Every consequential business decision carries legal weight. Signing a supplier agreement, hiring a key executive, taking on an investor, terminating an underperformer: each move either strengthens your company’s position or quietly plants the exposure that surfaces two years later as a lawsuit. Large corporations manage this risk by keeping a general counsel in the room when decisions are made. Most small and mid-sized companies cannot justify that payroll line, so they default to the opposite approach and call a lawyer after the demand letter arrives.
There is a middle path. A fractional general counsel gives your company the in-house function, an attorney who knows your business, your contracts, and your people, on an hourly basis instead of a full-time salary.
What a Fractional General Counsel Actually Does
The value of the model lies in routine work handled continuously rather than in emergencies.
Contracts before signature. Customer agreements, vendor terms, leases, and nondisclosure agreements are reviewed and negotiated before they bind the company, not litigated afterward. The most expensive contract is the template nobody read.
Employment decisions. Offer letters, restrictive covenants, terminations, and handbook policies are where growing companies generate the most avoidable claims. Florida law here is moving. The CHOICE Act, chapter 2025-213, Laws of Florida, took effect July 1, 2025 and is codified at sections 542.41 through 542.45, Florida Statutes. It permits covered noncompete and garden leave agreements of up to four years with certain high-earning employees, and it directs a court to preliminarily enjoin a breaching employee subject to a clear and convincing rebuttal, but only when the agreement satisfies the statute’s specific requirements. Companies still using older forms may be leaving that protection on the table.
Corporate housekeeping. Annual filings, minutes, resolutions, and ownership records seem trivial until a dispute, a sale, or a lender’s due diligence exposes the gaps.
Dispute triage. When a demand letter or subpoena arrives, counsel who already knows the file can preserve evidence, control communications, and evaluate resolution options before positions harden.
Strategic counsel. Deal structure, risk allocation, insurance coverage, and the judgment call every company eventually faces: when to fight and when to resolve.
The Economics
A full-time general counsel commands a six-figure salary plus benefits, and most companies below a certain size do not have forty hours of legal work each week. The default alternative, hourly engagements that begin only after a problem exists, costs more than it appears. Every new matter starts with counsel learning your business at your expense, and reactive work is performed at crisis rates on a crisis timeline.
The Continuity Advantage
The reactive model has a structural flaw: the lawyer you call in a crisis is a stranger to your business. A fractional general counsel is the opposite. The attorney reviewing this week’s vendor agreement is the same one who negotiated last quarter’s lease and drafted your key employee’s restrictive covenant. Context compounds, and advice arrives in minutes rather than after a new-matter intake billed by the hour.
There is a second advantage that matters when prevention fails. Because attorney Scott Haft is a commercial litigator and a Florida Supreme Court certified circuit civil mediator, the preventive work is done with the courtroom in mind. Contracts are drafted the way a judge will read them. Records are kept the way they will be produced in discovery. If a dispute cannot be resolved, your company enters it with a file built for the fight rather than one assembled after the fact.
When the Model Fits
A fractional general counsel makes sense for companies with recurring legal needs that fall short of a full-time role: a steady flow of contracts, a growing headcount, regulated customers, an upcoming financing or acquisition, or an owner tired of discovering legal problems only after they have matured. If your legal spend spikes unpredictably, or agreements are being signed that no attorney has read, the function is missing.
Put a General Counsel in the Room
Haft Law Group provides in-house counsel services to businesses in Florida, Colorado, and Washington, D.C. If your company has outgrown calling a lawyer only when something breaks, contact the firm to discuss a retainer structured to your actual needs.