Company History
licens.io didn't start as a consulting firm. It started with building things — and discovering that the expertise required to build AI responsibly is exactly what organizations need to govern, value, and secure it.
Bommarito Consulting founded
Michael and Jillian Bommarito establish an advisory practice at the intersection of AI, governance, information security, and privacy. Early engagements focus on computational modeling and technology advisory for financial institutions.
LexPredict founded
Michael co-founds LexPredict with Daniel Martin Katz to build AI-powered legal technology. The company develops ContraxSuite (contract analytics), LexNLP (open-source legal NLP), and LexSemble (case assessment). Jillian serves as CFO.
Supreme Court prediction model published
"A General Approach for Predicting the Behavior of the Supreme Court" achieves 70.2% accuracy across 240,000+ justice votes over 200 years. Published in PLoS ONE, eventually reaching 399 citations.
Published in Science
"Harnessing Legal Complexity" is published in Science, establishing the team's academic credibility at the highest level. The paper models legal systems as complex adaptive systems — a framework that later informs approaches to AI governance.
LexPredict acquired by Elevate
LexPredict is acquired, validating the team's ability to build, scale, and exit technology companies. The experience directly shapes how licens.io approaches technology due diligence and valuation.
licens.io launched
The team launches licens.io to focus on software diligence, open source compliance, and valuation. Initial services center on dependency analysis, license compliance, and technology assessments for PE/VC transactions.
Building the diligence practice
licens.io establishes itself in PE/VC technology due diligence, advising on transactions that contribute to $10B+ in cumulative capital events. Four Fortune 50 companies become clients through the advisory practice.
First-cohort Certified AI Auditors
Jillian earns the ForHumanity Certified AI Auditor credential in the program's first global cohort — months before ChatGPT launches in November 2022 and AI governance becomes a mainstream concern.
273 Ventures founded
Michael and Jillian co-found 273 Ventures with Daniel Martin Katz as a legal AI product studio. The company quickly signs dozens of AmLaw 50 law firms and 25+ Fortune 500 companies.
GPT Takes the Bar Exam
The team co-authors "GPT Takes the Bar Exam" and "GPT-4 Passes the Bar Exam," which become among the most widely covered AI research papers of 2023. Coverage in CNN, Bloomberg, ABA Journal, and direct citation by OpenAI.
AI governance services expand
With the Certified AI Auditor credentials, the Science publication record, and the bar exam research establishing credibility, licens.io expands from software diligence into full AI governance consulting.
KL3M and Fairly Trained certification
The team builds KL3M — 132M+ copyright-clean documents, 1.35 trillion tokens — the world's first LLM to receive Fairly Trained L-Certification. Covered by Wired, BBC World Service, and Law360.
Agent research and expanded development
Publication of "How to Design an AI Agent" and "Governing AI Agents" establishes frameworks for the agentic AI era. licens.io expands into AI application development, agent design, and LLM fine-tuning.
Full-stack AI governance, compliance, and development
licens.io enters 2026 as a full-spectrum firm: AI governance, technology due diligence, privacy and security compliance, data strategy, and AI development. The EU AI Act high-risk enforcement deadline drives unprecedented demand.