Fractional General Counsel for New York Companies

Most growth companies don't need a full-time General Counsel. They need GC-level judgment at the moments that matter: the financing round, the board meeting, the customer contract that makes the quarter, the acquisition offer that arrives on a Tuesday. That's the job I do.

I sat in the GC seat for real. As General Counsel at Pharmapacks and its parent company Packable, I took a PE-backed company through nine-figure financings and a public-market process, and when the market turned, I managed the hardest parts of the other side of that arc. I've been in the leadership meetings where legal advice either moves the business or stalls it. That experience isn't theoretical, and it shapes every piece of advice I give.

Before that, nearly a decade of M&A and securities work at Schulte Roth & Zabel and BakerHostetler. 500+ closed transactions, $3B+ in aggregate deal value. So when a term sheet lands in the middle of a retainer, you aren't calling a second firm.

What you actually get

Outside counsel answers the question you asked. A fractional GC knows the business well enough to answer the question you should have asked. That difference shows up in specific ways.

• Inside the leadership team. I attend the leadership meetings, know the revenue plan, and give answers in business terms: go, no-go, or here's the safer route. Not a memo three days later.
• One person accountable for the whole function. Contracts, employment, equity, compliance, disputes, vendors. I run it, and I bring in specialists only when a matter genuinely needs one.
• Outside counsel management. When work does go to a specialist firm, I scope it, price it, and watch the meter. Someone watching that meter is one of the most valuable things a fractional GC does.
• Built to hand off. When you're ready for a full-time GC, I help you hire one and hand over a clean function. The model is supposed to end that way.

The tiers

Every engagement starts at 10 hours a month. The right tier depends on how much legal activity the company generates and how involved you want me.

• Foundation, 10 to 15 hours a month. Steady but moderate legal volume. Same structure as every tier — the standing call, the monthly summary, me on Slack — pointed at contract review, employment questions, and governance. A smaller block of hours, not a smaller role.
• Growth, 20 to 30 hours a month. The most common tier. Active contract pipelines, board governance, some regulatory complexity. At this level I'm on the leadership calls, managing outside counsel, quarterbacking compliance projects, and handling the harder negotiations.
• Scale, 30 to 40 hours a month. Legal is near-daily: heavy contract volume, multiple workstreams at once, real regulatory load. At Scale I'm in the company's operating cadence, not just the legal one. Functionally inside the leadership team.

Deal work is priced separately. A capital raise or an acquisition runs hourly or on a scoped fee, the same way I price it for M&A clients. The retainer keeps the company running while the deal runs. Every tier carries a pre-agreed overage rate, hours are tracked transparently, and I flag it when we're approaching the cap. There are no surprise invoices.

How it runs

Random Slack messages without context don't produce good legal work. Structure does.

A standing call, weekly or biweekly by tier, 30 to 60 minutes: active matters, pending contracts, upcoming decisions. I bring the agenda and you add to it. Most urgent legal questions stop being urgent when there's a standing call to catch them.

Between calls I'm on email, Slack, or Teams, and I respond the same business day. Truly urgent, call me.

End of every month, a short written summary: what was handled, what's pending, what decisions are needed, what's coming. Your board sees the legal function without a separate report-out. For board meetings I prep the materials, sit in, and handle the resolutions and the follow-up.

What's in scope, and what isn't

In scope at every tier: commercial contracts, employment guidance, corporate governance, risk and compliance planning, pre-suit disputes and demand letters, managing outside counsel on specialized matters, and strategic counsel on decisions with legal consequences. At Growth and Scale it extends to capital raise preparation, M&A readiness, regulatory compliance programs, IP strategy, and insurance review.

Out of scope, always: courtroom litigation, patent and trademark prosecution, tax opinions, immigration, complex benefits work. When a matter heads to court it goes to litigation counsel I manage. I don't hand it off and walk away.

The first 90 days

Month one is triage. The engagement opens with a two-week legal audit: corporate documents, key contracts, employment practices, compliance posture, cap table, board materials, anything pending or threatened. The output is a written assessment saying where the gaps are, what gets fixed now, and what we build over the first 90 days. The audit is included in the first month's retainer, and the hours count against the tier.

Month two is foundation. Contract templates standardized, employee handbook current, governance records clean, a contract tracking system that will survive diligence someday.

Month three is steady state. The calls have a rhythm, contract review flows, and you know when to call me and what to handle without me.

One audit from a recent engagement: a growth-stage company two years past its seed round, planning its next raise. The data room looked fine until I lined the cap table up against the paper behind it — option grants the board had approved and nobody had ever issued, and a former contractor with code in the product and no IP assignment. Six weeks of cleanup at Foundation-tier hours. When the raise came, diligence found nothing, because there was nothing left to find.

New York and Long Island companies

I work from Mineola with companies across Nassau and Suffolk, in New York City, and nationally. Most of what a growth company needs from a General Counsel is governed by New York or Delaware law regardless of where the company sits, so geography matters less than availability.

What Long Island companies get here that a Manhattan firm won't offer: a senior lawyer who will drive to your office, at a rate that isn't underwriting a Midtown lease.

When it makes sense

You're approaching a Series A, B, or C and legal questions are landing on the CEO's desk. Outside firm spend is climbing but nobody owns the function. A transaction is coming — a raise, an acquisition, a sale — and you want someone inside the tent before the term sheet arrives.

When it doesn't: legal needs that are rare and static, or isolated document drafting. That's a job for outside counsel, and I'll tell you so rather than sell you a retainer.

Common questions

What does a fractional General Counsel cost? A fixed monthly retainer sized to your actual volume: 10 to 40 hours a month in three tiers, quoted after a scoping call, with a 90-day initial commitment. Capital-raise preparation and M&A readiness sit inside the retainer at Growth and Scale; running the financing or the deal itself is billed separately at $680 to $800 an hour or a fixed fee. The full breakdown.

Fractional GC versus outside counsel, what's the difference? Outside counsel answers the question you asked. A fractional GC knows the business well enough to answer the question you should have asked.

How fast can you start? Usually within two weeks. Here's how the full engagement runs — the audit, the tiers, the cadence, and the first 90 days.

What's the commitment? Ninety days initially, long enough for the audit and the build to mean something. After that either side can walk on one month's written notice.

Do you work with companies outside New York? Yes. I'm admitted in New York and serve clients nationally, with local counsel where a matter needs it.

New to the model? Start with what a fractional GC is and when you need one, or why hiring a law firm is sometimes the wrong answer.

Direct answers on the GC questions

• What is a fractional general counsel and when does a startup need one?
• How much does a fractional general counsel cost?
• Should I hire a fractional general counsel or a full-time general counsel?
• Is a virtual general counsel the same as a fractional general counsel?
• Do I need a specialist, or a lawyer who can answer most questions quickly?
• Do I really need board meetings and corporate formalities?
• What do founders get wrong about cap tables?
• Are my ChatGPT or Claude conversations privileged?
• Is an AI notetaker in my meetings a legal risk?
• Do I need a lawyer to raise a seed or Series A?
• When should I give investors a board seat?
• How do I run a board after the first priced round?

The full set is at Ask IRC Legal.

Tell me what you're building. Book a strategy session.