Teaching Frontier AI
to Reason with Rigor.
I help large language models think more rigorously. As an AI Trainer and Subject Matter Expert contracted with micro1, I evaluate and improve AI output on complex reasoning tasks — grading model answers against expert standards and flagging the hallucinations that separate reliable AI from unreliable AI. I bring 25+ years of Ph.D.-level analytical rigor and hands-on professional practice to every dataset, rubric, and review.
Dawn Hayes, Ph.D. · AI Trainer & Subject Matter Expert
A Rare Combination of Scholarly Rigor & Expert Judgment — Applied to AI
Dawn Hayes, Ph.D. is an AI Trainer and Subject Matter Expert working with frontier AI labs to make AI systems more accurate, better reasoned, and safer to rely on. Her current specialization is legal AI: as a contractor with micro1, she reviews and validates labeled legal documents, writes and grades model answers against established legal standards, and flags the inconsistencies and hallucinations that separate a competent legal AI from an unreliable one.
What she brings to this work: 25+ years of Ph.D.-level investigative and analytical expertise combined with hands-on contract paralegal experience. Trained to spot inconsistencies, identify gaps, verify sources with precision, and synthesize large volumes of information into clear, actionable analysis — exactly the judgment AI training and evaluation rewards. Twenty-five years of university teaching also mean fluency in assessment, rubric design, and rigorous source verification, refined as a tenured Full Professor of History at one of New Jersey's largest comprehensive state universities.
Alongside this work, Dawn runs an independent legal research and drafting practice, Quattro Sante, LLC, supporting NY and NJ attorneys on litigation, business, real estate, and matrimonial matters — keeping her AI evaluation work grounded in real legal practice, not just theory.
Domain-Expert AI Evaluation
Grading frontier model output — currently in the legal domain — for accuracy, citation integrity, and reasoning quality.
Rubric & Assessment Design
22+ years of university-level assessment and rubric design, applied to scoring AI output against legal standards.
Ph.D.-Level Analytical Rigor
25+ years of peer-reviewed research, multi-source investigation, and evidence synthesis.
Grounded in Active Practice
Ongoing legal research consulting keeps AI evaluation connected to how legal work actually happens.
How I Help Train Better AI
Domain-expert services for AI labs and tech teams building and evaluating models on complex, high-stakes reasoning tasks.
Model Evaluation & Grading
Review and validate labeled documents. Grade model answers on complex reasoning tasks — including litigation, contract, and legal research — for accuracy, citation integrity, and sound reasoning.
Hallucination & Error Detection
Identify the inaccuracies, gaps, and hallucinations that separate competent AI from unreliable AI, and author corrected reference answers.
Rubric, Dataset & Prompt Design
Develop prompts, rubrics, and high-quality datasets representing realistic professional workflows to train models toward expert-level performance.
Expert-in-the-Loop Review
Bring professional-grade subject-matter judgment to human-in-the-loop training, RLHF, and model-safety review pipelines.
Assessment Is the Job. AI Training Just Changed the Classroom.
Grading expert reasoning at scale isn't a new skill for Dawn — it's a twenty-five-year practice. Twenty-two years of designing rubrics, evaluating high-stakes analytical writing, and verifying sources under peer review translate directly into the judgment frontier AI labs need: knowing what a correct answer looks like, and being precise about exactly where a model's reasoning breaks down.
Paired with hands-on professional practice — currently in law, across litigation, real estate, business, and matrimonial matters — that scholarly rigor stays grounded in how expert work is actually practiced, not just how it appears in a training set.
Start a Conversation- 🤖Legal Research Consultant — micro1
- ⚖️The Legal AI Fundamentals Certification
- ✦AI for Lawyers: Communication & Creativity
- ✦AI for Lawyers: Time & Tasks
- 📚Professional Paralegal Mastery of Lexis®
Education, Certification & Experience
Education
AI & Legal Certifications
Licenses & Appointment
Legal Subject Matter Expert (AI Trainer) — micro1 · Part-time, remote · June 2026–Present
Legal Research & Paralegal Support
Alongside AI training work, Dawn runs Quattro Sante, LLC — an independent contract legal research and paralegal practice serving attorneys and law firms across New York and New Jersey, including AI workflow consulting on tools like Anthropic's Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and LexisNexis Protégé.
Litigation Support
Trial transcript analysis, evidentiary summaries, and factual chronologies from pleading through trial.
Real Estate
Transaction documentation and title-related research for NY & NJ residential and commercial matters.
Business
Entity documentation, contract review support, and legal research for firms and solo practitioners.
Matrimonial
Divorce-related research, evidentiary review, and case-support materials.
Current engagement: Contract Legal Research Consultant — HeitmannLaw, Staten Island, NY (2025–Present), supporting litigation, business, real estate, and matrimonial matters in New York and New Jersey.
Let's Work Together
Whether you're an AI lab or tech team looking for domain-expert evaluation and training, or an attorney who needs research or paralegal support — reach out. Dawn responds promptly to all inquiries.
Based in the New York City metropolitan area. AI training and evaluation work is fully remote; legal research consulting serves attorneys and law firms across New York and New Jersey.