September 2026Larson Maddox, with market insight from Garrett Rosen6 min read
Why AI Companies Are Hiring Their First Legal Counsel Earlier
AI companies are starting to hire their first in-house lawyers earlier in their growth, bringing legal expertise into the business sooner as they scale.
For many startups, legal hiring has traditionally followed priorities such as product development, engineering, and commercial expansion. But that timeline is shifting among seed, Series A, and Series B AI companies as they raise capital and grow.
Garrett Rosen, Senior Vice President, Tech, Media and Telecoms Legal Recruitment at Larson Maddox, is seeing this directly:
A lot of seed, Series A, and Series B AI companies that are getting funding are bringing in that first legal counsel. Not necessarily a Head of Legal or General Counsel, but that first lead counsel with a path to Head of Legal. They’re bringing those roles in a bit earlier than they would have historically, because of how fast a lot of companies are looking to scale and the funding rounds that they’re bringing in.
For AI companies, this raises an important talent question: when should the first legal hire happen, and what expertise should they bring?
Why the first legal hire matters more in an AI-native business
For an AI-native company, legal considerations can become relevant early in the life of the product.
As companies develop and commercialise AI, legal teams can become involved in areas including product development, contracts, data use, privacy, intellectual property, and emerging regulation.
For companies operating internationally, that regulatory picture can become more complicated. US businesses can, for example, fall within the scope of certain provisions of the EU AI Act depending on how and where their AI systems are provided or used.
That means the first legal hire may need to do more than manage contracts or respond to issues as they arise. They may be supporting decisions that affect how the company builds, sells, and scales its product.
Garrett says the biggest demand he is currently seeing on the startup side is for “that first legal hire earlier stage” alongside AI product counsel.
Rather than waiting until the business reaches a predetermined size, AI companies may need to consider when the complexity of the business justifies dedicated legal expertise.
The rise of AI product counsel
Alongside earlier first legal hires, Garrett is seeing growing demand for AI product counsel:
The thing that’s probably the most common, and I’m seeing a good amount is the AI product counsel, which is just a product counsel that was here before, but now specific to their AI stack and tech.
Product counsel can work closely with product, engineering, and commercial teams, bringing legal considerations into the development process rather than only reviewing a product once decisions have already been made.
The candidate pool is still developing, however.
Today, companies may be willing to consider lawyers from broader SaaS or software product counsel backgrounds if they have relevant AI exposure. Garrett expects those requirements to become more specific as the market matures:
In two or three years, candidates will come with direct AI experience from their roles. But right now, companies are open to professionals who have a more general background, such as coming from a SaaS product or a software product counsel position that translates.
For employers, this could create a window in which transferable product experience remains a viable route into an AI legal role, before direct AI experience becomes a more established requirement.
Legal and technical expertise are moving closer together
AI is also creating roles that sit between traditional legal and technical functions.
Garrett is seeing legal engineer-style positions where professionals with legal backgrounds work more closely with product teams. He describes AI-native companies bringing in lawyers or professionals with legal backgrounds to “sit almost on the product team and help optimise the legal function from a more technical standpoint.”
He explains:
They’re not representing the company as counsel, but they have that legal background to help with the build-out.
This shift is becoming visible across the US in-house legal market.
In June 2026, Law360 Pulse reported an increase in legal engineer roles within corporate legal departments, with companies looking for professionals who can combine legal knowledge with technology, process, and AI expertise. One legal talent provider told Law360 it had seen an uptick in requests from in-house departments for legal engineers, including a pharmaceutical company searching for someone to develop workflows, manage APIs, and implement AI.
The terminology is still developing, but the underlying hiring requirement is significant: companies are looking for people who can connect legal knowledge with how AI products and systems actually work.
Why AI legal hiring could become harder over the next 12 months
The opportunity to hire this talent may not remain as open as it is today.
Garrett has already seen legal hiring increase among AI-native companies and businesses moving further into AI. And while there are still candidates available, he believes that could change as more of the strongest legal professionals make their move into AI:
It’s going to be a lot harder, I think, to hire next year than it is now, because if all the top talent’s making moves into that space in the next six to 12 months, they’re going to have to be absolutely wowed to make another move in a year.
The challenge could be particularly pronounced for specialist product and regulatory roles.
Garrett says product and regulatory counsel can already command higher compensation than more traditional commercial counsel positions because “there’s just less of a talent pool.”
This is happening against a wider US legal market in which employers remain selective, but demand continues for specialist expertise in areas including technology, compliance, governance and regulation.
Should AI companies make their first legal hire now?
There is no single point at which every AI company needs to make its first legal hire.
For some, the priority may be a broad first counsel who can support commercial activity and grow with the business. For others, the product or regulatory complexity of their technology may create a need for specialist expertise sooner.
What employers can do is define that requirement before it becomes urgent.
Garrett expects many legal professionals considering AI opportunities to make those moves over the coming months:
They’re not going to be as available on the market as I think candidates are in probably the next six months moving forward. Those candidates are going to be a lot easier, I think, to get this year than probably in the next year or two.
For AI companies expecting to scale, planning the legal function earlier could provide more time to define the role, understand the available talent pool, and secure relevant expertise before competition increases.
Larson Maddox partners with organisations to build in-house legal teams, from making a first legal hire to finding specialist product, technology, and regulatory counsel. Speak to Larson Maddox about your legal hiring requirements today.
Garrett Rosen
Senior Vice President, Tech, Media and Telecoms Legal Recruitment at Larson Maddox, based in Los Angeles
Garrett leads legal talent placement across the technology, media and telecoms sectors. He partners with businesses ranging from high-growth AI startups to public companies to build their legal functions, from a first in-house counsel hire through to specialist commercial, payments, fintech and product legal roles.
Garrett contributed hiring market insight to this article based on current conversations with AI businesses building their legal teams.
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