Work With Me.
Fractional General Counsel
A Fractional General Counsel provides the benefits of a traditional in-house counsel without the overhead, commitment, and inevitable biases of a full-time employee. And without the financial unpredictability of outside counsel who bills by the hour.
Focused Practice
I work with a limited number of clients, so you can expect my constructive, proactive, objective and highly customized attention for the predictable fee we define up front.
You know I’ve accomplished my highest aspiration for our relationship when I become a trusted adviser and valuable member of your executive team year after year.
How We Collaborate
My process looks familiar. Just as happens when you take on a new construction project: we agree on your legal needs based on assessment and your priorities; we plan the time, people, and financial resources you need; and I oversee implementation of our agreed plan adapting to inevitable changes.
This three-step process helps me efficiently learn about the current state of your business, its legal posture, and your goals. It provides a framework for collaborating at the right time to respect your executive team’s influence and capacity. And it assures on-going access to ad hoc advice and proactive oversight of the plan to adapt when needed throughout the year.
01 - Assessment
The first step – assessment - allows me to learn about your business efficiently while discovering valuable insights when we combine the best of your thinking and mine. Through a combination of in-person meetings, surveys of key individuals, and a review of your business documents, we assess the current state of your business to identify known, as well as unknown legal and compliance risks. The assessment includes both the routine risk your business faces every day, such as employee issues, as well as long term issues like succession planning.
Our goal is to assemble the best of our shared knowledge about current circumstances and the foreseeable future.
02 - Action Plan
Next, we turn the results of our Assessment into an Action Plan. I coordinate with your executive team, staff, and other professional advisors to assure their support and the plan’s viability.
Together we turn the Assessment into an actionable solution to address each short- and long-term goal and issues we’ve prioritized. The Action Plan details: staff and third-parties needed; an implementation timeline and budget that makes the most effective use of your available resources; and a schedule for my planned meetings to assure right-timed counsel and implementation oversight.
Implementing your solution plan typically requires additional outside legal support to address specific areas of deeper expertise. I help you identify and engage any necessary legal support, using my high standards for performance and value-focused billing practices. To the extent possible, actual or estimated costs for these
services will be included in the Action Plan budget.
Built around what we know furthers your firm’s ambitions, the Action Plan also prepares us all to better address the unknown when it arises.
03 - Implementation &
Oversight
After the Action Plan is finalized and approved, throughout the year of implementation, in addition to ongoing business advice and legal counsel, I oversee assigned staff, third parties, and additional outside legal support to ensure projects are handled to spec, on time, and in-budget. I also coordinate Action Plan revisions to adapt for inevitable changing circumstances.
Engagement & Pricing
Neither the world, the law, nor your business is static, so my engagement is designed to be a renewable, annual event. Each year we repeat these three steps, increasing benefits to your business as our relationship endures and deepens.
Your investment in this program starts at $116,000 annually, is defined at the beginning of each year, and is payable as 50 % due at the time of engagement with the remainder payable in 12 equal monthly installments. The first installment also is due at the time of engagement.
To be clear, you will have additional costs beyond my fee to address all of your legal needs. These additional costs are defined while developing your Action Plan and always are subject to your prior approval.