Flexible legal support that grows with your business - without the full-time commitment.
Running a business means juggling a million things, and having access to legal support shouldn’t slow you down or cost you an arm and a leg!
Our Fractional Legal Counsel service gives your business access to experienced, senior level legal expertise on a flexible, scalable basis. We work alongside founders, management teams and in-house staff to provide ongoing legal guidance, risk management and commercial support – without the cost or rigidity of a full-time hire.
This service offers priority, discounted access to all of our services on a subscription (retainer) basis, customised for your specific operational and budget requirements.
As your business grows or changes, our involvement can scale (up or down) with it, ensuring you have the right legal support at the right time to make confident, informed decisions.
Our Fractional Legal Counsel service gives your business access to broad, day-to-day legal support across your business operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our Fractional Legal Counsel service gives your business access to broad, day-to-day legal support across your business operations.
Depending on your business needs, this may include support across areas such as:
- General business legal advice
- Company secretarial and corporate governance
- Intellectual property protection
- Data protection and regulatory compliance (including POPIA and other applicable frameworks)
- Drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts
- Improving and managing internal contracting processes
- Legal input on calls, communications, briefs and meetings with internal or external stakeholders
- Employment law and internal HR support
- Employee legal training and awareness sessions
- Debt collection support and litigation coordination with external attorneys
- Sourcing, recommending and coordinating with external third-party service providers
Our fractional legal counsel service is offered on flexible monthly plans. Plans differ based on the number of hours included per month and provide increasing value as your legal needs grow.
| Plan | Hours / month | Monthly fee | Effective hourly rate | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 5 hrs | R7,013 | R1,403 | 15% |
| Builder | 14 hrs | R18,480 | R1,320 | 20% |
| Accelerator | 22 hrs | R27,225 | R1,238 | 25% |
| General Counsel | 45 hrs | R48,263 | R1,072 | 35% |
We can also offer bespoke, customised plans for businesses with specific requirements.
The Fractional Legal Counsel service sits between a traditional law firm and hiring a full-time in-house lawyer.
Traditional law firms typically work on a matter-by-matter basis, often with limited day-to-day visibility into how your business operates - and they are considerably more expensive! Hiring an in-house lawyer provides dedicated legal support, but comes with the cost, commitment and overhead of employing a full-time legal professional.
The Fractional Legal Counsel service offers a practical middle ground. Through a monthly retainer (discounted from our non-retainer rates), your business gains consistent access to experienced legal support, integrated into your operations and available for ongoing legal questions, contracts, compliance matters and strategic decisions - much like an in-house lawyer, but on a flexible, part-time basis.
This allows businesses to benefit from ongoing legal guidance and continuity, without the cost or commitment of a full-time legal hire.
| Law firm | In-house lawyer | Fractional legal counsel | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engagement | Matter-by-matter | Full-time employee | Monthly retainer |
| Business familiarity | Limited | Deep internal knowledge | Embedded understanding over time |
| Cost structure | Hourly billing | Salary + benefits | Predictable monthly cost |
| Flexibility | Low | Low | High |
| Day-to-day support | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| Scalability | Limited | Fixed | Scales with your needs |
The service is ideal for businesses that need regular legal input but don't require - or aren't ready for - a full-time in-house lawyer. This often includes:
- Start-ups and scale-ups building their legal foundations
- Growing SMEs with increasing contract, compliance or HR needs
- Tech, SaaS and digital businesses managing data protection, IP and regulatory risk
- Consultancies and agencies that regularly enter into client agreements
- Established businesses that want senior legal support without expanding headcount
In practice, the fractional legal counsel model works best for businesses that want consistent legal support, proactive risk management and access to experienced legal advice as part of their ongoing operations.
Yes - this is a core part of our fractional legal counsel service. We don't just respond to legal requests. We take a proactive, structured approach to identifying and implementing what your business actually needs.
- Step 1 — Legal roadmapping: We start with a practical discussion about your business - where you're encountering legal friction, where you want to go, and what risks or gaps may exist. From this, we map out a clear, prioritised legal roadmap tailored to your business.
- Step 2 — Structured implementation: We then work through that roadmap in a structured way - putting the right contracts, policies, compliance measures and frameworks in place to support both your immediate needs and long-term growth.
- Step 3 — Ongoing maintenance & support: As your business evolves, so do your legal needs. We provide ongoing support by updating agreements, monitoring compliance requirements and proactively addressing new risks before they become problems.
Think of it as having an in-house legal function that not only reacts - but plans ahead and keeps your business legally healthy as it grows.
Our plans are designed to be flexible and practical.
If you use fewer hours in a month, they can typically be rolled over for a short period or applied to upcoming work where appropriate.
If you require additional hours, these can be accommodated at the agreed hourly rate or by moving to a higher plan that better suits your needs.
The aim of fractional legal counsel is to provide consistent access to legal support, while remaining adaptable as your business needs change.
In most cases, the service can begin almost immediately after the engagement is finalised. The process is simple:
- Free discovery consultation to understand your business and legal needs
- Agree on the appropriate plan or bespoke package
- Engagement and onboarding, including an initial legal priorities discussion
Once onboarded, we integrate quickly into your business and can start supporting you with contracts, compliance, internal legal queries, negotiations and other day-to-day legal matters.
Most businesses don't need a full-time in-house lawyer. In reality, many growing companies require a few hours of legal input each month, rather than constant day-to-day legal work. This might include reviewing contracts, advising on business decisions, helping with compliance, supporting internal HR matters, or answering legal questions as they arise.
The Fractional Legal Counsel model is designed for exactly this situation. Instead of hiring a full-time legal employee, businesses can access regular legal support on a flexible monthly basis, ensuring that legal questions are addressed quickly and proactively without unnecessary overhead.
For some businesses, this may mean a handful of hours each month. For others, it may involve more consistent support as the business grows and operations become more complex.
The key benefit is that legal support scales with your business, providing the right level of guidance when you need it. Our fractional legal counsel plans are designed to match different stages of business growth, allowing you to increase support as your legal needs evolve.
