UKAI Legal Working Group

Supporting legal, risk, and compliance leaders navigating the real-world complexities of AI

The UKAI Legal Working Group brings together senior in-house counsel and legal leaders to address the real-world legal implications of AI adoption. From procurement and contracting to IP, explainability, and regulation, this group exists to support those on the frontline of legal risk and innovation.

Why This Group Exists

As AI becomes embedded in products, services, and decision-making, legal teams are being asked to assess risk, provide assurance, and shape internal governance in ways that were never expected. Contracts, IP, procurement, explainability, liability, safety, and traceability are no longer abstract issues. They are live questions, happening now, in organisations that are under pressure to deploy AI both responsibly and competitively.

The UKAI Legal Working Group was created to meet that reality. It brings together senior legal professionals working on the frontline of AI adoption to share insight, compare approaches, and develop practical tools that support delivery. This group is not for passive observers. It is for legal leads who want to shape the environment they are operating in and help build the guidance the market needs.

What the Group Delivers

This group gives members the space, structure, and support to move from legal risk identification to shared legal solutions. It delivers a dedicated stream of activity throughout the year, including high-trust roundtables and fireside discussions that allow members to explore difficult issues in depth and build responses collaboratively.
Members use the group to:

Work through live issues in AI contracting, procurement, and liability
Build frameworks that support explainability, traceability, and governance
Develop sector-specific approaches to assurance, safety, and regulatory expectations
Co-author practical resources for internal use and external engagement
Feed directly into UKAI’s policy and regulatory response work
Support each other with lessons from deployment, procurement, and compliance experience
Take part in curated roundtables and fireside sessions as part of the group’s regular activity stream

This is not a passive forum. It is an active working group, grounded in the real-world delivery of AI, designed to help legal professionals navigate what is changing and shape what comes next.

How the Group Works

The Legal Working Group leads a focused programme of activity that runs throughout the year. All participation is designed to be low-lift, high-value, and led by the people doing the work.

Roundtables

Intimate, cross-sector discussions on critical topics like liability in foundation model supply chains, risk-sharing in multi-party deployments, and explainability in regulated industries. Always off-record, practical, and grounded in real scenarios.

Fireside Conversations

Private, invitation-only discussions on legal and regulatory frontiers in AI. These sessions offer space to test ideas and hear directly from peers and national leaders.

Collaborative Outputs

From model clauses and procurement checklists to policy submissions and whitepapers. All outputs are co-authored by group members and UKAI.

Policy and Regulator Engagement

The group regularly contributes to consultations, responds to regulatory developments, and feeds into UKAI’s engagement with government and regulatory bodies.

Strategic Collaboration with Other UKAI Groups

Legal work does not sit in isolation. Group members also help shape cross-cutting streams of work across the network.

What’s Coming Up

The group’s current programme includes:

Mapping liability in model procurement
Designing explainability strategies that meet legal and operational needs
Addressing risk ownership in multi-vendor or multi-model AI systems
Creating practical approaches to internal AI governance and model sign-off
Advising on engagement with regulators when guidance is still emerging
Exploring IP and licensing issues in generative AI tools

All outputs are member-led and will feed into UKAI’s wider content and national engagement work.

Who’s Involved

The group includes legal, risk, and compliance leads from across the UKAI ecosystem. Members include:

General counsel and legal directors from enterprise adopters

Partners from international and UK law firms

Legal and regulatory leads from AI scale-ups and infrastructure providers

Risk specialists working across digital transformation and AI governance

Participation is by invitation and designed to ensure a mix of in-house, private practice, and sectoral experience. This is a practitioner-led group, built for relevance, trust, and action.

Fiona Phillips

CHAIR, LEGAL WORKING GROUP

A former Magic Circle lawyer and senior leader in global banking, Fiona brings over 15 years of legal and regulatory experience to the UKAI Trade Association. She has advised on AI governance, cybersecurity, data strategy and innovation at some of the world’s leading financial institutions, including HSBC and UBS. As Chair of the Legal Working Group, she champions clear, proportionate regulation to support responsible AI adoption and UK innovation. She has received industry recognition and multiple awards for pioneering the use of AI in the legal sector. A frequent speaker on AI and the law, she advises companies on ethical and legal frameworks for emerging technologies. Passionate about the intersection of law, technology and society, she advocates for greater collaboration between policymakers, industry and academia to shape the UK’s AI future.

Fiona Ghosh

PARTNER, ASHURST LLP

Dan Rhodes

SENIOR DIRECTOR, LEGAL & DPO, GRANICUS

Alessandro Galtieri

DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL, VP CORPORATE LAW

Helen Graham

ASSOCIATE GENERAL COUNSEL, SHELL

Sarah Bailey Lissamore

HEAD OF TRANSACTIONS, ZURICH UK

Andrea Garford-Tull

GENERAL COUNSEL, DENTSU

James Clark

PARTNER, SPENCER WEST

Tara Haig

GENERAL COUNSEL, MULTIVERSE

Anjali Dixon

RISK AND LEGAL STRATEGY, STANDARD CHARTERED

Dr Catriona Wolfenden

PRODUCT & INNOVATION DIRECTOR, WEIGHTMANS LLP

Anju Malik

ASSOCIATE GENERAL COUNSEL, INTERPUBLIC GROUP

How to Get Involved

The Legal Working Group is open to all UKAI members with active responsibility for legal, regulatory, or compliance work related to AI. Members contribute to core quarterly meetings, themed sessions, and outputs throughout the year. Additional working sessions or deep-dives take place as needed based on member priorities.

If you or your team are dealing with these challenges and want to shape how the legal profession responds to AI, we would love to hear from you.

For more details, contact Stephen Moore