Artificial intelligence has quickly evolved from a frontier technology to a fundamental strategic imperative, transforming how our clients conduct business and how the markets value assets. As AI-related headlines drive rapid changes in the legal landscape, we provide the practical advice our clients need so they can react quickly to adjust their competitive strategies while managing their legal and regulatory risks. Across industries and practice areas, our attorneys combine technical sophistication with legal acumen and a well-honed understanding of client needs to advise on AI-related issues throughout the business lifecycle.
AI and Corporate Transactions
We represent clients in a range of AI-focused transactions, including investments in AI companies, acquisitions of AI technology and strategic purchases of data centers, semiconductors and other AI infrastructure. Even when AI is not central to the deal, we help our clients identify and navigate complex AI-related issues that can arise in almost any significant commercial transaction, such as data provenance challenges, IP licensing ambiguities, latent security shortcomings privacy considerations and unexpected third-party dependencies.
Select matter highlights:
- Cisco in its $28 billion acquisition of Splunk
- Microsoft in its announced $1.5 billion investment in G42
- Astera Labs in its $819.7 million IPO
- Cohesity in connection with its combination with Veritas’ data protection business in a cash-and-stock transaction that values the combined company at $7 billion
AI and Private Equity Sponsors
As part of our market-leading private equity practice, we advise sponsors and their portfolio companies on issues related to AI development, use and regulatory compliance. We have decades of experience in the PE field and know well our clients’ past and proposed uses of their funds’ and portfolio companies’ data. We routinely advise sponsors on using AI to optimize their investing and operational strategies while managing their complex legal, regulatory and contractual obligations. We also counsel their portfolio companies on AI-related issues that arise from the companies’ operations and product offerings across industries and geographic jurisdictions.
Select matter highlights:
- Hellman & Friedman and Goldman Sachs in announced formation of a new AI-native enterprise services firm by Anthropic, Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and Goldman Sachs
- Liftoff Mobile, Inc. and Blackstone in Blackstone’s agreement to sell a minority stake in Liftoff to General Atlantic at a $4.3 billion valuation
- Vantage Data Centers in a $9.2 billion equity investment round led by DigitalBridge and Silver Lake
- Applied Systems, a portfolio company of Hellman & Friedman and one of the world’s largest providers of agency and brokerage management systems, in its acquisition of Plank Resolution LTD
- Blackstone in its acquisition of Enverus, a premier data analytics energy intelligence platform, from Hellman & Friedman and Genstar Capital
- Formation and raising of AI Infrastructure Partnership (AIP), a new fund founded by BlackRock, GIP, a part of BlackRock, Microsoft, MGX, Nvidia and xAI to invest in next-generation AI data centers and energy infrastructure
- Formation and raising of the $1.75 billion Apax Digital Fund II in 2021, as well as the inaugural Apax Digital Fund
- Formation and raising of EQT’s flagship infrastructure fund, the €21.5 billion EQT Infrastructure VI in 2025, which will focus on backing companies within its core sectors, including digital infrastructure
AI and Commercial Disputes
The rapid adoption of AI has brought new opportunities for commercial friction, from disagreements about data provenance and IP ownership to disputes about performance failures, privacy rights and misaligned investment expectations. We proactively advise clients on how to mitigate these risks in contracting, AI system development and AI product delivery. When disputes do arise, our experienced litigators apply technical sophistication to seek favorable resolutions in mediation, arbitration, securities litigation, consumer class actions and high-stakes commercial suits.
Select matter highlights:
- TaskUs in a putative Securities Act class action litigation
- Underwriters of Riskified’s IPO in dismissal of securities litigation
- Circana in the trial and settlement of a highly expedited deal break case in Delaware Chancery Court
- Enverus in a favorable ruling during a 10-day bench trial stemming from a contract dispute involving alleged misuse and refusal to delete licensed data
AI and Internal Operations
Our attorneys serve as strategic partners for clients at all stages of their AI development and adoption processes—from those just beginning to develop an AI strategy to those with multi-year, enterprise-wide AI initiatives. For over a decade, we have advised clients across industries on the safe, secure and responsible adoption of machine learning and other AI technologies, and we apply this depth of experience to provide practical advice on achieving AI governance that works for the business and its stakeholders. We also partner with clients to ensure that our own use of AI is aligned with their interests and supportive of their goals, allowing us to provide efficient, high-quality service matched to their priorities.
Select matter highlights:
- An investment bank on overall policies for use of AI in public and private instances
- A UK bank on its use policies for AI tools impacting consumers (both generative and decision-making systems)
- A large, financially focused family office on internal AI policies
- A content company on AI collaboration with prominent technology company, involving anonymization of massive content database for training AI model
- Multiple companies on AI use, related governance policies and in connection with various commercial agreements
AI Infrastructure
We provide strategic counsel on all aspects of transactions involving AI infrastructure, including data centers, GPUs and related power solutions. In an industry defined by high demand and rapid growth, we have been ranked as the #1 legal advisor on all data center transactions globally (2024 and 2025) and #1 for all power sector M&A in North America (2025). Since 2018, we have advised on over $537 billon in data center and digital infrastructure transactions and have been recognized by top publications across the industry on numerous transaction awards.
Our data center practice includes lawyers across digital infrastructure, real estate and many other relevant practice areas, offering multidisciplinary advice to data center owners, operators and investors. By combining leading market knowledge with novel execution approaches, we are uniquely able to serve the diverse range of participants in this sector on their most important and complex matters.
Representative Expertise
M&A and Private Equity
- Blackstone in the $16.1 billion acquisition with CPP Investments of AirTrunk (Blackstone’s largest-ever investment in the Asia Pacific region), and its $500 million preferred equity financing and $250 million delayed draw facility investment in Shield AI, a defense technology company
- Microsoft Corporation in its $1.5 billion strategic investment in G42, the leading UAE-based AI technology holding company
- DigitalBridge Group in a $9.2 billion equity investment round in Vantage Data Centers
- SK Telecom in its strategic investment in Anthropic
- Vantage Data Centers on a $1.6 billion investment in its Asia-Pacific platform by GIC and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and its acquisition of the Yondr Group’s 300+ MW hyperscale data center campus Malaysia
Partnerships and Joint Ventures
- Founding partners Goldman Sachs and Hellman & Friedman in the formation of a new AI-native standalone enterprise services firm by Anthropic, Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman and Goldman Sachs, backed by a consortium of leading alternative asset managers including General Atlantic, Leonard Green, Apollo Global Management, GIC and Sequoia Capital
- KKR in its $50 billion strategic partnership with Energy Capital Partners
- Macquarie Asset Management in an up to $5 billion partnership with Applied Digital to support the development, ownership and operation of high-performance computing (HPC) data centers
Financings
- Macquarie Asset Management in a $2.35 billion notes offering by its AI infrastructure partnership with Applied Digital
- Brookfield Asset Management in its equity financing investment in 5C Group through its Infrastructure Structured Solutions strategy
- AirTrunk in its $10.4 billion (ex-Japan) multi-transaction refinancing
Fund Formation
- EQT on seeding its AI Infrastructure strategy, through an investment by global data center developer and operator EdgeConneX
- DigitalBridge in the formation and raising of its $11.7 billion digital infra fund in 2025, as well as its preceding funds, including its $4.05 billion inaugural fund in 2019
AI and Regulatory/Enforcement (U.S.)
AI remains an area of heightened interest for regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice and state agencies and attorneys general. In the face of substantial ambiguity about the application and enforcement of existing regulations and uncertainty about the scope and impact of future ones, our experienced attorneys provide practical, risk-based guidance to help our clients understand, appraise and manage their AI-related risks.
With only limited AI-specific rules on the books, U.S. regulators are heavily focused on ensuring that companies’ AI-related activities comply with existing technology-neutral laws and regulations, particularly those covering market disclosures, records retention, false advertising, personal information, consumer protection and competition. In the absence of clear regulatory guidance on how these rules will be applied to AI, our attorneys—including our deep bench of alums from the SEC, FTC, DOJ, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and National Advertising Board—leverage their experience and technical sophistication to help clients navigate regulatory uncertainty and overlapping enforcement risk.
Select matter highlights include counselling private equity sponsors and portfolio companies in relevant SEC exams.
AI and Regulatory/Enforcement (EU/UK)
Europe is at the forefront of AI regulation. Blockbuster framework laws such as the EU AI Act and the EU Data Act govern the development and use of AI systems and models, as well as the data used to train and use them. The EU is also moving forward with a comprehensive suite of topic and sector-specific laws and policies aimed at facilitating European AI use (such as the Financial Data Access Regulation and the European Health Data Space) and clarifying liability for certain harms caused by AI systems (the Revised Product Liability Directive). In parallel, European litigators and regulators continue to apply privacy, IP, competition, employment, consumer protection and other laws to AI development and use in novel ways.
Our multi-disciplinary team has extensive experience helping clients across sectors navigate the opportunities and risks arising from this complex and evolving framework. Our work includes helping clients build data lakes; design and implement AI governance, acceptable use and compliance frameworks; buy and sell data and AI companies; avoid “AI-washing;” provide appropriate AI disclosures; address ESG issues; provide training to senior management; risk assess AI use cases; and procure AI applications. We offer practical strategies, solutions and governance approaches that enable clients to operationalize and enhance their AI and data governance capabilities and offerings.
Select matter highlights:
- Advising a global asset manager building a unified global data lake for use in various AI applications
- Designing, drafting and implementing AI governance and acceptable use policies for both AI developers and deployers
- Complex European AI-related due diligence, contractual negotiation and post-closing integration activities in connection with acquisitions, divestitures and other transactions
- Contract negotiation, advisory and training on European AI requirements