What's a General Counsel? Do I Need One?

Simply put, a General Counsel is a company’s main inside lawyer. Larger companies will typically have an extensive legal team led by a GC who reports to the CEO. The GC oversees the company’s legal activities. The scope of legal work includes a very wide range of subjects from contracts, intellectual property, employment, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, and risk management.

Typically, a larger company, say with 50+ employees will have one to three full time lawyers on staff to handle all of these matters. Additionally, smaller companies in more highly regulated industries might need to hire full time lawyers earlier, for example companies in the financial industry.

The problem is that new and growing companies also need the same type of help but can’t yet afford to add full time staff. The typical alternatives are to rely on outside counsel or “do it yourself” (DIY) options. Outside counsel tends to be very expensive and DIY often leads to issues down the road.

A good middle ground is to work with an “outside” GC on a subscription (fixed fee) basis. Next Phase Law offers this approach to entrepreneurs and growing companies. For a set monthly fee, Next Phase Law will get to know your company and team and help guide you through the inevitable variety of issues that you face from formation, contract drafting and review, employment, etc.

We won’t send you a bill when you pick up the phone and call. We won’t send a bill when you send a question by email. Also, we’ll always get back to you within one business day, even if just to say we are running down the answer to your question.

Additionally, Next Phase Law can find and coordinate with outside counsel when needed in areas such as litigation management and patent law.

Reach out to us, we are happy to discuss how we work with entrepreneurs and business owners like you.