A fractional general counsel is a senior lawyer who acts as your company’s general counsel on a part-time, ongoing basis, embedded in the business, available for the day-to-day decisions, but at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire. It’s a model that’s grown quickly among Canadian companies that have outgrown calling a firm matter-by-matter but can’t yet justify a full-time legal executive.
The gap it fills
Most growing companies hit a predictable point. Legal questions arrive constantly, a contract to review, an employment issue, a financing term, a compliance question, and the reactive model starts to break. Calling outside counsel for each one is slow and expensive, and worse, the lawyer is starting from scratch every time because they don’t know your business. But hiring a full-time general counsel, at $200,000 to $350,000-plus in salary and benefits, is a leap the company isn’t ready for.
Fractional general counsel is the bridge: senior judgment that knows your business and is there continuously, for a predictable monthly fee.
What it includes
Typically: day-to-day contract review and negotiation, board and executive advisory, governance, compliance and risk management, employment and vendor matters, and coordination of specialists, M&A, litigation, tax, when a matter needs one. You get the general counsel function without the general counsel overhead.
What it costs
Fractional engagements usually run a fixed monthly fee scaled to your needs, frequently a fraction of a full-time GC’s compensation. The exact figure depends on scope and time commitment, but the value proposition is consistent: senior, proactive legal leadership for far less than the cost of building it in-house.
The signs you need one
You’re likely ready for fractional GC if legal questions are frequent enough that one-off advice feels slow and costly; if you’re heading into a financing, a growth phase, or a sale; or if you find yourself making legal-weight decisions without anyone whose job is to anticipate the consequences. If that’s where the business is, the model is worth a conversation.