Outside General Counsel Services

Many businesses need in-house counsel, but are not in a position to fully staff a legal department. As most small business owners know, litigation and legal issues are not just faced by large companies that have entire dedicated legal departments.

Without in-house legal departments, many small business owners are often left facing legal issues alone. Responding to legal issues takes time away from managing and growing the business. Even if the small business owner has outside attorneys to handle ad hoc legal matters, the owners often are faced with having to spend a great deal of time managing these matters and juggling various firms for specific legal needs (e.g. labor and employment, intellectual property, collections, litigation, etc.). If there are numerous issues going on simultaneously, the business owner’s time will quickly be consumed by communicating with each attorney and managing the files. This is not the highest and best use of the business owner’s time. Rather, running and growing the business is.

An option to avoid this hassle is for businesses to utilize and rely upon outside counsel to act as their in-house and general counsel.

The attorneys at The Law Office of Stephan Wright are often asked to serve as outside general counsel for businesses who lack fully staffed in-house departments or any in-house attorneys. Working closely with our clients, we gain an in-depth understanding of their business activities and objectives. Because of this, we are able to provide focused, client-centered, and cost-effective advice and counsel on legal issues confronting clients on a daily basis.

We understand our client’s current business operations, needs, and goals when serving in this role to provide efficient and creative solutions to our client’s legal issues.

As outside general counsel, we can coordinate and oversee:

  • Corporate and LLC compliance

  • Contract negotiations and drafting

  • Litigation and arbitration management

  • Corporate governance, board and shareholder resolutions, consents, directors meetings, shareholder meetings, and minutes

  • Employment and human resources issues

  • Risk management

  • Counseling officers and directors on fiduciary duties and strategic considerations

  • Real estate purchases and commercial leasing

  • Intellectual property issues

Each of our outside general counsel relationships are managed on a monthly fee basis and depend on each client’s legal needs, which may evolve over time. As with all of our billing, we are transparent in our approach and if a client’s needs change, so can the fee arrangement. The goal of the outside general counsel arrangement is to reduce a business owner’s stress, not add to it. Generally, our clients can expect to pay about $1,500 to $7,000 per month for this service.