
Fractional General Counsel involves contracting targeted contingent staffing for your business’s legal needs. Fractional general counsel professionals provide more than just an outsourced service. Retaining Fractional General Counsel is more like hiring a part-time attorney to specialize in your business rather than outsourcing to a law firm for spot work at expensive hourly rates.
Fractional General Counsel provides part-time legal services for a company based upon a retainer agreement. In return, the company receives the benefits of an attorney committed to your business without the fully loaded costs of an employee. Likewise, the company also avoids the headache of paying for time and materials for every phone call or email to outside law firm counsel and is able to focus on building a relationship with an attorney who learns and understands your business.
With the fractional general counsel model, your company has an attorney “on call” and available as legal needs or questions arise. The attorney assimilates into your business structure and in turn knows the importance of learning the business, how to work with your people and vendors, and how to put legal advice in the context of your overall company objectives to facilitate risk navigation.
Furthermore, a proactive fractional general counsel in your corner enables you and your business to gain back time, achieve greater clarity, create better outcomes, and navigate risk.
Who is Fractional General Counsel for?
Some companies may require an attorney for several hours each day. Others might require two or three days each week or as little as a few hours per week. The beauty of this model is that the needs of the company dictate the time the fractional general counsel spends working for that company and the stabilized cost structures help the company balance its budget accordingly. So, if your costs for outside legal services are hard to predict or too high, and you are hesitant to email or call your outside attorney for day-to-day legal concerns because of the cost, you may want to explore hiring a fractional general counsel.
Benefits of Fractional General Counsel:
- Attorney becomes intimately familiar with the company and its needs.
- Predictability around ongoing legal costs, allowing for more accurate budgeting.
- Reduced anxiety about emailing or calling your point-of-contact attorney to discuss routine matters.
- Proactive approach with more focus on risk navigation and prevention, keeping potential legal issues in check.
- Discounts on related services beyond the scope of the retainer.
- The services of an experienced business attorney without the cost of a full-time executive-level employee (or their accompanying benefits package).
How does this Fractional General Counsel thing work?
- Consult
- Prior to representation, your needs are articulated and defined through discussion and bundled accordingly. This allows James to then map out a navigable plan around your legal risk factors.
- Prior to representation, your needs are articulated and defined through discussion and bundled accordingly. This allows James to then map out a navigable plan around your legal risk factors.
- Map
- Now that we’ve agreed that there is synergy and a retainer is signed, you now have a Fractional General Counsel mapping and prioritizing your legal services on a regular basis, along with specific deliverables and timelines to track to. In essence, your time is freed up to concentrate on enabling your business to perform optimally.
- Now that we’ve agreed that there is synergy and a retainer is signed, you now have a Fractional General Counsel mapping and prioritizing your legal services on a regular basis, along with specific deliverables and timelines to track to. In essence, your time is freed up to concentrate on enabling your business to perform optimally.
- Navigate
- You now have the Fractional General Counsel meeting your needs and the support you need to navigate your legal risks. Furthermore, you have a single point-of-contact to proactively maneuver those risks alongside you.
Why JTO Legal?
JTO Legal partners with clients to navigate risk in the face of constantly changing conditions impacting their business and personal legacy. We proactively execute legal strategies to assist our clients in leaving behind a valued legacy. JTO Legal navigates your risk at the velocity of change.
Navigating Client Risk.
Putting your business and people first in tailoring legal services with integrity for the best possible management of risk at the velocity of change.
Partnering Across Change.
Navigating risk requires trustworthy partnerships across constant change as people, technology, and organizations create value in their success.
Legal Services Scaling Methodology.
We have a methodology for scaling legal services to changing environments at the speed of business.
Legacy Building.
We strive to enable our clients to leave a valued and powerful legacy in their market, their people, and their personal lives.
At JTO Legal, fractional general counsel packages can offer the following:
- Availability for routine questions and advice via phone or email
- Draft, review, advise, and negotiate on agreements and contracts
- Advise on legal matters involving employees
- Assist with acquisitions and mergers
- Assist with succession planning
- Provide board and governance support, including help with board meetings, minutes, and resolutions
- Advise on compliance with regulations that apply to the client’s business
- Manage outside attorneys when the client needs highly-specialized expertise or faces litigation
- Advise on outside resources for services such as cybersecurity, insurance, accounting, branding, and more.
How much do Fractional General Counsel services cost?
These tiers are categories that are negotiated in the consult phase as bundled services. The following are examples of the bundled service categories that can be provided depending on each company’s needs. (Please note: Nonprofit Package Specials are available upon request)
Gold: Starting at $1000/month
- Up to 2 hours of video/phone calls and emails per month
- Business Formation
- Contract review, drafting, and editing
- Agreement negotiation assistance
- Basic IP applications and trade secret agreements
- Website Agreements
- Employment Agreement review & recommendations
- Vendor Agreement review & recommendations
- General Counsel
- Discount on any time and materials hourly work outside the scope of the agreement
Platinum: Starting at $2500/month
- Gold + up to 3 additional hours of video/phone calls and emails per month
- Corporate Structuring
- Commercial Transactions
- Distribution Agreements
- Securing IP
- Agreement negotiation(s) assistance
- Independent Contractor and Vendor Agreement review, drafting, and editing
- General Counsel
- Discount on any time and materials hourly work outside the scope of the agreement
Rhodium: Starting at $5000/month
- Platinum Services + 4 additional hours of on video/phone calls and emails per month
- Succession Plan Strategy
- Business valuation
- Agreement reviews, version controls, and renegotiation(s) assistance
- Corporate Governance Assistance
- Compliance Reviews & Guidance
- HR workplace policies and procedures review, editing, and drafting (including Employee Handbook)
- Continued Monitoring of IP
- General Counsel
- Discount on any time and materials hourly work outside the scope of the agreement