Fractional General Counsel

Any business that’s got to a size where it needs a dedicated lawyer, but which can’t presently afford a high quality FTE.

It’s particularly suitable for businesses experiencing these symptoms:

• Your business is repeatedly hit by ad hoc legal problems. Responding to them is soaking up management time, but there isn’t an overall plan or an approach to preventing the problems occurring in the first place. There is no strategic or systemic view of your business’ legal issues.

• Every time you ask a legal question, you get an answer that is unclear, hedged (on the one hand, on the other hand), and not pragmatic.

• Your company’s contracts aren’t being properly addressed. Sales volumes are down (contracting takes too long), money is being left on the table, your risks are being properly mitigated, and there’s too much friction involved in getting contracts to closure.

• Your spend on external lawyers is out of control. The money is going out, but you just don’t feel you are getting money’s worth in return.

• You have the uncomfortable feeling that your business’ legal issues are not being properly addressed and that, at some point in the future, this is going to come back and bite you.

More or less like it sounds. You get access to a top quality lawyer at a fraction of the price you would pay for an equivalent FTE.

But to make the relationship work - and for me to add real value to your business - we need to have a closer working relationship than you have with most external lawyers. In fact, to get real value, you will need me to function as a quasi-member of your senior team. I will meet with you (remotely or in person) weekly or fortnightly to keep in sync, and to report back on the work that is being done and raise any upcoming issues.

The first thing is to have a call to make sure that there is a good mutual fit. I only want to work with companies where I can add real value. If I don’t feel that I can add real value, I will tell you right off the bat.

Assuming that we both agree that there is a good fit, the next step is to decide what needs to be looked at. Is there a burning issue that needs to be addressed, or is a general legal MOT the best first option? Whichever is the right approach for your company, we will agree on the deliverables for the next 30 days. At the end of the 30 days (or earlier, if appropriate), you will get a report from me setting out analysis, diagnosis, and a roadmap for the next steps.  

The service comes in two parts.

• Part 1 - Diagnose. Review the current state of the business, and create a short report on what’s working, what’s not working, where the real problems are, and a roadmap for the next steps.

• Part 2 - Fix. Implement the roadmap, and fix the problems.

The diagnostic report is designed to be implementable by any competent lawyer. In other words, it has definite value in its own right, and it doesn’t lock you in.

• I’ve worked with CEOs in multiple companies and multiple sectors.

• I’ve run legal departments, and I’ve been brought in to fix broken ones.

• I’ve worked in law firms, but most of my working life has been in-house. That’s significant. In-house lawyers look at the world differently to law firm lawyers. They understand how Pricing, Service and Sales need to come together to produce successful contracts. And they have, from lived experience, a much better understanding of the gap between theory and practice.

• I’ve got a process-mentality. I’m not here to ride in at the last minute and save the day (trumpets), I’m here to make sure the problem doesn’t happen in the first place.

• I have negotiated contracts (buy-side and sales-side) with some of the toughest negotiators in the world: Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Investec, Prudential, Blackstone, BAE Systems, Unisys, GenPac, Microsoft, Mambu, Marqeta. I also know the most efficient way to get around difficult procurement departments.

• I get to know your business and your market. I go beyond advice and get the solution implemented in the business. I provide workable solutions, not just analysis.

• Even if you use external lawyers for specialist areas, the total of my charges plus the external lawyers’ charges will be less than the costs of the external lawyers on their own. My expertise and focus will result in an overall reduction of your legal costs – plus you get increased reach and quality.

Do Nothing. Always an option, but doesn’t move the problem forward.

DIY. Always an option too, but if you are reading this you probably already tried it and it hasn’t worked, or it’s consumed too much of your time.

Use an external. If you can find an external with the right expertise and the right mindset, then this is a good option. The trouble is, it’s really hard to find the right people for this kind of work. Law firms don’t cut it. They don’t have the practical experience of in-house work to make the service really deliver.

Part 1 - Diagnose. Fixed price, based on scope and the nature of the business.

Part 2 - Fix. There are a number of alternatives, but here’s the one I think works best.

Monthly fixed price. Based on the output of the diagnostic, we agree a scope and a list of things that need to be addressed. Every two weeks we agree what items on the in-scope list will be addressed next. If any out of scope items crop up, we will agree the pricing approach for those on an ad hoc basis (typically, either fixed price, by the hour, or a hybrid).

However we arrange it, you can cancel whenever you want.

Very High.

The average salary for an experienced, high-quality GC is about £220k per year. Fully loaded costs are generally an additional 50% or more on top, so the total cost of an equivalent FTE is about £330k per year.

Using a fractional GC is going to be much cheaper than this, plus you get to focus the spend on the areas that are key to the business. You get much more bang for your buck.

Plus

Reduced costs. The right input, at the right time, reduces costs. Compared to using a law firm, compared to hiring an FTE, and compared to doing nothing, I will reduce your costs.

Solution focused. I get to know your business and your market. I go beyond advice and get the solution implemented in the business. I provide workable solutions, not just analysis.

External lawyers. Even if you use external lawyers for specialist areas, the total of my charges + the external lawyers’ charges will be less than the costs of the external lawyers on their own. My expertise and focus will result in an overall reduction of your legal costs – plus you get increased reach and quality.