Yelena Ambartsumian

Fractional General Counsel for AI & SaaS Companies — AI Governance, Privacy, Commercial Contracts

About

AMBART LAW is the fractional general counsel for post-product-market-fit AI and SaaS companies—a New York law firm built for teams shipping with agents, LLMs, and regulated data. We embed as outside general counsel for AI governance and product counseling, data privacy, and commercial contracts, on predictable monthly plans. Engagements begin at $6,000 per month; net-new drafting is quoted as a fixed fee.

Inside a plan, we handle: customer MSAs, DPAs, and BAAs; security-review and AI-addendum responses on enterprise deals; AI vendor agreements and contracting playbooks; privacy programs, including DPIAs, DSAR intake, consent architecture, and retention schedules; and launch counseling for AI features. We work daily in the CCPA/CPRA and other state privacy laws, HIPAA, COPPA, the TCPA, the CAN-SPAM Act, Illinois BIPA, state consumer health data laws, and state AI disclosure laws. We also work alongside existing GCs and Heads of Legal as the AI governance and privacy arm of the legal function. We do not take general corporate, employment, or tax work; litigation and trademark prosecution run under separate engagements.

Founder and Managing Attorney Yelena Ambartsumian holds the AIGP and CIPP/US certifications, co-chairs the IAPP New York KnowledgeNet chapter, and chairs the Fractional GCs in AI Governance chapter at Women in AI Governance. Before founding the firm in late 2024, she was a litigation senior associate at Milbank LLP, handling complex commercial litigation and SEC and state attorney general investigations; served as General Counsel to ZUVIC, an engineering consulting firm, through bet-the-company litigation; and founded Origen, an art-technology startup.

She has published in the Harvard International Law Journal on copyright registration of AI-generated works, teaches CLE on AI vendor agreements and copyright x AI, and has been quoted on AI and copyright in Law360 and the New York Times. Admitted in New York and Connecticut.

Practice areas

Commercial Contracts > Licensing
Commercial Contracts > MSAs
Commercial Contracts > SaaS Agreements
Litigation & Disputes > Commercial Lit
Technology Law > AI Law
Data Privacy > HIPAA
Data Privacy

Services

Advisory — Fractional General Counsel
For companies with recurring legal needs and no internal legal function. Work comes in by e-mail; smaller questions are batched into a monthly standing call. Covers review and negotiation of typically up to 3 agreements per month (e.g., MSAs, DPAs, and vendor paper), plus ongoing product and privacy questions. Same-day work available as practicable. 3-month initial term. Net-new drafting is quoted separately as a fixed fee.
$6,000
per month
Embedded — Fractional General Counsel (Most Common)
For companies where legal has to be present day-to-day. We join your Slack or Teams, sit in your standing product, engineering, and go-to-market meetings, and handle anything you flag the same day, as practicable. Two bands: $11,000/month for 3 to 5 hours a week, or $22,000/month for 7 to 10. Works alongside an existing GC or Head of Legal as the privacy and AI governance arm. 3-month initial term. Net-new drafting is quoted separately as a fixed fee.
$11,000
per month

What clients say

“I had the opportunity to engage Yelena for several strategic projects in my organization. She has deep expertise in privacy law, artificial intelligence and commercial negotiations. She has excellent judgement in complex areas of law and really took ownership of these key initiatives, which was a huge unlock for both the substance of the project and the capacity of the legal team. Couldn’t recommend more highly.”
Kelley Merwin
Head of Legal, GlossGenius

Experience

Senior Associate - Litigation and Regulatory Investigations
Milbank LLP
Sep 2016 – Sep 2019
J.D.
Fordham Law School