Fractional General Counsel

You might be familiar with the concept of growing companies using fractional, or part-time, executives (usually CFOs, CMOs, and CTOs) as a strategic alternative to hiring, training, and taking on the risk of a new full-time employee. Our Fractional General Counsel Program works the same way. Designed by our law firm’s founder Chris Clark, who spent three years of his career as general counsel to a successful technology startup, our FGC program gives you the opportunity to fill a role in your organizational structure that saves you the time, money, and stress of bringing on a full-time in-house legal team before you’re ready. 

For less than the cost of a single employee, your business can experience many advantages of having an experience-diverse in-house legal team. Hire us as your Fractional General Counsel solution and receive a customized, defined scope of legal services at a predictable fixed cost. 

Our Fractional General Counsel Program is not for everyone. We want to make sure our firm is a great fit, and that we can offer you exactly what you need. Ideal candidates for our fractional general counsel program include:

  • Startups who want their business set up the right way from the beginning and don’t want to rely on self-help resources or risk making costly mistakes.
  • Growing businesses with ongoing legal needs who aren’t ready to hire full-time general counsel.
  • Established businesses who want to add experienced lawyers to handle overflow work or round out their in-house legal team.

We pride ourselves on generating exceptional value our clients. As a Member of our FGC Program, we happily provide you: 

  • PERSONALIZED SERVICE.  Our team takes the time to know your unique business industry, structure, and team, so we can identify and address looming legal issues specific to your business before they occur.
  • BENCH STRENGTH.  Our team of experienced attorneys address your legal needs from multiple perspectives and, because we take the time to really know your business, provide holistic recommendations for legal action. 
  • PREDICTABLE BILLING.  Paying a consistent fixed fee each month helps with budgeting, and eliminates unanticipated invoices. We never want you to feel uncertain when protecting and investing in the future of your business. 
  • FOCUS ON BUSINESS.  We will handle your legal issues, so your management team can focus on what’s really important – growing the business. 
  • REDUCED RATES.  You receive a 10%-20% reduction in our firm’s standard rates, depending on your ongoing monthly needs.
  • ROUTINE CHECK-INS.  We regularly schedule weekly or monthly meetings (by phone or in person) for all of our Fractional General Counsel Program Members. You will always know where we are with each of your projects at every step of the way; we take the time to get updates on your business in order to proactively plan for your upcoming legal needs. 
  • ANNUAL LEGAL AUDIT.  We conduct a legal audit of your business when you enroll in our program, and on each anniversary of your enrollment, to ensure we are being as proactive as possible about helping your company reach its full potential.

Have You Done Your Risk/Reward Analysis?

Did you know contract disputes are a common source of liability for businesses? Breach of contract cases make up about 60 percent of the roughly 20 million civil lawsuits filed every year. The average cost for a contract dispute is $91,000, and the average judgment amount awarded to a successful plaintiff is $103,000. Based on this data, a single business dispute is likely to cost you nearly $200,000. Many businesses never see this risk coming until it’s too late. As a member of our Fractional General Counsel Program, you will significantly lower your risk of experiencing situations like these. 

Budgeting for legal expenses is the best way to avoid costly legal mistakes. The dollars you spend today being proactive about legal protection are well spent. As you can see from the data above, the amounts spent getting yourself out of trouble will be exponentially higher. A well drafted contract or a telephone consultation to discuss legal strategy could save hundreds of thousands of dollars in future legal fees and expenses.

The Mechanics: How It Works in 5 Easy Steps

  1. We schedule an initial consultation with you to determine whether our Fractional General Counsel Program is a good fit for your business. 
  2. Based on our conversation, and if your business is a good fit, we provide you with a proposal that includes a pre-determined amount of legal services each month in exchange for a fixed monthly fee paid in advance.
  3. If in a particular month your needs exceed the agreed upon scope of services, we invoice you for the overage at a discounted rate; if you don’t use your full legal allotment in a given month, the unused portion rolls over to the next month.
  4. We will give you notice when your company gets close to the pre-determined amount of legal services we agree on, so you can confidently budget for upcoming months with no surprises. 
  5. Enrollment in our Fractional General Counsel Program requires a minimum commitment of six months. 

Available Services We Provide FGC Program Members (Don’t See What You Need? <a href=”https://clark.law/contact/”>Let’s Talk</a>)

  • Draft, review, and analyze a wide range of legal documents and contracts.
  • Advise on legal issues involving employees and independent contractors.
  • Assist with acquisitions, mergers, investors, loans, and other financial and structural matters.
  • Provide your managers, executives, and board of directors with governance support, including help with board meetings, minutes, and resolutions.
  • Identifying and protecting your brand names, tag lines, and logos through the implementation of a customized trademark protection strategy.
  • Advise on compliance with regulations that apply to your industry.
  • Manage outside attorneys if you face litigation or another challenge that requires highly-specialized expertise.

WE WANT TO BE PART OF YOUR TEAM!

Having competent company counsel makes you look good. Are you confident your business is following best legal practices? Does hiring a full-time in-house legal team not make sense for your business right now? Do you have ongoing legal needs but aren’t sure where to start? Starting a proactive legal strategy makes all the difference. Our Fractional General Counsel Program will not only provide you with a significant cost savings, it will provide you with the additional confidence on business strategies and decisions you need to excel at what you do. 

For more information on our Fractional General Counsel Program, read our Fractional General Counsel Brochure, and contact us to set up a consultation.