Hire a fractional General Counsel
A fractional general counsel gives you commercial legal judgement on demand, without a law firm's hourly clock running on every question. They know your business, which is the difference between legal advice and useful legal advice.
What a fractional General Counsel owns
- Commercial contracts: customers, suppliers, partners, and the negotiations behind them
- Data protection and UK GDPR compliance as an ongoing practice rather than a policy document
- Corporate work: funding rounds, option schemes, board governance
- Managing external law firms so you only pay them for what genuinely needs them
- Risk, told to you in commercial terms rather than caveats
Signs you need one
- Enterprise customers send contracts you are not equipped to negotiate
- Legal spend is rising and nobody is managing the firms
- You are raising and the diligence list has exposed gaps
- Data protection is somebody's side task and nobody is confident about it
What it costs in the UK
Still materially below partner-level law firm rates for equivalent seniority.
Rates are set by the operator and paid to them directly. We are not in the payment path, and the operator never pays us a fee.
How this compares
A law firm bills by the hour and knows your business only as far as you brief them each time. In-house counsel is £100k to £160k and hard to justify early. A fractional GC sits in between: commercial judgement from somebody who knows the business, plus someone senior managing the firms when you genuinely need them.
What to look for
- In-house experience specifically, since private practice alone is a different instinct
- Sector fit for anything regulated, where the rules are the job
- Someone who gives you a commercial recommendation rather than a list of risks
- Clarity on what they handle and what still goes to a firm
Common questions
- What does a fractional general counsel cost in the UK?
- Typically £800 to £1,400 a day, commonly one to two days a week or on a retained monthly arrangement. That is still materially below partner-level law firm rates for comparable seniority, and they know your business.
- Do I still need a law firm?
- For litigation, specialist areas and some corporate transactions, yes. A fractional GC handles day to day commercial legal work and manages the firms for the rest, which usually reduces total legal spend rather than adding to it.
- When should a company hire one?
- Commonly when enterprise contracts start arriving, when legal spend becomes unmanaged, or ahead of a funding round where diligence will find the gaps.
- Can they handle UK GDPR and data protection?
- Most can, and it is a frequent reason for hiring one. Ongoing data protection needs somebody who knows how your business actually handles data, not a policy written once and filed.
- Is there a commission on top?
- No. You contract with them directly and we take nothing from the engagement.
Operator Search: £999 to run, £2,500 if you hire
Can't find the right General Counsel, or haven't got the time to look? We run the search and put three vetted operators in front of you in five business days. Both numbers agreed before anything starts, and the operator pays nothing either way.
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