01 · Outside General Counsel
Outside general counsel: a legal department sized to your company.
Most growing businesses need a lawyer every month, but not a full-time one. Our outside general counsel retainer, sometimes called fractional general counsel, gives your company ongoing access to counsel for an agreed list of work, at a monthly fee quoted after a consultation and fixed in your engagement letter. We serve as outside general counsel to businesses across Los Angeles County and Southern California, from our office in Los Angeles.
What a retainer can cover
- Reviewing and negotiating customer, vendor, lease, and partnership agreements
- Employment questions: employment agreements, offer letters, handbooks, discipline, separations, and agency notices
- Corporate housekeeping: minutes, consents, ownership changes, and annual filings
- Construction contracts, change orders, payment notices, and lien deadlines
- Trademark clearance, licensing, and protecting confidential information
- Demand letters and early handling of disputes before they reach court
- A standing line for the questions that come up between all of the above
How it works
Anything outside the scope is quoted before it starts.
- 1 Outline Mark what your business needs. It becomes the starting point of our conversation.
- 2 Consult We talk through your business (the first 30 minutes are free), refine the scope, and quote the monthly fee.
- 3 Engage A signed engagement letter, then ongoing counsel for everything in it.
Outline Your Retainer
Select the areas your business needs covered. Nothing is sent until you request a consultation.
Draft outlineScope of engagement
Select at least one area to begin your outline.
This outline is a starting point for discussion, not an engagement. No attorney-client relationship exists until an engagement letter is signed.
What working together looks like
- Getting started. As part of the consultation, we go over the documents your business runs on (formation and ownership documents, your main customer and vendor contracts, employee agreements and policies, and insurance) and agree on what the monthly fee covers.
- Day to day. Send requests by phone, email, or text. Laurence leads every client relationship, and Samuel works on matters with him. We acknowledge each request by the end of the next business day and give a substantive answer, or a plan and timetable for one, within three business days. Anything you mark urgent, and any demand, subpoena, or agency notice with a deadline of 14 days or less, gets a response the same business day.
- Regular reviews. A retainer can include a monthly check-in, a quarterly legal review with a short written list of recommended action items, and a compliance calendar for entity, licensing, insurance, and trademark deadlines.
- Volume. Your engagement letter lists the kinds of work the fee covers. The fee is flat: it does not change with the hours spent in a given month, and unused time does not carry over. Every three months we compare the work done with the fee; if usage runs well above it, we talk with you about adjusting the scope or the fee, any increase comes with 30 days’ written notice, and you can end the engagement before it takes effect.
- Billing and ending. The fee is invoiced at the end of each month for that month; nothing is paid in advance. Scope changes are confirmed in writing. There is no minimum commitment: you can end the engagement at any time by written notice, including email, with no termination fee, and the final month is prorated.
- Outside costs. Filing fees, government fees, and other third-party costs are passed through at cost, with no markup, and we ask before incurring any single cost over $100.
- Larger projects. Acquisitions, financings, new entities, and real estate purchases are quoted separately, before any work begins.
- Your other advisers. We work with your CPA, insurance broker, and other advisers when a decision involves them.
Common questions
Is a retainer cheaper than paying by the hour?
It depends on how often you need counsel. The point is predictability: you know the monthly fee for the work in scope before it begins, and nothing outside it is billed without a quote first.
Can the scope change?
Yes. We review it with you as the business changes, and any change is confirmed in writing.
Does the retainer include litigation?
Only the start. If a dispute we are handling becomes a lawsuit or arbitration, the retainer can cover one basic complaint or answer (or arbitration demand or response). Discovery, motions, hearings, trial, and appeals are scoped and quoted separately, and we agree on that fee in writing before the work begins.
How quickly can we start?
After the consultation, a conflict check, and a signed engagement letter. California requires a written fee agreement for most engagements expected to cost more than $1,000 (Bus. & Prof. Code § 6148), and ours sets out the scope and the monthly fee.
These answers summarize California law. They are general information, not advice for your situation.
Ready to talk about a retainer?
Tell us briefly what you need. The first conversation, up to 30 minutes, is free. Please do not send confidential or time-sensitive information through the form.