Compliance Associate, Founder’s Office

About the Company

Adalat AI is building an end-to-end justice tech stack that automates manual and clerical pain points in courtrooms, giving judges back time to focus on what matters most: decision-making and delivering justice. Our solutions - from AI-powered transcription in Indian languages to case-flow management and document navigation - are now deployed across 9 states, covering nearly 20% of India’s judiciary.

Backed by leading technology companies and funders, and incubated at MIT and Oxford, Adalat AI is working to eliminate judicial delays and expand access to timely justice. Founded by a team with backgrounds in law, technology, and economics from Harvard, Oxford, MIT, and IIIT Hyderabad, we are scaling rapidly across India and the Global South.

Role Overview

Adalat AI is entering a phase of rapid scale - across states, institutions, products, and geographies. As we grow, the legal and regulatory questions we navigate are becoming increasingly complex, particularly across data privacy and security, technology contracting, nonprofit and CSR regulation, and institutional partnerships.

We are looking for a Legal Associate to join the Compliance team within the Founder’s Office and work closely with the Compliance Lead and leadership team.

This is not a narrow contract-review role. You will work across the organisation on legal and compliance matters arising from Adalat AI's technology, partnerships, fundraising, and operations. You will draft and negotiate agreements, research emerging regulatory questions, help build internal compliance systems, and work with teams across product, technology, operations, finance, and partnerships.

The role is ideal for someone with a strong foundation in corporate law who wants significant ownership early in their career. You should be comfortable moving between detailed legal analysis and practical execution, operating in fast-moving and sometimes ambiguous situations, and taking a problem from first question through to resolution.

Key Responsibilities

Data Privacy, Security & AI Governance

Research and advise on data privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, and technology-related regulatory requirements relevant to Adalat AI's products and operations.
Support compliance with India's evolving data protection framework, including the DPDP Act and associated rules and requirements.
Review product and operational workflows from a privacy and security perspective, including questions relating to collection, processing, storage, sharing, retention, anonymisation, and use of data.
Work closely with product and technology teams to translate legal and regulatory requirements into practical operational safeguards.
Support the development of internal policies, processes, risk assessments, and documentation relating to privacy, security, responsible AI, and data governance.
Research emerging legal and regulatory developments affecting AI and technology deployed within courts and public institutions.

Contracts & Legal Documentation

Draft, review, negotiate, and manage a broad range of agreements, including MoUs, NDAs, services agreements, vendor agreements, consultancy agreements, grant agreements, partnership agreements, and other commercial arrangements.
Support contracting with courts, government institutions, technology partners, funders, vendors, consultants, and other external stakeholders.
Identify legal and commercial risks and recommend practical solutions rather than simply flagging issues.
Maintain contract templates, precedent documents, trackers, and an organised repository of executed agreements and key obligations.
Track contractual commitments, renewals, reporting requirements, termination provisions, and other material obligations.

Corporate, CSR & FCRA Compliance

Support legal and regulatory compliance across Adalat AI's nonprofit and for-profit entities.
Research and advise on CSR regulations, including eligibility, utilisation of CSR funding, implementing agency requirements, reporting obligations, and permissible structures.
Support FCRA-related compliance and research, including questions concerning receipt and utilisation of foreign contributions and cross-border funding arrangements.
Coordinate with finance, external counsel, company secretaries, auditors, and other advisers on corporate and regulatory matters.
Maintain compliance calendars, regulatory trackers, filings, approvals, and supporting documentation.

Legal Research & Advisory

Conduct high-quality legal and regulatory research across corporate law, technology law, privacy, AI regulation, nonprofit regulation, CSR, FCRA, intellectual property, and other areas relevant to Adalat AI.
Prepare concise research notes, legal summaries, risk assessments, and recommendations for the Compliance Lead, founders, and business teams.
Monitor regulatory developments affecting Adalat AI and identify their practical implications for the organisation.
Work with external counsel where specialist advice is required and help translate that advice into actionable internal next steps.

Cross-Functional & Founder’s Office Support

Work closely with the Compliance Lead and teams across product, technology, operations, fundraising, finance, and partnerships to identify and resolve legal and compliance issues.
Take ownership of legal workstreams from initial issue identification through research, drafting, stakeholder coordination, execution, and follow-up.
Participate in internal and external meetings and ensure that legal action items and commitments are followed through.
Help build scalable legal and compliance processes as Adalat AI expands across India and internationally.
Support time-sensitive Founder’s Office priorities where legal, regulatory, or institutional coordination is required.

Stakeholder Coordination

Serve as legal and compliance point of contact when Compliance Lead travels for meetings, institutional engagements and other organisational requirements, as needed.
Coordinate documentation, follow-ups, approvals, and legal requirements arising from stakeholder meetings.
Be comfortable engaging professionally with senior external stakeholders, including lawyers, funders, government officials, institutional partners, and members of the judiciary.

Qualifications

Must-Have

LL.B. from a recognised law school.
2–3 years of post-qualification experience, preferably in a corporate law firm, technology company, startup, nonprofit/social-impact organisation, or an in-house legal team.
Strong grounding in corporate/commercial law and contract drafting.
Demonstrable experience or strong working knowledge of data privacy and data protection law.
Familiarity with CSR and FCRA regulations, or the ability to quickly develop expertise in these areas.
Excellent legal research, analytical, and drafting skills.
Ability to convert complex legal questions into clear, practical recommendations.
Strong attention to detail and comfort managing multiple matters and deadlines simultaneously.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Willingness to travel when required.
High ownership: you are comfortable being given an outcome rather than a detailed set of instructions and figuring out how to get there.
Strong judgement, discretion, and reliability when handling sensitive or confidential matters.
Proactive and resourceful — you follow through without needing repeated supervision.

Nice-to-Have

Experience advising technology companies, startups, SaaS businesses, or AI companies.
Experience with the DPDP Act, privacy policies, data-processing arrangements, information-security requirements, or technology contracts.
Experience with nonprofit/Section 8 companies, CSR funding, FCRA, grants, or philanthropic organisations.
Exposure to government contracting, public-sector institutions, or regulatory bodies.
Experience coordinating with external counsel, company secretaries, auditors, or regulatory advisers.
Familiarity with intellectual property and AI-related legal issues.
Prior experience working directly with founders or senior leadership in a lean organisation.

What You Will Achieve in a Year

Become a trusted legal and compliance partner to the Compliance Lead and leadership team, capable of independently owning day-to-day legal matters and driving them to closure.
Build strong working knowledge of Adalat AI's products, institutional partnerships, entity structure, funding arrangements, and regulatory environment.
Independently draft and negotiate a significant portion of Adalat AI's routine commercial, institutional, and partnership agreements.
Help operationalise a strong privacy, data governance, and security compliance framework appropriate for AI deployed in judicial and public-sector environments.
Build scalable legal systems — including contract repositories, compliance calendars, obligation trackers, templates, policies, and internal workflows — that support Adalat AI's rapid growth.
Develop meaningful expertise across the intersection of AI, law, data governance, public institutions, and social-impact technology.
Become a reliable point of contact who can represent the Compliance function internally and externally when required.

Our Interview Process

We keep our process straightforward and transparent. Here's what to expect:

R1 – Intro Call (30 minutes)
An introduction to Adalat AI - our mission, the problem we're solving, and an initial conversation around your background and role fit.

R2 – Legal & Compliance Deep-Dive (45 minutes)
A deeper conversation around your experience with corporate law, contracts, data privacy, regulatory research, and the legal problems you've worked through.

R3 – Take-Home Assignment Review (60 minutes)
A discussion around a legal/compliance assignment completed beforehand. You'll walk us through your analysis, drafting, risk assessment, recommendations, and thought process.

R4 – Culture Fit (30 minutes)
A conversation to assess shared values and how you'd work within the team.

R5 – Founder Chat (30 minutes)
A conversation with one or more of our founders to assess mutual fit, shared values, Adalat AI's mission and direction, and compensation alignment.