norm law: ai-native law firm via technology licensing model

norm law llp is an ai-native law firm launched november 20, 2025 in conjunction with a $50 million blackstone investment in norm ai¹. the firm operates under new york’s traditional professional conduct rules through a technology licensing arrangement—a fundamentally different regulatory approach from arizona abs models like eudia counsel.

company overview

law firm: norm law llp

technology company: norm ai (founded 2023)

launch date: november 20, 2025

headquarters: new york city (world trade center)

regulatory framework: new york rule 5.4 (traditional lawyer-only ownership)

total norm ai funding: $140+ million

blackstone investment: $50 million (november 2025)

client base: $30+ trillion in combined assets under management

leadership

founder & ceo: john nay

phd from vanderbilt university (ai research funded by nsf and office of naval research)
postdoctoral fellow at nyu; created first ai course at nyu school of law
fellow at stanford codex center for legal informatics
previously founded brooklyn artificial intelligence inc. (acquired by nuveen, $1.3 trillion aum)
co-founder and chairman of brooklyn investment group

stated philosophy: “lawyers and ai need to be fully integrated from the ground-up and from day-one”¹

regulatory structure: technology licensing model

norm law operates under a fundamentally different structure than arizona abs entities. rather than allowing non-lawyer ownership of the law firm itself, norm law maintains traditional lawyer-only ownership while paying licensing fees to norm ai for access to its technology platform².

Norm Law Technology Licensing Structure

Rendering diagram...

Two-entity structure with independently owned law firm paying technology licensing fees to separately-funded AI company

why this structure matters

new york rule 5.4 compliance: new york prohibits non-lawyer ownership of law firms and restricts fee-sharing with non-lawyers. norm law complies by maintaining complete independence from norm ai’s ownership structure.

investment flows to technology, not law firm: the $50 million blackstone investment went to norm ai (the technology company), not norm law llp (the law firm). this allows venture capital and private equity to fund ai development without violating professional conduct rules.

licensing vs ownership: norm law pays norm ai for technology access, similar to how any law firm might pay for software. the law firm generates its own revenue from clients independently.

comparison: norm law vs eudia counsel

aspect	norm law llp	eudia counsel
regulatory framework	ny traditional (rule 5.4)	arizona abs
non-lawyer ownership	prohibited	permitted (100%)
technology relationship	licensing fees	direct ownership
investment structure	investment in tech co only	investment in law firm entity
geographic flexibility	can operate in restrictive states	limited to abs jurisdictions
investor type	asset manager (blackstone)	venture capital (general catalyst)
total funding	$140m+ (to norm ai)	$105m (to eudia)
practice focus	regulatory/compliance, financial services	m&a due diligence, contracts
launch date	november 2025	september 2025

strategic implications

norm law’s advantage: the technology licensing model can operate in any us jurisdiction without special regulatory approval. law firms in new york, california, or other restrictive states can potentially adopt similar arrangements.

eudia’s advantage: direct ownership enables tighter integration between technology and legal operations, potentially faster decision-making, and unified economics between legal and technology revenue streams.

advisory committee

norm law assembled a regulatory-heavy advisory board reflecting its financial services focus:

troy a. paredes - former sec commissioner

sec service: commissioner august 2008 - august 2013 (appointed by president george w. bush)
background: tenured professor at washington university school of law; m&a practice at davis polk & wardwell
education: b.a. economics uc berkeley, j.d. yale law school
current roles: distinguished scholar in residence at nyu school of law; lecturer on law at harvard law school

dan m. berkovitz - former sec general counsel & cftc commissioner

sec service: general counsel november 2021 - january 2023
cftc service: commissioner september 2018 - october 2021; general counsel 2009-2013
background: partner at wilmerhale (co-chair futures and derivatives practice)
education: a.b. physics princeton university; j.d. uc hastings
current roles: vice chairman, external and regulatory affairs at millennium; lecturer in law at columbia law school

benjamin m. lawsky - former ny dfs superintendent

ny dfs service: first superintendent of financial services 2011-2015
background: chief of staff to governor andrew cuomo; chief counsel to senator charles schumer
notable actions: led aggressive enforcement against standard chartered bank ($340m fine); pioneered bitlicense for cryptocurrency
recognition: foreign policy’s ‘top 100 global thinkers’; bloomberg markets’ ‘50 most influential in global finance’
norm ai relationship: joined regulatory advisory board september 17, 2024³

tom glocer - former thomson reuters ceo

thomson reuters/reuters service: ceo of reuters group plc 2001-2008; ceo of thomson reuters 2008-2011
background: m&a lawyer at davis polk & wardwell (new york, paris, tokyo)
education: b.a. political science columbia university; j.d. yale law school
current roles: co-founder and executive chairman of bluevoyant (cybersecurity) and capitolis (fintech); lead director at morgan stanley and merck

norm ai funding history

norm ai has raised over $140 million across four rounds:

seed round - january 23, 2024: $11.1 million

lead: coatue
participants: haystack ventures, m13 ventures, basis set ventures, expa ventures, atypical ventures

series a - june 25, 2024: $27 million

lead: coatue
participants: bain capital ventures, blackstone innovations investments, new york life ventures, citi ventures, tiaa ventures, jefferson river capital (tony james family office)

series b - march 11, 2025: $48 million

lead: coatue (third consecutive round)
participants: craft ventures, vanguard, blackstone innovations investments, bain capital, new york life ventures, citi ventures, tiaa ventures, marc benioff
total raised: $87 million (18 months since founding)

additional investment - november 20, 2025: $50 million

investors: blackstone (through blackstone innovations investments and blackstone growth funds)
total raised: $140+ million
accompanied by norm law llp launch

notable investors: philippe laffont, henry r. kravis, marc benioff, tony james (former blackstone president/coo)

technology platform: leap

norm ai built the legal engineering automation platform (leap), described as the first regulatory ai agent platform⁴.

core technology

regulatory ai agents: converts regulations, laws, corporate policies, and legal obligations into executable compliance ai systems

how it works:

proprietary language represents regulations as decision trees
decision trees become executable programs leveraging large language models
resulting “regulatory ai agents” automate compliance analyses

key capabilities

regulatory intelligence: up-to-date understanding of regulations that automatically adapts when rules change
ai agent outputs: immediate compliance assessments, rationales explaining decisions, next steps for remediation
workflow automation: embeds compliance checks across organizational operations
real-time processing: regulatory interpretation, firm-specific policy overlays, contextual feedback

team composition

ai researchers and engineers
35+ attorneys from top law firms and law schools (harvard, yale, columbia, stanford, nyu)
legal engineers combining legal and technical expertise
former regulators
experience at amlaw 20 firms

business model

target market

primary focus: financial services sector—global banks, hedge funds, insurance companies, asset managers

anchor client: blackstone (using both norm ai platform and norm law services)

client base scale: $30+ trillion in combined assets under management

service delivery: legal engineering

norm law’s approach integrates ai throughout the legal workflow:

ai agents complete initial work: purpose-built agents handle first passes on legal tasks
attorney supervision: licensed lawyers review, audit, and apply strategic judgment
knowledge capture: insights from each engagement improve future performance

stated differentiator: “expert ai supervision” combined with “seasoned builders”—experienced lawyers and former regulators working with technology⁵

pricing model

like eudia counsel, norm law positions itself against the billable hour model:

fixed/flat fee arrangements
value-based pricing tied to outcomes
ai efficiency enables competitive pricing vs traditional firms

service areas

initial focus:

contract reviews and drafting
regulatory filings
compliance automation
standards-based regulatory reviews
regulated content review (marketing materials, sales content, communications)

target clients:

fortune 100 companies
global banks and hedge funds
insurance companies and asset managers
any organization requiring complex regulatory compliance

blackstone partnership

the blackstone relationship extends beyond investment:

technology deployment: blackstone uses norm ai platform for compliance and regulated content review

law firm collaboration: blackstone’s chief legal officer john finley noted plans to “work closely with norm law to identify legal services that blackstone procures that could benefit from an ai-native approach”¹

strategic alignment: blackstone serves as both investor and anchor client, providing:

validation of technology effectiveness
reference customer for other financial services clients
pathway to broader institutional adoption

market positioning

competitive landscape

vs traditional law firms:

ai-native efficiency vs billable hour model
institutional capital backing vs partnership distributions
technology investment capacity vs traditional constraints

vs other ai law firms:

regulatory/compliance focus vs m&a/contracts (eudia)
technology licensing model vs abs structure
asset manager backing vs venture capital

vs legal tech vendors:

full-service law firm vs software platform
direct attorney-client relationships vs technology intermediary
regulated legal advice vs compliance tools

market opportunity

norm ai targets the $6+ trillion professional services market, specifically the 95-98% of corporate legal budgets spent on human services⁴. the thesis: ai agents can automate substantial portions of routine compliance work while maintaining quality through attorney supervision.

hiring and expansion

current positions:

senior associates
counsel
partners
head of operations

team scale: norm ai has 21-138 employees depending on source and date; 35+ attorneys embedded in legal engineering team

educational partnerships: faculty from columbia, yale, harvard, stanford, nyu, georgetown, cornell, university of virginia, and penn carey law schools contributed to ai training⁶

critical analysis

structural advantages

regulatory portability: the technology licensing model can operate in any jurisdiction—no need for abs approval or special regulatory status

institutional credibility: blackstone backing and former sec/cftc advisory board signals seriousness to conservative financial services clients

focused expertise: regulatory/compliance specialization aligns with financial services market needs

structural considerations

economic separation: licensing fees create arms-length relationship; law firm economics are separate from technology company economics

growth constraints: law firm must grow independently; cannot directly tap norm ai’s $140m+ capital base for law firm expansion

competitive dynamics: technology licensing model could be replicated by competitors licensing same or similar ai platforms

broader implications

for the legal profession

norm law demonstrates a third path between:

traditional model: lawyer-only ownership, no outside capital
abs model: direct non-lawyer ownership (arizona, utah, dc)
technology licensing model: traditional law firm structure with sophisticated technology licensing

this third path may prove more broadly adoptable—it requires no regulatory reform and maintains familiar professional structures while enabling ai integration.

for corporate legal departments

stated benefits:

faster turnaround on compliance matters
predictable costs (fixed fees vs billable hours)
institutional knowledge retention in ai systems
access to regulatory expertise (former sec/cftc officials on advisory board)

for legal technology

norm law validates the “ai-native law firm” concept for institutional investors. blackstone’s $50 million bet signals that major financial players see viable business models in ai-transformed legal services.