A common question new clients have is what, exactly, a fractional general counsel? Sometimes called an outside general counsel, the basic idea is that these services cover what you would expect a company’s inhouse general counsel to provide his or her employer. But rather than have an internal employee provide the service, it is provided by an experienced attorney outside of the company.
Advantages of Fractional General Counsel Services
The main advantage of engaging a fractional general counsel is that the business avoids the cost of having an in-house attorney full time. For many small and fast-growing companies, overhead for an experienced legal department is just not in the budget. That does not mean, however, that they do not have legal problems. And all legal risks are best addressed before the risk is realized.
This is where an outside general counsel can help. These service providers, such as Mid-Atlantic Law & Tax PLLC, provide experienced general counsels to businesses that cannot otherwise afford them. Often based on a retainer engagement—a monthly service charge—allows businesses to accurately budget and the attorneys agree to be on call, spend time in the office, or take on specific projects for the company.
More practically, on the day-to-day basis, the arrangement provides companies on-call counsel for:
- Contract review and negotiation;
- Drafting of template legal documents such as sales or purchase agreements;
- Ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations;
- Employment matters;
- Management of corporate formalities such as board meetings and bylaws;
- Raising funds through loans or making offerings; and
- Supplier or customer disputes.
This recurring engagement reduces companies’ legal risk.
Who Should Engage These Services
Every company has legal risk. That said, these services are often best tailored toward companies that operate in highly regulated industries, intend to grow, intend to raise money from investors, or otherwise operate in a high-risk industry. These are companies not yet large enough for an in-house team but big enough to need to actively manage their legal risk.
Fractional General Counsel Services are a core part of Mid-Atlantic Law & Tax’s services (link). Leveraging the experience as an in-house general counsel for a defense contractor, enables the firm to provide high quality advice and service to our clients in a variety of industries. If your business may need regular legal advice, please reach out!
