Questions, answered
Everything you'd ask before you build.
Buy vs. build, pricing, ownership, security, practice areas, and how to start. If your question isn't here, the fastest answer is a free call.
Before you build
The four questions that decide whether we're a fit.Who owns the code and the data once we're done?
You do, in full. Source code, credentials, models, and infrastructure ownership transfer to you on handover. No dual-license traps, no per-seat rent on the tool we just built.
How do you handle our data, and where does it live?
NDA before any specifics. Access-controlled, encrypted at rest and in transit, and where you need it, deployed inside your own cloud tenant with your own model keys, so nothing sensitive leaves your environment.
Which jurisdictions do you actually work in?
We've shipped for teams in India, the UAE, Singapore, the US, the UK, the EU, and Australia. Jurisdictional nuance, privilege, and data residency are scoped into every build, not treated as an afterthought.
What happens if we want to leave, or you disappear tomorrow?
Every build ships with clean documentation and a handover walkthrough, on boring, mainstream technology a normal developer can maintain. Your team, or any competent developer, can pick it up without us.
Ownership & IP
Who owns what we build, in more detail.Who owns the code and the data?
You do. Full source, credentials, models, and infrastructure ownership on handover. No hostage-taking and no per-seat surprise later.
What does handover include?
Clean documentation, a walkthrough, the source code, credentials, and code your team or any competent developer can pick up. That's the deal on day one, not an upsell.
What if you get hit by a bus?
Every build ships with documentation and a handover walkthrough precisely so it doesn't depend on one person. Your team, or any developer, can continue it.
Can our in-house team maintain it?
Yes. We build on boring, durable, mainstream technology (TypeScript, Python, Postgres and similar) specifically so a normal developer can maintain it without exotic knowledge.
Security & confidentiality
How privileged and sensitive data is protected.How do you handle privileged client data?
NDA before any specifics. Data is access-controlled and encrypted at rest and in transit, and where you need it, deployed inside your own cloud tenant with your own model keys so nothing sensitive leaves your environment.
Which AI models do you use, and where does data go?
You choose. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or self-hosted open models, deployed in the region your regulator expects. With self-hosted or in-tenant deployment, your data never leaves your control.
Can you deploy inside our own environment?
Yes. We deploy in your cloud tenant or on-premise, in the region your rules require, with your own keys. This is common for governments, regulators, and firms with strict data-residency needs.
Do your systems keep an audit trail?
Yes. For regulated work, every action, edit, and decision is logged with who, what, and when, producing the audit trail regulators, courts, and internal audit expect.
Practice areas & jurisdictions
Where we build and where we operate.Do you build for my practice area?
Almost certainly. We go deep in IP, M&A, personal injury, public and government law, international commercial, trade, crypto and web3, litigation, employment, and real estate, and the method works for any practice that touches the law. See the Solutions page for the full list.
Which jurisdictions do you work in?
We've shipped for teams in India, the UAE, Singapore, the US, the UK, the EU, and Australia. Jurisdictional nuance, privilege, and data residency are scoped into every build.
Do you handle multi-jurisdiction and cross-border work?
Yes. Jurisdiction, language, and data-residency rules are modelled as first-class parts of the system, so cross-border matters live in one coherent view instead of a patchwork of local tools.
What if my area isn't listed?
Bring it to the call. The listed areas are where we go deepest, but the approach is the same for any legal workflow you can describe.
The basics
What adnah. is and who it's for.What does adnah. do?
adnah. is a technology partner for the legal industry. We design and build custom AI, automation, and software for law firms, general counsel, governments, regulators, law schools, and legaltech founders. We're not a product you buy off a shelf; we build the complete solution around your practice and hand you the keys.
Are you a product company or an agency?
An agency, deliberately. Products are horizontal and solve the generic 60-70% every firm shares. We build the specific solution your practice needs, end to end, and you own it. If an existing product genuinely fits your problem, we'll tell you so on the first call.
Are you a dev shop or a consultancy?
Neither in the usual sense. Consultancies hand you a deck; dev shops need a two-quarter education in legal before they can build. adnah. is a lawyer who codes, so the build starts from real legal-workflow knowledge and ships as working software, not slides.
Who do you work with?
Law firms and chambers, general counsel and in-house teams, governments and regulators, law schools and clinics, and legaltech founders. Anyone whose work touches the law.
What makes you different from a generic AI agency?
The founder trained and practised in law before spending years building software for it. That means no domain-transfer tax, no six-week onboarding to learn what a matter is, and builds that respect privilege, jurisdiction, and the audit trail from day one.
Buy vs. build
Why custom, and when a product is enough.We already use ChatGPT, CoCounsel, or Harvey. Why build anything?
Keep them if they fit. General tools and horizontal products help individuals and cover the common majority of the work. They leave the 30-40% that's specific to your practice, your jurisdiction, your matters, your playbook, your integrations, and that's usually where the billable hours and the risk live. We build that remainder and wire the tools you already use into it.
How do I know whether to buy or build?
Buy if you're small, standard, and a product genuinely fits. Build when the tool is blocking how you want to work, when the specifics matter, or when ownership matters. Our free diagnostic call gives you an honest go / no-go and a written recommendation, even if the answer is to buy.
Isn't custom software much more expensive?
Industry custom builds run from roughly $50k for a focused tool into the hundreds of thousands for a platform. adnah. starts far lower, from $4k for a scoped v1, because we skip the domain-learning phase and scope tightly. You also stop paying per-seat rent forever, because you own it.
What if a product comes out later that does what you built?
You still own a system shaped to your workflow, integrated with your stack, with your data in it. If a product ever fits better, nothing stops you switching; there's no lock-in. Ownership is the hedge.
Engagement & pricing
How we work together and what it costs.What does it cost?
Builds start from $4k for a scoped v1. Retainers start from $2k per month. Every engagement is scoped and priced up front, so the exact number lands in a written scope before you commit to anything. No hourly billing, no per-seat rent, no open-ended contracts.
What are the ways to work with you?
Three. A free Diagnostic Sprint (a 30-minute call and a written scope), a fixed-scope Build (a working tool in 2-6 weeks), and a Retained engagement (ongoing builds, iteration, and ops from $2k per month). Most clients start with the diagnostic.
Do you charge for the first call?
No. The diagnostic call is free, and you leave with an honest go / no-go and a written scope, whether or not we end up working together.
Is there a minimum engagement?
A single Diagnostic Sprint. If we're not a fit, we stop there. No retainer traps.
Do you offer ongoing support after launch?
Yes. Every build includes a 30-day fix window, and you can move onto a retainer for ongoing builds, iteration, and monitoring, or take a full handover so your own team runs it.
Process & timeline
How fast, and what it looks like week to week.How fast can you ship something?
A focused v0 ships in 2-6 weeks against a fixed scope, with weekly working demos. Larger platforms are staged so you always have a working tool in your hands, never just a roadmap.
What does the process look like?
Four steps. Diagnose (a free call and written scope), build v0 (a working tool in 2-6 weeks with weekly demos), then run it or take it (retained ops, or a full IP-clean handover). No lock-in either way.
Will it actually get adopted by our team?
Adoption is the point of building to your workflow. Because the tool matches how your people already work rather than forcing a new process on them, it gets used instead of shelved.
How involved does our team need to be?
Enough to shape it right: a scoping call, access to the reality of the workflow, and feedback at the weekly demos. We do the building; you keep your day job.
Getting started
The first step.How do we get started?
Book a free 30-minute diagnostic call. Tell us the workflow eating the most hours, or the problem a product only half-solves. You leave with an honest go / no-go and a written scope by the end of the week.
What should we bring to the first call?
Just the problem. The workflow that's slow, risky, or repetitive, and any tools you already use. No brief or deck required; we'll work it out together on the call.
What if you decide we shouldn't build anything?
Then we say so, and you get a written recommendation of what would actually help, even if that's an existing product or nothing at all. An honest no is part of the deal.