Part time legal counsel

Many businesses need legal support but do not require a full-time employed lawyer. At the same time, there is a common concern: external legal advice may take considerable time because the adviser first needs to understand the business, its history, risk profile and commercial context.

For such companies, one solution may be to engage an external general counsel who works with the business on a recurring basis. When the same lawyer follows the company over time, each new matter does not need to start from scratch. This can make legal advice both easier to use and more cost-effective.

The decisive factor is therefore not always whether the lawyer is internal or external. What matters is how the cooperation is structured. With continuity, the right working methods and a lawyer who gets to know the company, external legal advice can function more like part of the business than an isolated one-off intervention.

The challenge with external resources

For growth companies, fintech companies and other businesses without their own in-house lawyer, legal issues often arise continuously. These may concern customer agreements, supplier agreements, GDPR, compliance, regulatory assessments, internal policies or risk issues linked to new products and commercial opportunities.

The need exists, but many companies are still hesitant about bringing in external support. The reason is often practical. It can feel cumbersome to have to explain the company’s operations, decision-making routes, internal history and commercial priorities each time a new legal issue needs to be addressed.

That objection is reasonable. A legal adviser who lacks context needs to spend time understanding matters that are already self-evident internally. If this is repeated in every matter, the advice may feel slow, cumbersome and less effective than it should be.

The problem is not necessarily that the advice is external

External legal advice does not have to be inefficient. The problem primarily arises when the advice becomes fragmented. This may happen when a company engages different advisers from one occasion to the next, or when different lawyers handle different issues without anyone building a consolidated understanding of the business.

One lawyer may handle a data processing agreement. Another may review a commercial agreement. A third may answer a compliance question. Each may be skilled in their respective area, but if no one follows the company over time, important knowledge risks being lost between matters.

The company then repeatedly needs to spend time explaining the same business model, the same risks and the same internal ways of working. It is not always the legal analysis that creates friction, but the lack of continuity.

Context makes legal advice more useful

A legally correct assessment is not always enough. For advice to be useful, it must also fit the company’s business. The adviser needs to understand how decisions are made, which risks are business-critical, which solutions are practically feasible and what level of legal risk the company normally accepts.

This is particularly important in matters where law and business are closely connected. A contractual provision may, for example, look reasonable in theory but have significant implications in a specific customer relationship. A GDPR issue may require an understanding of the company’s systems, roles and processes. A regulatory assessment for a fintech company may need to be linked to product development, the customer journey and internal controls.

When the adviser already knows the company, it becomes easier to provide advice that is not only legally sound but also capable of being acted upon.

Why continuity can make advice more cost-effective

Cost-effective legal advice is not only about hourly rates. It is also about how much time is required to arrive at a useful answer and how much internal time the company needs to spend explaining, coordinating and following up.

When the same lawyer works with the company over time, knowledge is built progressively. The lawyer learns the company’s agreements, risk profile, decision-making routes, products, customers and internal priorities. This means that the next question can often be handled with a shorter start-up phase.

This does not mean that all issues become simple or that every matter can be handled quickly. Some legal issues still require in-depth analysis. But where the underlying understanding is already in place, more time can be spent on the issue itself and less on reconstructing the context around it.

For CEOs, CFOs, COOs, compliance officers and founders, this can be an important practical difference. Legal support becomes easier to use in the business when the adviser already understands how the company works and which trade-offs usually need to be made.

Part time legal counsel with a more in-house working model

Morling Consulting’s model is based on the idea that legal support can be organised more continuously. Instead of each issue being handled as a separate one-off intervention, the same lawyer can work with the company on a recurring basis and gradually build an understanding of the business.

The role is in many ways similar to an internal legal function, but without the company needing to employ a full-time lawyer. This may involve part time legal counsel, an external legal function or ongoing legal support adapted to the company’s needs over time as the business develops.

This gives the company access to legal expertise when the need arises, while allowing the adviser to work with the right context. For companies with recurring legal issues, it can be a more practical alternative than handling each matter separately with different advisers.

What continuity means in practice

Continuity is not merely an organisational issue. It affects how quickly the adviser can understand new matters, how well the advice fits the business and how consistently legal issues are handled over time.

When the same lawyer follows the company, the advice can become more effective in several ways:

• Shorter start-up phase when new legal issues arise.
• Less need for repeated explanations of context.
• Better understanding of the company’s risk appetite and commercial priorities.
• More consistent handling of similar issues over time.
• Support that works more closely with management, finance, compliance and the business.

For many companies, this is the real benefit. Legal support does not become a separate process alongside the business, but a resource that can be better integrated into the company’s decision-making.

Examples of matters where the model works well

An external general counsel who works with the business on an ongoing basis is particularly suitable where the company has recurring legal issues across several areas. These may include:

• Reviewing and negotiating commercial agreements.
• Ongoing support from a  contract lawyer in relation to customer and supplier agreements.
• GDPR issues and data processing agreements, including support from a GDPR lawyer.
• Compliance matters and internal procedures.
• Fintech-related regulatory assessments.
• Risk assessments before new products, customers or partnerships.
• Internal policies, decision-making materials and governance issues.
• Ongoing legal support for the CEO, CFO, COO, founders or compliance function.

What these matters have in common is that they often require more than a general legal answer. The adviser needs to understand how the advice affects the business, the organisation and practical implementation.

When does part time legal counsel work best?

The model is particularly suitable for companies that have an ongoing legal need, but where the need is not large enough to justify employing a full-time general counsel. This may include growth companies, fintech companies, SaaS companies or other businesses where legal support needs to sit close to operations without becoming a full-scale internal function.

It is also suitable for companies that want to reduce their reliance on ad hoc advice and establish a more predictable legal function. Instead of each matter starting with a new introduction, the company can build a cooperation where the adviser knows the business and can act more quickly when needs arise.

For companies with temporary and more extensive needs, an ongoing arrangement can also be combined with an interim lawyer during periods when the business requires additional legal capacity.

Legal support becomes simpler when the adviser knows the company

External legal advice does not have to mean that every issue begins with a lengthy introduction. With the right structure, an external lawyer can work closely with the business, build continuity and provide advice that can be implemented more quickly in practice.

What matters is not whether the lawyer is formally internal or external. What matters is that the lawyer understands the company, follows issues over time and can provide advice with the right commercial and organisational context.

At Morling Consulting, our company lawyers help businesses create ongoing legal support that works close to operations. This may involve an external general counsel, part time legal counsel or another legal resource that provides continuity without the company needing to employ a full-time lawyer.