Business General Counsel

Many large businesses employ at least one full-time attorney as a General Counsel whose sole job is to provide legal services to that business.   In very large businesses, it is not unusual to see an entire department of lawyers with expansive budgets.  As a small or medium-size business, it is often neither practical nor desirable to hire an on-staff attorney to wait around to draft a document or help prepare for litigation.

The Gordon Law Firm is available to represent a select number of businesses as part of a program to provide ongoing General Counsel representation–without the need to hire an in-house attorney.   As part of our General Counsel program, The Gordon Law Firm will establish a formal relationship with your company so that when your business needs legal assistance, work can get started right away.

Business Services

General Business Review.  I like to begin my representation with a comprehensive analysis of the legal health of your business, including a review of your corporate structure and records, key contracts, and policies.  This allows me to fundamentally improve your risk profile while developing a deep understanding of your business.

Management Participation.  I can attend your key management meetings so that I can counsel the team on legal issues as they are forming and identify issues that the team may not even recognize as having legal implications.

Pre-scheduled Office and Site Visits.  I can hold regular, on-site office hours at your location so that I am readily available to field questions and discuss issues that the business may be facing.  Having a regular forum where people can conveniently raise issues with legal counsel helps bring issues to the surface early so they can be addressed quickly and efficiently.  Alternatively, I can make myself available by phone at set times or as otherwise convenient for your needs.

Contract Negotiations.  I will review requested changes to your standard contract forms and work with your business team as they negotiate your contracts and agreements.  Having a lawyer involved in contract negotiations at the outset can help maximize your goals and minimize your legal exposure.

Workforce Management.  I can help you make key decisions about hiring, disciplining, or terminating individual employees.  By advising you as these decisions are made, I can help avoid the significant potential liability that follows any employment decision.

Manage Outside Counsel.  Let me help you identify and retain the right outside lawyers, manage their activities, and review their bills.  No one understands lawyers better than other lawyers.

Accessibility

• Phone availability to answer a legal question for a specific issue
• Work sessions — at a location that is convenient for you–including your office for issues that require greater amounts time.

Billing Options

• Fixed Monthly Fee. For a fixed monthly fee, I will be available for a set block of time for each month . This frees you from imagining a clock running every time you call or need work on a specific matter. I have small packages of time for an occasional need to large blocks of time for business that have greater legal needs.  It also creates an incentive for you to keep us involved in your business, rather than waiting until a legal problem becomes too big to ignore.   In addition, by subscribing to the fixed monthly fee service, your business will receive a reduced hourly rate for all time needed in excess of your plan.  NOTE: this is only available to a limited number of businesses in order to provide maximum availability and service to those clients.

• Hourly Rate.  This is a traditional law firm billing model that only charges you for the time spent working on legal matters for the client.

• Per-Service Fixed Fee.  I can provide any of our services for a fixed, pre-negotiated fee. This gives you certainty about your legal costs and frees us to spend as long as it takes to provide the best legal services possible.

• New Business Start-Up Packages.  For some clients, particularly strong start-up clients who do not yet have a steady revenue stream, I may be willing to defer your legal fees, in whole or in part, until the business meets certain thresholds.