For SEC-registered investment advisers and ERISA-regulated fiduciaries
Services
Three ways to engage Traiceback — from a focused independent review to a full AI governance build to ongoing counsel.
Every engagement begins with an understanding of the business. The business defines the risks. The risks drive the controls. The controls generate the evidence of due care.
What that work looks like in practice depends on whether your firm is preparing for an examination, building an AI governance framework from a clean sheet, or seeking ongoing counsel as new questions arise.
Service 01 · Discrete Engagement
Most engagements begin here
AI Governance Readiness Review
An independent, confidential review of your firm's existing AI governance — senior-led, directed at your firm's own use.
A defined-scope engagement examining your firm's current AI use, your existing compliance policies and procedures as they bear on AI, and the gap between the two. The deliverable is a confidential memorandum — observations, areas of strength, areas where additional documentation would meaningfully reduce examination exposure, and a suggested sequence of remediation.
The Readiness Review is not a score, a rating, or a public attestation. It is the firm's own work product, directed at the firm's own use. What the firm chooses to do with it is the firm's decision.
For advisers preparing for examination, board members seeking independent perspective, or compliance officers who want a fresh set of qualified eyes before something larger is built. A faster-track version is available for firms with imminent examination dates.
Service 02 · Multi-Phase Engagement
AIMSMART™ Framework Implementation
End-to-end design and implementation of an AI governance framework — standalone or integrated with your firm's existing compliance program.
For firms that need to build, not just review. We design and implement the AIMSMART framework for your specific business — calibrated to your Model Deployment Posture, scaled to your firm's size and complexity, and integrated with your existing policies and procedures rather than imposed alongside them.
Typical scope includes AI use case inventory and classification, drafting or refinement of the AI Governance Policy and supporting procedures, design of the evidence and recordkeeping architecture, vendor and third-party risk assessment, and training of compliance, technology, and investment personnel. Each control is constructed through the six-element discipline and anchored to recognized authority.
Delivered as a complete build for firms starting from a clean sheet, or as a targeted supplement extending what your compliance program already addresses. We do not require firms to rebuild what already works.
Service 03 · Ongoing Relationship
AI Governance Advisory Retainer
Predictable, fixed-fee access to senior AI governance counsel — an alternative to ad-hoc outside-counsel hourly billing.
An ongoing retainer for firms that have an AI governance framework in place — whether built by Traiceback, by another adviser, or in-house — and want a qualified sounding board as the technology, the regulatory landscape, and the firm's own AI use evolve.
Typical engagement includes scheduled monthly working sessions with the CCO, GC, or both; on-call consultation as questions arise; quarterly review of AI use case inventory and emerging risks; and a standing channel for new-vendor diligence, new use case evaluation, and pre-examination preparation.
For firms whose AI questions are recurring enough to warrant predictable counsel, but who prefer a fixed monthly retainer to ad-hoc hourly billing.
How We Engage
Independent of which service line, every Traiceback engagement is governed by a small number of principles. They are practical, not ornamental.
Fixed Fees
Engagements are quoted as fixed fees against a defined scope. Retainers are quoted as fixed monthly amounts. The engagement letter is the budget. Hourly billing is the exception, disclosed in advance, and used only where genuinely required.
No Conflicts
Traiceback does not sell, resell, or receive compensation from any AI tool, model provider, or technology vendor. Our recommendations are not influenced by referral relationships. The only revenue is the engagement fee.
Proportionality
The scope, depth, and documentation of every engagement scale to the firm's size, complexity, and Model Deployment Posture. A small adviser using frontier models is not asked to produce what a large adviser running self-tuned open-weight models would produce.
Privilege Where Appropriate
Engagements involving legal interpretation, regulatory exposure analysis, or examination preparation can be structured to support attorney-client privilege and attorney work product protection. Coordination with the firm's outside counsel is welcomed where this matters.
Confidentiality
Engagements are confidential by default. We do not publish client names, case studies, or testimonials without the firm's explicit written permission. The list of Traiceback clients is not itself a deliverable.
Senior-Led Throughout
Every engagement is delivered by the firm's founder. There is no associate model, no junior consultant tier, no work product produced for review. What the prospect meets is what the client receives.
Who We Serve
Traiceback works primarily with SEC-registered investment advisers, ERISA-regulated fiduciaries — plan sponsors, plan committees, and the advisers that serve them — and the boards and audit committees that supervise both.
For broker-dealers, family offices, registered fund complexes, and other financial-services entities, please inquire. The framework adapts; the threshold question is whether the AIMSMART discipline meaningfully addresses your specific regulatory and fiduciary exposure.
Next Steps · Begin a Conversation
Two specific ways to take the next step:
- Request a fixed-fee quote for a Readiness Review at your firm.
- Request a sample AIMSMART control showing the six-element discipline applied end-to-end.
info@traiceback.com