General Counsel Services
Your organization might not need or be able to have a full-time lawyer on staff. But you do need a trusted partner who understands your operations and who can handle your day-to-day legal needs on a regular basis. We provide outside general counsel legal services to a limited number of nonprofits, trade associations, and companies. Our general counsel program allows our clients to have one dedicated attorney who cost-effectively manages all of their internal legal, ethics, and governance matters, minimizes their legal and regulatory risks, and, where necessary, manages their outside counsel and legal budgets.
We meet with general counsel clients in-person at your offices at the outset of the engagement so we can learn and understand your organization, operational goals, concerns, and challenges. From that meeting, we spend time assessing organizational risk areas and legal needs and developing a legal plan that is practical and realistic for your organization. We will revisit our initial risk assessment and legal plan with you regularly.
The types of matters we handle for our general counsel clients include the following:
Board and Governance: attending and assisting with board meetings; reviewing and amending bylaws or articles of incorporation; preparing executive compensation surveys; board training
Contracts: drafting and negotiating contracts, and providing you with contract templates as appropriate
Employment and HR: reviewing and revising employee handbooks and policies; assisting with employee issues; staff training
Ethics matters, including code of conduct and whistleblower programs and training
Federation structure and membership agreements, including international affiliates
Grants and regulatory compliance, including lobbying and federal grants requirements
Intellectual property protection
Member disaffiliations and mergers
Monitoring and revising policies and procedures
Outside counsel management and oversight
We handle this type of representation on a fixed, monthly-fee basis, providing your organization with certainty on costs. Our fees include unlimited telephone and email consultation as needed.