Claude-native systems for legal, defense, and compliance teams.
Built by an attorney who also ships production AI infrastructure — not a lawyer who talks about AI, and not an engineer who talks about law.
The combination is rare for a reason. It's finally the one that matters.
Enterprise AI adoption is moving out of pilots and into production — fastest in regulated environments where the legal, ethical, and operational frameworks have to hold together from day one. Law firms are partnering directly with frontier labs. Defense acquisitions are rewriting the rules for autonomous systems. Compliance teams are being asked to operate Claude-native workflows their counsel didn't draft and their vendors can't explain.
Unify Theory exists because the practitioners who can design for that environment — people who are credentialed in the law, published on the technology, and actually shipping production AI systems — can be counted on one hand. I'm one of them. The practice provides architecture, implementation, and expert guidance for the teams that need all three held in one mind.
One person — both halves of the problem.
I'm Elton Johnson. I spent twenty years as a U.S. Army Judge Advocate, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel — most recently as Deputy Staff Judge Advocate of V Corps, after serving as Chief of Military Justice at III Corps, with combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In between, I taught the law of armed conflict and cyber operations at the U.S. Naval War College's Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, where I served as a military professor and associate director and as managing editor of International Law Studies — and co-authored work with Michael N. Schmitt, the lead editor of the Tallinn Manual.
Now I build. Unify Theory is where the two halves of my career meet: I architect and ship production AI systems on Anthropic's Claude SDK, and I ground them in the law and policy that decide whether they hold up in front of a regulator, a court, or an adversary. You work with me directly — not a junior team.
Three ways to work together.
Advisory
For teams evaluating Claude or designing AI workflows. Strategy review, architecture guidance, vendor-selection support, and the risk and governance framework that has to wrap around the technology. Typically one to four hours per month on a standing retainer, with ad-hoc availability in between.
Implementation
Hands-on Claude SDK build-outs, custom Model Context Protocol servers, agent orchestration, and integration with your existing legal-tech, compliance, or enterprise stack. Claude-native means built directly on Anthropic's Claude SDK and Model Context Protocol — not bolted onto a generic chatbot. I design and build the system; your team operates it. Scope is a fixed SOW with a defined change-order process, and you own all artifacts and source — portable, no proprietary runtime, no vendor lock-in.
Expert engagements
Testimony, depositions, amicus brief contribution, and published-author commentary for matters involving autonomous systems, AI in warfare, cyber operations, law of armed conflict, or emerging-technology policy. Background in peer-reviewed scholarship and two decades of military legal practice; current as an operator. Available for first-engagement testimony, with a deep prior advisory record in the law of armed conflict, cyber operations, and autonomous systems.
Advisory and implementation are grounded in the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, ISO/IEC 42001, and the EU AI Act where applicable — and defensible under regulatory scrutiny because the same person who architects the system can defend it.
Credentialed in the exact two domains that are converging.
Academic & Military
- Retired Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps 2005 – 2025 · 20 years
- Deputy Staff Judge Advocate, V Corps 2023 – 2025
- Chief of Military Justice, III Corps 2021 – 2023
- Military Professor + Associate Director, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, U.S. Naval War College 2019 – 2021
- Managing Editor, International Law Studies 2020 – 2021
Selected Publications
- Maintaining Command and Control (C2) of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems Southwestern Journal of International Law, Vol. 27, 2021 (with John Cherry)
- Responding to Hostile Cyber Operations: The "In-Kind" Option International Law Studies, Vol. 97, 2021 (with Michael N. Schmitt — lead editor of the Tallinn Manual and the most-cited scholar in international cyber law)
- Responding to Proxy Cyber Operations under International Law Cyber Defense Review, Vol. 6, No. 4, Fall 2021 (with Michael N. Schmitt)
- The Rules of the Game: Great Power Competition and International Law Joint Force Quarterly 106, 3rd Quarter 2022
- Additional pieces in Lawfare, Just Security, and Articles of War.
Set up to work with federal buyers.
Unify Theory LLC is a Kentucky-domiciled professional-services firm — veteran-owned, founded by a retired U.S. Army JAG officer with combat service in Afghanistan and Iraq. SBA-certified as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB), and eligible for federal set-aside and sole-source contracts. Boutique by design: you work directly with the credentialed principal; larger scopes are delivered through vetted teaming.
Core competencies
- Claude-native AI integration in regulated environments
- Custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and agent orchestration
- Retrieval-augmented and structured-extraction pipelines on government-permissible model providers
- AI-strategy advisory and architecture review for legal, defense, and compliance teams
- Expert engagement on autonomous systems, AI in armed conflict, cyber operations, and the law of armed conflict
Industry codes (NAICS)
541512Computer Systems Design Services (primary)541511Custom Computer Programming Services541611Administrative & General Management Consulting541715R&D in Physical, Engineering & Life Sciences541990All Other Professional, Scientific & Technical Services
What I don't yet have
No FedRAMP authorization. No facility security clearance held by the entity. No DoD impact-level (IL2/IL4/IL5) rated hosting. No GSA Multiple Award Schedule contract. These take time and capital; they'll be posted as they land. Personnel-security-clearance history available on request. Engagement scope is matched to the security posture actually carried, not assumed.
WXPZRRP43NJ320FQ7Active · All AwardsFederal point of contact: contracts@unifytheory.com — for solicitations, capability requests, Sources Sought responses, teaming inquiries, and pre-solicitation conversations.
I operate the architecture I sell.
Every consulting engagement draws on the same patterns I've had to build, break, and rebuild running real commerce, travel, and content operations under real load. When I recommend an architecture, I'm telling you what I've already learned the hard way — not what sounds good in a slide.
Tell me what you're trying to build.
If your team is evaluating Claude, designing an AI-native workflow in a regulated domain, or needs expert input on autonomous systems, cyber operations, or the law of armed conflict — I'd like to hear from you. Advisory is retainer-based; implementation is fixed-scope; expert engagements are retainer-plus-hourly. Pricing is set after a confidential scoping conversation.
Engagements operate under NDA. Client data is never used to train models and is handled privilege-aware. For expert engagements, independence and conflicts are cleared before retention — advisory and build work are kept separate from testimony matters.