# Backbone Legal

> Backbone Legal turns a law firm's approved systems into governed APIs and Model Context
> Protocol (MCP) tools, so permitted people and AI assistants can retrieve, draft, and act
> through firm-defined boundaries. It is a technology implementation service, not a law
> firm, and it does not provide legal, ethics, or compliance advice.

## Status

Backbone Legal is a formation-stage service. Capabilities described on the site are design
commitments, not shipped guarantees. No connector, integration, compliance certification, or
white-label application is claimed to be generally available. A future firm-facing product
will be a separate surface from this public site.

## Pages

- [Backbone Legal](https://backbone.legal/): the service, the enablement method, the control model, the split of responsibility, and answers to the questions firms ask first.
- [About](https://backbone.legal/about): what the service is, what it is not, and an explicit list of what exists today.
- [Trust and boundaries](https://backbone.legal/trust): the control model, the limit of each commitment, and the split of responsibility with the firm.
- [Start a pilot](https://backbone.legal/contact): the contact form for naming one bounded workflow, its system owners, and what an agent may never do.

## Method

- Map: identify systems, information owners, authoritative sources, data classes, existing APIs, and approval points before exposing a tool.
- Connect: build versioned adapters around supported APIs and bounded integration paths without replacing the systems of record.
- Govern: bind each resource and tool to identity, authorization, input validation, matter scope, evidence, and the firm's review requirements.
- Launch: deliver an approved catalog to selected assistants and workflows, beginning read-only where practical and expanding deliberately.

## Boundaries

- Authority stays with the system of record; that system enforces the final decision, including revocation.
- Authentication is not blanket permission; every tool contract names its inputs, outputs, authority, evidence, and failure behavior.
- Operational evidence is bounded, and privileged content stays out of broad telemetry.

## Contact

- [Start a pilot](https://backbone.legal/contact): the contact form; bring one bounded firm workflow, named system owners, and an explicit decision about what an agent may never do.
- Direct email: hello@backbone.legal