About ayni legal
A fractional General Counsel practice, built to embed.
ayni legal is a fractional General Counsel practice for founders and growth-stage teams. Senior legal judgment is embedded inside companies that need a GC but are not ready for a full-time legal department, staying long enough to build something durable.
The work spans commercial contracts, privacy, AI governance, employment, equity, and legal operations. Showing up means being part of the team, learning the business, and giving options that match the size and speed of what you are building.
Legal should clear the path, not block it.
About Amy
About Amy.
I am Amy Guzman, and I founded ayni legal after 20+ years building legal functions for companies who were figuring it out as they went, including time at Baker and McKenzie, Salesforce, Lyft, and most recently as General Counsel and Privacy Officer at SOCi. Now I work as a fractional General Counsel, embedding senior legal judgment inside growth-stage teams that need a GC but are not ready for a full-time legal department.
I have built legal departments from scratch at four companies. I have managed compliance programs across the US, Canada, EU, LATAM, and APAC. I have been in the room for funding rounds, ISO audits, and the kind of due diligence that makes or breaks a deal.
I believe legal should clear the path, not block it. My job is to give you options that match the size and speed of your business, not to drop a rulebook on your desk.
How I Work
Fractional GC first, flexible support when you need it.
The core of ayni legal is the embedded fractional General Counsel relationship. I join your team on a monthly subscription so you have a set number of hours reserved for your company and available to use however you need them: strategic guidance, privacy and AI governance, ISO program support, interim GC or DGC coverage, legal operations, or the urgent matter that shows up on a Tuesday afternoon.
Most clients find that 30 to 40 hours per month is the right fit for real embedded coverage. During periods of growth and acceleration, the plan can flex up, then settle back once things calm down. The exact scope and hours are shaped around your company and spelled out in the engagement letter.
I also take on a limited amount of ad hoc and project-specific work when I have capacity, including single agreements, targeted projects in privacy, AI, contracts, or legal operations. Because embedded work is my primary focus, response times for ad hoc matters depend on availability.
If you need an embedded GC or targeted support for a specific project, the next step is a conversation about what you are building and where you need help.
What I build
Legal judgment that sits across the company.
The work sits across the company, not off to the side. With product and engineering, I help the builders ship: pressure-testing what they are designing, spotting the legal questions early, and keeping momentum moving without taking shortcuts.
With the executive team, I build the policies and scaffolding that shape the company's design and culture: privacy programs, AI governance, contract standards, and the quiet infrastructure that lets leadership make faster, better decisions.
I also work alongside sales to protect the company and keep deals moving. That means contracts that get signed, playbooks the team actually uses, and agreements that make customers excited to launch.
The result is legal judgment that keeps up with the company, not one that slows it down.