Fractional General Counsel
A general counsel's judgment, without the full-time hire.
For companies that have outgrown calling outside counsel one matter at a time but are not ready to bring legal in-house, I serve as the general counsel function on a fractional basis.
There is a stage where a company's legal needs stop being occasional and start being continuous, and the old model of emailing a law firm whenever something comes up no longer fits. The contracts pile up, the compliance questions get more frequent, and decisions that used to be simple now carry real exposure. What the company needs at that point is not more outside counsel, it is a general counsel, and that is the function I provide without the cost and commitment of a full-time hire.
What this actually means
As your fractional general counsel I own the legal function. I draft, review, and negotiate the commercial agreements that run the business, I build the contract templates and playbooks that let your team move faster without losing consistency, and I stand up compliance and governance frameworks that fit how you actually operate. I set the legal strategy alongside the business strategy, and I write the governing documents, policies, procedures, and processes the company runs on. When a decision carries risk, I am the steady judgment in the room. The point is continuity: I learn your business once and apply that understanding to everything that follows, instead of coming up to speed from scratch on every matter.
What I handle
Commercial contracts and negotiation
Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating the agreements that run the business, from day-to-day vendor and customer contracts to high-value international licensing, development, and manufacturing agreements.
Legal processes and operating systems
How legal work moves through the company, from intake, approvals, and escalation to templates, playbooks, and contract lifecycle management, set up so routine matters follow rules decided in advance and only the exceptions need a lawyer.
Compliance, policies, and procedures
Compliance that fits how the company actually operates, and the written policies and procedures behind it, from codes of conduct, signature authority, and record retention to data handling and the use of AI tools, drafted to match what people actually do.
Disputes and outside counsel management
Assessing disputes and demand letters early, deciding what deserves a fight, and when a matter needs a litigator or specialist, selecting and directing outside counsel so the strategy and the bills stay under control.
Formation and governing documents
Entity formation and reorganization, and the governing documents that hold a company together, from articles and bylaws to operating, shareholder, and buy-sell agreements, with the structural choices, tax implications included, that are far easier to get right at the start than to fix later.
Strategy, board, and governance support
Legal strategy set alongside the business plan, decision rights and delegation of authority, and counsel to leadership and the board when a decision carries real exposure, with the deeper advisory work described on the Strategic Advisory page.
Built from the in-house seat
I have done this work from the inside. For eight years I served as in-house counsel to a global manufacturer, where I led legal strategy and contract management across international markets, negotiated high-value international licensing, development, and manufacturing agreements, and built the templates and playbooks that reduced the company's dependence on outside counsel. I know what the general counsel function demands because I have done that work from the in-house seat, and I know how to build the function so it serves the business rather than slowing it down.
The contract lifecycle management system I implemented in-house cut contract creation time in half across the company's international operations. That result came from one company's contracts and systems, and what a system does for another company depends on its own.
An operator, not only an advisor
Alongside the in-house work, I co-founded and ran an energy venture for eight years, responsible as an owner for its legal, regulatory, and environmental compliance and for negotiating its purchase and sale agreements, leases, and contractor agreements. That experience shapes how I advise. I have sat with the consequences of the decisions, not just the analysis of them, and I tend to give clients the answer an operator needs rather than the exhaustive memo a litigator might want. I also structure businesses from the ground up, advising founders on entity formation, governance, and the tax implications of how they organize.
Situations I step into
How an engagement works
Fractional means a recurring monthly arrangement sized to what the company actually needs, from a steady few hours a week to something closer to a part-time seat, and it can scale in either direction as the business changes. Most engagements begin with a short diagnostic of the contract stack and the legal function as it stands, which gives us both a clear picture of what needs attention first. From there the work runs on an agreed cadence: standing availability for the questions that cannot wait, and agreed priorities for the work that builds the function. The fee is set in the engagement agreement before work begins, so the cost is predictable from month to month.
Who this is for
Fractional general counsel work fits growing companies, founder-led businesses, and family-owned operations that need legal judgment as an ongoing part of the team. Manufacturing and energy are my home ground, and the work applies wherever a company has reached the point of needing a general counsel's continuity without a full-time seat. For multilingual matters I review documents in English, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish.
Common questions
How is fractional general counsel priced?
As a fixed monthly fee, set in the engagement agreement before any work begins and sized to the company's actual needs. There is no hourly meter running, so the monthly fee does not change with how often you call about work within the agreed scope, and the arrangement can be resized as the business changes.
How is this different from hiring outside counsel?
Outside counsel is usually retained one matter at a time and has to learn the business again each time. A fractional general counsel owns the legal function on an ongoing basis, knows the company, its contracts, and its people, and handles the steady flow of questions and decisions rather than only the occasional large matter.
What size of company is this for?
Companies whose legal needs have become continuous but that are not ready for a full-time in-house lawyer, typically growing, founder-led, or family-owned businesses with no legal team or a lean one.
What happens when a matter needs a litigator or a specialist?
I assess it first, and when it needs a litigator or a specialist in another field I select one and direct the work, so the strategy stays consistent with the rest of the business and the outside bills stay explained.
Do you work with companies outside California?
Yes. I am licensed in California, and I work with companies in other states on legal strategy and governance, the policies, procedures, and processes the company runs on, commercial contracts, deal strategy and due diligence, and questions of federal law. When a matter turns on another state's own law, such as forming an entity there or what that state requires of its governing documents, I will say so at the start and bring in a lawyer licensed in that state for that part of the work.
How do we get started?
Send a short description of the company and what you need through the contact form. After a conflict check and a short conversation, I propose a scope and a monthly fee in writing, and the work begins once the engagement agreement is signed.
Let's talk about the fit.
If your company has reached the point of needing a general counsel's judgment as a steady part of the team, let's discuss how a fractional arrangement would work.
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