If you’re pricing out fractional general counsel, you’ve probably already learned the hard way how the alternative works. You hire a lawyer when you think you have to, pay by the hour, and move on. Then it happens again…and again. Somewhere around the third invoice it stops feeling like a legal expense and starts feeling like a bad system.
A monthly arrangement is the obvious fix. The first question is what it costs.
Across the industry, fractional general counsel typically runs $2,000 to $15,000 per month, with most established privately held companies landing between $5,000 and $10,000. That fee buys ongoing access to an attorney or firm that reviews your contracts, answers questions as they come up, and meets with you on a set schedule to catch problems before they cost real money.
For a company doing $5M a year, that’s a meaningful line item, and the price alone won’t tell you whether it’s worth it. This guide covers what you’re paying for, how it compares to your other options, and how to tell a strong fractional arrangement from a retainer with a new name.
What Does Fractional General Counsel Cost?
The wide range in costs is because fractional general counsel is typically scoped to the business’s revenue and how much of the lawyer’s attention your operation actually needs.
A company with $2M in revenue will likely have a small team, a handful of standard contracts, and a lawyer who checks in once a month. A $20M company may have tens of employees, some regulatory exposure, and an attorney who is in the business every week and sometimes sitting in on leadership meetings.
Whatever the tier, the fee covers the day-to-day legal life of the company: reviewing and drafting contracts, advising on employment and contractor matters, handling vendor and partnership terms, flagging compliance issues, advising on the legal impact of business decisions, and the standing meetings where most of the prevention happens.
You’re paying for a lawyer who already knows your business when the question comes up, instead of one who has to learn it on the clock.
Is Fractional General Counsel Worth the Cost?
Whether it’s worth it depends on what you’d spend instead, and the honest answer is that every alternative costs more than it looks.
Hiring In-House
An in-house lawyer in the DC market commands roughly $150,000 to $200,000 in salary. Add benefits, payroll taxes, bonuses, malpractice coverage, and research tools, and the true cost lands closer to $200,000 to $275,000 a year.
You get one attorney, with one set of strengths, and if your matter falls outside their experience you’re back to hiring outside help anyway. Below $20M in revenue, very few companies can justify it.
Hourly Billing
Hourly counsel looks cheap until you use it. Litigation counsel typically bills at more than $500 an hour, and litigation matters can cost $50,000 or more from start to finish.
Most owners hesitate to call a lawyer because the meter starts the moment they pick up the phone. But that hesitation is expensive. Your company has employees, vendors, a stack of signed agreements, and probably a few handshake deals you’re hoping never get tested. An hourly lawyer never sees any of it until something in it has already broken.
Traditional Retainer
A traditional retainer solves the availability problem but nothing else. You pay every month so that someone picks up when you call, but nobody is reviewing the vendor agreement you signed last Tuesday or asking whether your sales team is misclassified. The lawyer still only shows up after the problem exists.
You’ve traded a surprise invoice for a predictable one, without changing when the legal work happens.
How the Options Compare
| In-house counsel | Hourly outside counsel | Traditional retainer | Fractional general counsel (industry range) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $200K to $275K loaded | Unpredictable; $10K to $50K per issue | Hourly for work | Fixed fee $24K to $180K, varies by firm |
| Cost predictability | High | Low | Medium | High |
| Knows your business | Yes | No | Medium | Yes |
| Involved before problems | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Scales with growth | Requires new hires | Cost rises with problems | Renegotiate | Tier adjusts |
| Breadth of expertise | One attorney | Depends on firm | Depends on firm | Depends on firm |
All figures are industry estimates drawn from published surveys and firm pricing guides, not Griffith Law Group rates. Monthly fee ranges: LeanLaw. Litigation costs and hourly rates: ACC/Everlaw, The State of Corporate Litigation Today. In-house salary reflecting the DC market: Zip Recruiter.
Fractional general counsel is the only option that costs less than in-house and delivers more than hourly or retainer, because the lawyer is in the business before the problem is.
The remaining question is which fractional arrangement, and that’s where the differences between providers start to matter.
Not All Fractional General Counsel Is the Same
“Fractional general counsel” describes how you pay, not necessarily what you get. Any attorney can put a monthly fee on their services and use the label, and plenty do. Before you compare prices, it helps to know where the offers actually differ.
The biggest difference is background. Most fractional general counsel are transactional attorneys: they draft documents, review agreements, and advise on structure, and many have never taken a contract dispute through a courtroom.
That matters more than it sounds. The lawyer who has spent years watching agreements fall apart in front of a judge writes a different document than the one who hasn’t.
The second difference is flexibility. Some arrangements cap you at a fixed number of hours each month with no way to carry unused time forward, so a quiet month is money lost and a busy one means overage fees. Some lock your tier for a full year regardless of how the business changes. Others re-evaluate as you grow and let unused time roll into the next month, which is the difference between a plan that fits your business and one you have to fit yourself into.
The Griffith Law Group’s outside general counsel practice was built from the other direction. Our litigation firm added prevention because we’ve seen too many owners forced into six-figure and seven-figure disputes over agreements that should have been caught earlier.
How to Evaluate Fractional General Counsel Costs
Once you know the differences exist, evaluating an offer comes down to three questions: what’s included, what sets the fee, and what the lawyer can actually do.
1. What’s Included?
At minimum, a fractional general counsel arrangement should cover the legal work a growing company generates every month: contract review and drafting, vendor and partnership agreements, employment and contractor matters, and ongoing risk identification.
It should also include a standing meeting, because that meeting is where prevention happens. A lawyer who only responds to questions is a retainer with a monthly invoice, not general counsel.
2. What Sets the Fee?
The fee should reflect how much of the lawyer’s attention your business needs, and that need tends to track size.
Two things to ask any provider: how often is the tier re-evaluated, and what happens to time you don’t use? A tier locked for a year punishes a company that grows and one that slows down. Hours that expire at month’s end mean a quiet month is money lost.
3. What Are Their Skills?
Ask what the attorney does when a matter turns into a dispute. Most fractional general counsel are transactional lawyers, and when a case escalates, their answer is to hand you off to a litigator who has never seen your business. You pay twice for a lawyer to get up to speed: once for the counsel who didn’t prevent it, and again for the one who has to learn everything from scratch.
The Griffith Law Group Approach To Fractional General Counsel
Griffith Law Group is a trial firm that offers general counsel services, which is the reverse of how most fractional practices are built. Our attorneys spend their careers litigating the disputes, so when we draft an agreement or advise on a hiring decision, we’re working from what we’ve seen go wrong in litigation. Our approach to protecting profit through strategic drafting shows what that looks like in practice.
If a matter does escalate, there’s no handoff. The lawyer who knows your contracts, your people, and your history is the one handling it.
Our Slingshot Program includes the same five services in every tier:
- Contract review and drafting
- Vendor and partnership agreements
- Employment and contractor matters
- Risk identification and mitigation
- Business asset and IP protection
Tiers are sized to the business and re-evaluated every six months, so the plan matches the company as it changes. Unused time can be borrowed forward, and every tier includes access to the full firm. Companies not ready for a monthly program can start with an on-demand retainer that offers the same services without the commitment.
Common Questions About Fractional General Counsel Cost
Is the monthly fee a deductible business expense?
In most cases, yes. Legal fees paid for the ordinary operation of a business, including ongoing counsel on contracts, employment, and compliance, are generally treated as a deductible business expense. Fees tied to acquiring a capital asset or starting a new business may be handled differently, so confirm the treatment with your accountant.
Can I switch from hourly billing to a fractional arrangement with the same firm?
Usually, and it’s often the easiest path, since the firm already knows your business. Ask whether work in progress carries over, whether any open matters stay on hourly billing, and whether the monthly fee begins at the start of the next billing cycle or immediately. Some firms will credit recent hourly work toward the first month.
Will I still need other lawyers?
Possibly. Fractional general counsel handles the day-to-day legal life of the company, but specialized work such as patent prosecution, tax controversies, or real estate closings may still go to a specialist.
A good general counsel coordinates that work and reviews it on your behalf, so you’re not managing outside lawyers yourself.
What’s a reasonable cancellation or notice period?
Thirty days is common, and anything beyond ninety deserves a second look. The arrangement should also spell out what happens to work in progress if you leave, and whether you keep the contract templates, policies, and documents produced during the engagement. You should.
Does the fee change if I expand to a second location or hire in another state?
It can, depending on the arrangement. Expansion adds contracts, employees, and often a new set of state employment rules, all of which increase the work. That’s exactly the kind of change a tier re-evaluation is meant to capture. Ask up front how the provider handles growth so the answer isn’t a surprise later.
Stop Paying for Problems After They Happen
Fractional general counsel costs less than an in-house lawyer and does more than hourly billing or a traditional retainer, because the lawyer is in your business before the problem is. What it costs your company specifically depends on how much legal attention the business actually needs, and that isn’t a number anyone can pull off a pricing page. It comes out of a conversation about your contracts, your people, and where you’re headed.
If you’re not sure how much exposure you’re carrying, a legal risk audit is the place to start. It reviews your agreements, employment practices, and compliance position and ends with a prioritized plan, so you know what needs attention before you commit to a monthly program.
If you already know you need counsel and want to talk through which tier fits, schedule a strategic consultation. It’s a 60-minute conversation with a trial lawyer about your business, and it’s the fastest way to get a real number.