About
About ATAH
ATAH started as a question: when AI systems become the first call for professional advice, how does the handoff to a real human professional happen with trust intact? The protocol is the answer that emerged.
Why this protocol exists
AI is changing how people find professional help. The first call is increasingly an AI conversation, and that conversation often reaches the limit of what AI can helpfully provide. At that point, what happens is consequential: the user can be handed a disclaimer and a search box, or they can be handed off to a verified human professional with structured trust signals attached.
The first option leaves users on their own at the moment of greatest need. The second option doesn't yet exist as standard infrastructure. ATAH is an attempt to specify what that infrastructure looks like, in a form that AI platforms can implement, professional bodies can partner with, and the public can audit.
The protocol is published openly because the alternative — a closed, commercial directory operated by a single entity — would not earn the trust the function requires.
Origin
ATAH was authored by Grahame Cohen, founder of Epoq and CEO of Epoq North America, working with input from advisors and contributors across legal services, AI, and standards work. The protocol's design emerged from observing the gap between AI capability and the actual handoff infrastructure available to AI platforms when professional services are needed — a gap visible across more than twenty-five years of building digital legal services for consumers and small businesses worldwide.
The protocol is not an Epoq product. It is published independently under Apache 2.0 with a public Charter, and is designed to be operated by multiple registries over time. Epoq's interest in the protocol is the same as the interest of any party in the ecosystem — better infrastructure for AI-to-professional handoff serves everyone.
Author
Grahame Cohen is the author of the ATAH specification and Charter. He is founder of Epoq, the legal technology business he started in 1997, and CEO of Epoq North America. Epoq has spent more than twenty-five years building digital legal services that work alongside major insurance brands, financial services brands, and other large partners across the UK, US, Canada, and other markets.
Grahame graduated with first-class honours in Property and Finance from City University's Cass Business School in London. Epoq's first product, Desktop Lawyer, was one of the earliest online legal services on the Internet — pioneering the idea that high-quality legal documents and guidance could be delivered through interactive digital systems rather than only through firms.
The continuing advisory seat described in the Charter applies to the official ATAH governance line; it does not extend to forks or derivative works.
Contact
For protocol questions, governance proposals, or technical engagement, the GitHub repository is the right channel. For partnership conversations, advisory engagement, press, or speaking enquiries, see the press page or write directly.