Knight CTO — Fractional CTO for Law Firms | Private AI, Practice Modernization, Vendor Diligence

Q: How much does a fractional CTO for a law firm cost?

Knight CTO offers four fixed-price tiers: a $1,500 Diagnostic (90-minute audit, written report, applied to any signed retainer within 30 days), a $9,800 Knight Legal AI Deployment (one-time install plus $600/month support), a $24,000+ Bespoke Build (six-to-twelve-week scoped engagement), and a $9,500/month Fractional CTO Retainer for ongoing strategic leadership. All prices are public. No hourly billing. No referral fees.

Q: How fast can a Knight Legal AI system be deployed?

Six weeks from signed engagement to a partner using a private AI workstation in production. Two weeks of discovery and architecture, four weeks of build with weekly demos, and a final week of deployment, training, and handover. Bespoke builds run six to twelve weeks depending on scope.

001 // THE_PROBLEM

The most urgent technology 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.

// ADOPTION_RATE 98% of firms use AI in some form — most through tools their managing partner has never reviewed.

// LIABILITY_VECTOR 1.6 ABA Model Rule that governs every paste into a third-party AI tool. Exposure is not theoretical.

// MARGINAL_COST $0 per query when AI runs on hardware you already own. ROI is not the problem.

// TIME_TO_SHIP 6wk from kickoff to a partner using a private AI workstation in production. Fixed scope, fixed price.

002 // CAPABILITIES

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

// id	// domain	// description	// status
CAP_01	AI Systems & Deployment	Local-first AI for privileged work. Retrieval, citation, audit log, ACP-safe by architecture.	SHIPPED
CAP_02	Practice Modernization	Migration off legacy stacks. Practice management, document management, billing, e-signature.	ACTIVE
CAP_03	Vendor Diligence	Independent evaluation of every tool the firm pays for. No referral fees, no kickbacks, ever.	ACTIVE
CAP_04	Security & Compliance	ABA Rule 1.6 / 5.3 oversight. Encryption, breach response, SOC 2 readiness, retention policy.	ACTIVE
CAP_05	Cloud & Infrastructure	AWS, Azure, on-prem, hybrid. Cost optimization, disaster recovery, business continuity planning.	ACTIVE
CAP_06	Custom Integrations	The Clio → QuickBooks → DocuSign → calendar work nobody on staff can build.	ACTIVE
CAP_07	Engineering Hiring	Technical interviews, reference calls, comp benchmarking. Stop hiring the wrong developers.	ACTIVE
CAP_08	Strategic Roadmap	Three-year hardware, software, security plan. Annual review. Tied to firm growth model.	ACTIVE

003 // ENGAGEMENTS

Three ways we work. One operator through every line.

// SVC_0 · START_HERE

Diagnostic — Get Clear

A 90-minute call to audit your current technology, AI exposure, and roadmap. Written 10-page report delivered within 5 business days. The full $1,500 counts toward any retainer signed within 30 days.

$1,500 one-time · credited if you engage book_diagnostic() →

FLAGSHIP SVC_A · PRODUCTIZED_INSTALL

Knight Legal AI Deployment

// for solo + small-firm partners

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

Local install on partner's Mac — data never leaves the device
Custom-trained on the firm's matter library
Court-ready citations with page and line numbers
Quarterly model and prompt updates
Firm-branded interface and disclosure templates

$9,800 setup · $600/mo

SVC_B · PROJECT_ENGAGEMENT

Bespoke Build & Modernization

// for firms with a specific problem on the calendar

Custom systems, infrastructure overhauls, vendor migrations — scoped, fixed-price, weekly demos. Nothing handed off to a junior.

Two-week discovery + architecture phase
Six-to-twelve week build with weekly demos
Custom AI, integrations, workflows, full stack rebuilds
Hosted on your infrastructure or mine, your call
Full source code + documentation handover

$24k starting · scoped per build

SVC_C · STRATEGIC_RETAINER

Fractional CTO Engagement

// for firms that need CTO function w/o headcount

Standing technical leadership across every domain that touches the firm's technology — AI policy, cloud bill, next hire, all of it.

Weekly strategy call + standing async access
Vendor evaluations, contract reviews, RFP oversight
Engineering-hire interviews + reference calls
Annual security audit + roadmap to partners
M&A technology diligence when applicable
Direct contact — no junior, no handoff

$9,500 / month · quarterly review

004 // VS_THE_ALTERNATIVES

How does Knight CTO compare to Harvey, CoCounsel, or hiring a full-time CTO?

// dimension	Harvey / CoCounsel	Full-time CTO hire	Knight CTO
where data lives	Vendor cloud servers	Your infrastructure	Your machine, on-device
ABA Rule 1.6 posture	Vendor processes privileged data	Internal control	Architecture-level safe
annual cost (10-attorney firm)	$144k-$288k ($1.2k/user/mo)	$280k-$500k+ base + equity	$10k-$130k depending on tier
time to first value	3-6 months onboarding	3-6 months recruiting + ramp	6 weeks, fixed scope
scope	AI features only	Full CTO function	Full CTO function
vendor independence	Locked to their platform	Internal hire — yours	No referral fees, ever
exit cost	Lose all data & workflows	Severance + replacement search	Month-to-month, you own everything
who does the work	Account manager + support tier	Your CTO + their team	Boris, personally

005 // FAQ

Questions partners ask before signing.

How is Knight CTO different from Harvey, CoCounsel, or other legal AI vendors? +

Harvey and CoCounsel are SaaS products — your case files travel to their infrastructure. That is the entire problem they have not solved. Knight CTO builds AI that runs locally on the partner's own machine, so privileged content never leaves the device.

The only outbound traffic is to Anthropic under their commercial DPA with no data retention. This architecture removes the ABA Rule 1.6 exposure that prevents most firms from using legal AI at all.

Does using AI like Knight Legal AI violate ABA Model Rule 1.6? +

Pasting privileged client data into a third-party AI tool that retains, trains on, or otherwise processes that data on its own infrastructure can violate the duty of confidentiality under ABA Model Rule 1.6 and corresponding state rules including California Rule of Professional Conduct 1.6.

Knight Legal AI runs on the partner's own machine. Document processing, indexing, retrieval, and drafting all happen on-device. Calls to Anthropic occur under their commercial DPA with zero data retention. Every firm should still review the architecture with their ethics counsel — that review is included in the engagement.

How much does a fractional CTO for a law firm cost? +

Knight CTO publishes four fixed prices. A $1,500 Diagnostic (90-minute audit, 10-page written report, applied to any signed retainer within 30 days). A $9,800 Knight Legal AI Deployment (one-time install plus $600 per month support). A $24,000+ Bespoke Build (six-to-twelve-week scoped engagement). And a $9,500 per month Fractional CTO Retainer for ongoing strategic leadership.

No hourly billing. No referral fees from vendors. No surprise invoices.

How fast can you actually start? +

Diagnostic engagements start within five business days of signature. Knight Legal AI Deployment ships in six weeks total — two weeks of discovery and architecture, four weeks of build with weekly demos, one week for deployment, training, and handover. Bespoke builds run six to twelve weeks depending on scope.

Replies to intake requests go out within one business day. If we both agree it is a fit, we sign within a week.

What does a fractional CTO do for a law firm beyond AI? +

AI is one of eight domains. The full CTO function covers practice modernization (migration off legacy stacks, practice management, document management, billing, e-signature), vendor diligence (independent evaluation of every tool the firm pays for), security and compliance (ABA 1.6 / 5.3 oversight, encryption, breach response, SOC 2 readiness), cloud and infrastructure (AWS, Azure, on-prem strategy, disaster recovery), custom integrations (Clio to QuickBooks to DocuSign to calendar), engineering hiring (technical interviews, reference calls, comp benchmarking), and a three-year strategic roadmap presented to the partnership.

Do you take referral fees from vendors you recommend? +

No. Knight CTO does not accept referral fees, kickbacks, partner commissions, or any other payment from vendors recommended to clients. Independence is the entire value of vendor diligence. Any conflict of interest is disclosed in writing before a recommendation is made.

Who actually does the work — Boris, or junior consultants? +

Boris Knight does every piece of work personally. No subcontractors, no junior consultants, no white-labeled vendor products. If you engage Knight CTO, you have his mobile number and a working system within ninety days.

Maximum three active engagements at any time. When the slots are full, the website says so.

What happens if we want to end the engagement? +

You own everything. Full source code, deployment scripts, runbook, and a one-hour training session for your team. Four weeks of post-launch monitoring is included. After that, you can manage the system internally or sign a flat monthly support plan.

No vendor lock-in. No per-seat fees. No perpetual license. Retainers are month-to-month after the first quarter.

007 // SELECTED_WORK

knight_legal_ai — built for one attorney, now installed across his practice.

// SPEC_01 · DEPLOYMENT_ENVIRONMENT [ON_DEVICE]

// build_time 6 weeks

// files_indexed 3,200+

// cost_per_query $0.04 avg

// time_saved ~12 hr/wk

The brief.

A solo family-law attorney needed 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.

knight_legal_ai — vinokur_matter

$query: Find every contradiction in the Petitioner's income declarations.

[OK] search_documents() · 3,247 chunks · 1.2s

[OK] read_document() · FL-150_2024.pdf · pp.3-5

Three material contradictions identified: FL-150 (3/14/24, p.4, l.12) states monthly income $4,500; declaration filed 7/22/24, p.2, l.7-9 states $7,200; bank deposits produced under RFP No. 14 show $11,400 average monthly inflows over the same period.

$stop_reason: end_turn · tokens_used: 4,712 · cost: $0.04

008 // THE_OPERATOR

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

BK // portrait_pending

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+// yrs_engineering

Haas// uc_berkeley_mba

$0// subcontracted

3// max_clients

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