome.
If the diagnostic reveals that AI is not the right answer for your situation, the deliverables will say so. It happens. You leave with a defensible position either way.
The next step
A 90-minute working session. You leave with a written assessment.
You describe the situation. We describe how we would approach it. Within 48 hours you receive a written assessment. No second meeting implied.
Fixed scope. Fixed duration. Within your personal authority.
No board vote, no partnership meeting required.