Goodwin AI Governance Program to Accelerate AI Adoption
Global law firm Goodwin has launched Goodwin AI Governance, a multi-pronged program designed to help companies, boards, and private equity sponsors govern AI use across the business, adopt the technology faster, and remain current as both the tools and the regulatory landscape evolve.
The offering puts the firm’s industry-immersed legal judgment and expertise at clients' fingertips through lawyer-led assessment, tailored materials, and an ongoing subscription service. It addresses a widely recognised gap: AI deployment is outpacing governance frameworks, leaving organisations exposed to risk or forced into one-off reviews for every new tool.
According to Deloitte’s 2026 State of AI findings, 74% of organisations plan to deploy AI agents within the next two years, yet only 21% report having a mature governance model for them. Goodwin AI Governance is structured to close that gap through three connected components:
Deloitte: Agentic AI is scaling faster than guardrails (2026)
• Health Check: A complimentary assessment with a Goodwin lawyer to identify AI governance gaps.
• Readiness: Comprehensive governance materials tailored to the client’s business, sector, and specific AI use cases. These are available as individual modules or as a full suite.
• AI Decision Desk: An annual subscription that delivers clear legal answers, real-time monitoring of AI regulation, enforcement, and market practice, and prompts to update existing policies as the landscape shifts.
The program was built through close collaboration between Goodwin’s legal teams and its AI product team. It pairs experienced lawyers with technology that surfaces their expertise as soon as a question arises. Amid strong demand, clients across multiple industries have already adopted the service.
Key Commentary
“Companies slow down on AI because the question in front of them isn’t covered by the rules, and nobody wants to be the one who guessed,” said Gary Sangha, Director of Product AI and Platforms at Goodwin. Sangha, who joined the firm after founding legal technology companies Intelligize and LexCheck, added: “We designed Goodwin AI Governance so routine uses keep moving under current guidance, the exceptions get a clear legal answer from a Goodwin lawyer, and those answers become the rules for next time.”
Kaitlin Betancourt, Co-Chair of Goodwin’s AI practice, noted: “Companies want to adopt AI quickly, and the teams responsible for managing risk don’t want to be the obstacle. Few legal departments have deep AI expertise in-house, and they’re hungry for sound judgment from people who understand their business. At Goodwin, that’s exactly what you get.”
The program includes tailored applications for private equity and venture capital portfolios as well as for boards. For boards, it addresses directors’ own use of AI and their oversight of company AI use, covering accountability, reporting, and escalation. For private equity sponsors, Goodwin helps establish a consistent portfolio baseline while accounting for differences in individual companies’ AI use, sector, and jurisdiction.
Goodwin’s broader AI practice advises companies, startups, and investors on AI governance, intellectual property, and data and cybersecurity risk. Internally, the firm continues to redesign how it performs legal work, anchored by its proprietary Regina OS platform. The firm describes its direction as building the next operating model for legal services, designed by its lawyers, powered by technology, and focused on better client outcomes.
Why This Matters for Legal Teams
For in-house counsel and risk teams, the launch highlights a growing market for rightsized AI governance that balances speed of adoption with accountability. The Health Check, Readiness, and Decision Desk structure mirrors the practical sequence many legal departments already follow: diagnose gaps, implement tailored controls, and maintain ongoing monitoring as regulations and tools change. The inclusion of board and private equity-specific variants recognises that governance questions differ depending on whether the client is an operating company, a board overseeing AI use, or a sponsor managing a portfolio of companies with varying maturity and jurisdictional exposure.
The Deloitte data underscores the urgency. Organisations that scale AI agents without mature boundaries, monitoring, and audit trails risk operational, reputational, and regulatory exposure. Programs that combine human legal judgment with structured materials and continuous updates are positioned to help close that gap without becoming a bottleneck to adoption.