As a CEO or Founder, getting the right legal advice at the right time is crucial. But not all companies need a permanent team of lawyers or an in-house expert. In this article, we asked Saman Harris from Seven Legal to help us unpack the growing trend of Fractional General Counsels, so that you can assess if it could be the right fit for your business needs.
What is a Fractional General Counsel?
Fractional services give founders access to industry experts who specialise in high-growth scale ups on an interim and flexible basis, without breaking the bank. It allows companies access to a frictionless way to solve their strategic problems that can evolve and grow with the business.
A Fractional General Counsel offers an organisation the chance to ‘subscribe’ to an expert lawyer without any long-term commitment. In this role, they provide legal advice and guidance to the company, just like a full-time general counsel would do, but with the ability to flex the support up and down to match changing business needs.
This means companies that previously didn’t have the money or time to prioritise managing legal risks through traditional (and costly) means can now do so earlier and avoid a build-up of problems that need resolving down the line.
How does it work?
As a business you can subscribe to a Fractional GC for as little as 5 hours a month. Once signed up you’ll get on-demand access to a dedicated legal expert with years of experience working in high-growth tech companies. Together you can identify the company’s most pressing issues and roadmap key projects against a timeline and budget that suits you.
A Fractional GC can plug into emails, Slack and other internal workspaces so they really feel like part of the team as they support you on your growth journey.
Advantages of using a Fractional General Counsel?
The advantage of a Fractional GC is having a real expert at your fingertips to enable you to manage legal risks whilst growing and scale your business. Key benefits include:
Growth Enablement: A Fractional GC enables you to scale your business on solid foundations by mitigating key business and legal risks – setting you up for long term success.
Flexibility & Scalability: Companies can quickly and effectively scale legal resources up or down based on changing needs and requirements. Support levels can be adjusted at any time.
Value: Fractional GC allows you to access legal expertise and resources without the overhead costs (and risks) associated with hiring and training a dedicated lawyer.
Specialist Expertise: Our Fractional GC’s have advised hundreds of growth businesses and will apply this deep expertise to your company.
Overall, a Fractional GC enables a business to engage specialist legal support earlier and with a proactive, solution focused mindset. This means you can start to mitigate risk and plan for long-term success without making the significant outlay of a permanent lawyer who may not move the needle.
Embedding a Fractional GC in a company means a business can get ahead of key legal and business challenges early, minimising future pain and costs. This approach will reduce the stress and delay associated with day-to-day business challenges, as well as major corporate events, by pre-emptively identifying and removing many of the associated pitfalls and mistakes. Long term this will save time, stress, distraction and money as fixing long-standing problems only tends to happen in moments of crisis or rapid change (for example, during a funding round or exit). It’s important to choose a Fractional GC with the right expertise and experience to ensure that they can effectively address the specific legal needs of the company.
To sum it all up?
Fractional GC services have emerged as a game-changing solution for startups and smaller businesses, heralding an era of pro-activity, efficiency, adaptability, and strategic legal support; even for early-stage businesses.
This transformative approach to legal expertise means companies can position themselves to tackle legal and business challenges with increased confidence and knowledge, helping them to avoid the many pitfalls and risks that can otherwise damage a company’s growth trajectory.
About Seven Legal
Seven Legal offer expert legal advice tailored to the unique needs of startups and small to mid-sized enterprises, helping them manage risks and navigate the complexities of scaling. With a focus on flexibility and accessibility, Seven Legal, offer a fractional general council and are dedicated to supporting businesses on their growth journey, ensuring they have the legal foundation necessary for long-term success.
Seven Legal run regular free legal advice sessions for all Boardwave members. Please email anna@boardwave.org to book in your session.
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