Regulatory Consulting at Covington & Burling (Policy)

Overview

Covington & Burling is a premier Washington law firm with one of the deepest AI practices in the market, built on an unusual mix of regulatory, transactional, and litigation expertise plus a public-policy practice that can advise on legislative and regulatory goals directly. The firm has guided companies through the full lifecycle of AI applications — from early-stage financing and development through implementation, compliance, and disputes — across multiple jurisdictions, and maintains a public Artificial Intelligence Toolkit for clients navigating a fragmented global landscape. What makes Covington especially relevant to AI policy is its government-contracts practice: its team has analyzed how, in the absence of comprehensive U.S. federal AI legislation, the federal government still shapes AI through procurement authorities — including tools like the Defense Production Act — making purchasing power a de facto regulatory instrument. That insight, captured in work such as ‘AI Procurement as Regulatory Reconnaissance,’ positions Covington at exactly the intersection your directory tracks: where private-sector AI meets federal procurement and policy. The firm advises on major AI infrastructure transactions internationally and represents clients in AI-related investigations in both the U.S. and EU.

AI-Focused Regulatory Work

Covington’s core analytical insight is that American AI regulation is happening even where legislation isn’t. Its ‘Navigating AI Regulation’ work observes that, unlike Europe, the U.S. approach has been decentralized with limited near-term prospects for national legislation — yet the federal government retains a key role by leveraging procurement authorities, a lever the firm’s combined government-contracts and technology teams are unusually placed to read. Partner Ryan Burnette developed this into ‘AI Procurement as Regulatory Reconnaissance,’ presented at Fordham Law School’s Transatlantic AI and Law Institute conference, framing government buying decisions as both an information-gathering and a rule-setting mechanism. That lens has proved durable across a turbulent policy period spanning the U.S. response to DeepSeek, the shift from the Biden to the current administration’s AI framework, and the December 2025 executive order ‘Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,’ which sought to consolidate AI oversight federally and discourage state regulation through litigation, spending, and standard-setting levers. Meanwhile the EU AI Act has moved into phased implementation, with general-purpose-AI obligations taking effect in August 2025 and requirements that foundation-model providers publish detailed training-data summaries — producing the sharpest transatlantic regulatory divergence yet and exactly the cross-jurisdictional complexity Covington is built for. The firm also advises on the infrastructure layer of AI geopolitics, including counseling Qualcomm Technologies on a major collaboration to deploy advanced AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

Notable AI Policy Work

• Published ‘Navigating AI Regulation,’ analyzing how the U.S. federal government shapes AI through procurement authorities — including the Defense Production Act — despite the absence of comprehensive federal AI legislation.
• Partner Ryan Burnette presented ‘AI Procurement as Regulatory Reconnaissance’ at Fordham Law School’s Transatlantic AI and Law Institute, framing federal buying decisions as a de facto regulatory instrument.
• Maintains a public Artificial Intelligence Toolkit helping clients manage data governance, product counseling, compliance, transactions, litigation, and risk management across multiple jurisdictions.
• Advised Qualcomm Technologies on a transformative collaboration to deploy advanced AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia — work at the intersection of AI infrastructure and geopolitics.
• Tracks the transatlantic regulatory divergence — the EU AI Act’s phased implementation and August 2025 general-purpose-AI obligations versus the U.S. shift toward innovation acceleration and federal preemption.
• Represents clients in AI-related government investigations in both the U.S. and EU, and handles AI-driven M&A, joint ventures, licensing, and strategic alliances (e.g., acquisitions expanding AIOps and deep-learning capabilities).

Thought Leadership

1. Navigating AI Regulation
   Covington’s analysis of how federal procurement authorities — including the Defense Production Act — give Washington regulatory leverage over AI absent comprehensive legislation.
2. AI Procurement as Regulatory Reconnaissance
   Ryan Burnette’s Fordham Transatlantic AI and Law Institute presentation framing government AI purchasing as both intelligence-gathering and rule-setting.
3. Covington Artificial Intelligence Toolkit
   A practical resource for clients managing AI risk across data governance, compliance, transactions, and litigation in multiple jurisdictions.
4. Covington — Artificial Intelligence industry practice
   The firm’s full-lifecycle AI practice, from financing and development through implementation, regulation, and disputes.

Clients

Advises AI developers, deployers, and enterprise users across jurisdictions — including Qualcomm Technologies on AI-infrastructure deployment in Saudi Arabia and technology companies on AI-related acquisitions. Strong government-contracts base serving federal contractors and companies navigating U.S. procurement and export policy.