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How a Series B company cut its legal spend by 48% with a fractional general counsel.
Five outside law firms, $600K a year in bills and nobody coordinating any of it. Skillfi placed a fractional general counsel who took ownership of legal, brought routine work in-house and managed outside counsel against clear budgets. It's how our legal & compliance service works: senior legal leadership without the full-time cost.
Plenty of lawyers, and nobody in charge of legal.
After its Series B, the company had grown to 180 people with no in-house lawyer. Sales, HR, finance and product each sent work to whichever of five outside law firms they knew.
Legal bills reached $600,000 a year, often for simple work like NDAs and standard contracts. Teams waited nine days on average for answers, firms repeated each other's work and invoices arrived as a surprise. Contracts lived in inboxes, renewals were missed, and the board had no clear picture of legal risk. A full-time general counsel would cost $350K or more and take six months to hire.
We were paying partner rates for NDAs and still waiting a week for simple answers.
CFO, client
One person who owns legal, and a system the whole company can use.
Our fractional general counsel joined the leadership team two days a week, took ownership of every legal matter and built the processes to keep routine work fast and cheap. Budgets and reporting were set up with the company's fractional CFO.
One front door for legal
A single legal request form, priorities by risk and value, and clear response times, so every team knows where to go and when they'll hear back.
Routine work brought in-house
Templates and playbooks for NDAs, customer contracts, vendor agreements and employment, with self-service for the simplest documents.
Outside counsel on a budget
Five firms reduced to two specialists, with agreed scopes, fixed fees where possible and every invoice reviewed before it's paid.
12 months, step by step
From scattered outside counsel to a legal function the company can rely on. Here's how the engagement unfolded.
- Week 1–260 open matters
Legal audit
Every open matter, contract, firm and invoice reviewed, with the biggest risks and costs ranked.
- Week 3–41 intake process
Legal front door
A single request form, priority rules and response times launched for every team.
- Month 212 templates
Templates & playbooks
Standard contracts and negotiation playbooks for sales, procurement and HR, with self-service NDAs.
- Month 2–35 → 2 firms
Outside counsel reset
Firms reviewed on quality and cost, two specialists kept and every matter given a scope and budget.
- Month 3–4640 contracts
Contract repository
All signed contracts gathered in one place, with alerts for renewals, notice periods and key obligations.
- Month 4–12−48% spend
Run & report
Ongoing legal leadership, monthly spend reviews and a quarterly legal risk report to the board.
How legal work flows now
Simple work handled fast and in-house, specialist work sent out on a budget, and leadership always in the picture.
One place to ask
- Single request form
- Priority by risk & value
- Clear response times
Routine work in minutes
- Self-service NDAs
- Approved contract templates
- Negotiation playbooks
Outside firms, managed
- Two trusted specialists
- Scope & budget per matter
- Every invoice reviewed
Risk the board can see
- Legal risk register
- Spend vs budget
- Quarterly board update
Twelve months later
Annual legal spend
Including the fractional general counsel's fees.
For the first time, someone owns legal. Our teams get answers in a day, the bills are half what they were and the board finally sees our legal risk clearly every quarter.
CEO, clientPaying law firms a lot, with no one in charge of legal?
Our legal & compliance team will place a fractional general counsel who owns your legal work, builds the templates and processes your teams need and manages outside counsel on a budget. Want legal spend tracked properly? Add a fractional CFO.
- A fractional general counsel
- One front door for legal requests
- Templates, playbooks & self-service
- Outside counsel budgets & board reporting
30 minutes. No obligation.
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