Outside Counsel Service Plan

Standby legal counsel on a flat monthly, quarterly, or annual fee.

The Outside Counsel Service Plan is for businesses that need a lawyer on call but don’t need a full-time legal department. You pay a flat monthly, quarterly, or annual fee. We’re available for the kinds of legal questions that come up regularly — contracts, employment, vendor disputes, compliance, subsidiary entities, governance — without you having to wonder whether the call is going to turn into a billable surprise.

Who this is for — and who it isn’t

Worth poking holes here. The plan is the right answer for some businesses and the wrong answer for others.

It’s the right fit if

  • You have recurring legal questions that keep coming up — contracts to review, employment policies to adjust, vendor disputes to assess, formation work for subsidiary entities
  • You’d rather have predictable legal spend than unpredictable hourly bills
  • You want a lawyer who already knows your business when something urgent comes up — instead of paying for a new attorney to come up to speed each time
  • You have multiple subsidiary or sister entities that need formation work over time (the plan’s $50/hour discount on subsidiary formation makes this meaningful)
  • You’re a founder running a multi-state operation and want consistent counsel rather than a different lawyer in each state

It’s the wrong fit if

  • You have no recurring legal needs — a one-time formation, a one-time contract review, and you’re done
  • You have one big matter coming up — a large M&A transaction, a major fundraise, or significant litigation. Use a regular hourly retainer instead; the plan is built for ongoing low-volume work, not for a single high-volume project
  • You need specialized expertise outside our core practice areas (we don’t handle, e.g., immigration, IP litigation, or criminal defense as part of the plan)
  • You’re looking for unlimited legal services. The plan is flat-fee for a defined time bank; significant work beyond the plan hours is billed at the (discounted) hourly rate

If your situation fits the first list, the plan probably saves you money and friction. If it fits the second list, a different engagement structure is the right answer — and we’re happy to discuss that on the consultation.

Plan tiers

We offer three plan cadences. The cadence determines how much standby time is built in and what you pay up front.

Georgia plans

Plan Investment Estimated time bank
Monthly $1,200 / month 3 hours / month
Quarterly $2,400 / quarter 4.5–6 hours / quarter
Annually $4,000 / year 8–10 hours / year

Wisconsin plans

Plan Investment Estimated time bank
Monthly $900 / month 3 hours / month
Quarterly $1,800 / quarter 4.5–6 hours / quarter
Annually $3,000 / year 8–10 hours / year

Whitewater (Wisconsin) city limits plans

Reduced rates for clients located within the Whitewater, Wisconsin city limits.

Plan Investment Estimated time bank
Monthly $450 / month 3 hours / month
Quarterly $750 / quarter 4.5–6 hours / quarter
Annually $1,500 / year 8–10 hours / year

Plan funds are paid into our IOLTA trust account at the start of each plan period. Time spent is billed against the trust at the applicable plan-tier hourly rate.

What’s included in every plan

  • Standby attorney availability. Email or phone access during business hours for plan-covered legal questions.
  • A recurring review meeting. Monthly, quarterly, or annual depending on the plan cadence — conducted via Zoom video conference.
  • Document review within the plan’s time bank — contracts, employment letters, vendor agreements, simple corporate resolutions.
  • Initial intake on new legal matters that come up during the plan period.
  • Discounted hourly rates beyond the plan’s time bank.
  • A litigation discount of $100/hour on any litigation matter we handle for you (Georgia litigation rate $500/hour; with discount, $400/hour).
  • A subsidiary formation discount of $50/hour on business formation work for any subsidiary entity (e.g., forming an LLC for a new line of business or a new property holding entity).

What’s not included

The plan is built for ongoing low-volume work. The following are outside the plan’s standard scope:

  • Significant litigation matters. These are handled under separate engagement, with the plan’s $100/hour litigation discount applied.
  • Major M&A or capital raise transactions. These are handled under separate engagement at the (discounted) hourly rate.
  • Specialized matters outside our core practice areas (e.g., immigration, criminal defense, complex tax controversies, IP infringement litigation).
  • Personal legal matters of the business owners (estate planning, divorce, etc.).
  • Initial entity formation. That’s a separate retainer engagement; the plan starts after formation is complete. New subsidiary entity formations during the plan period are eligible for the $50/hour discount.

Hourly rates

If your needs exceed the plan’s time bank, additional work is billed at the applicable hourly rate (with plan discounts applied).

Georgia

Type of work Rate (no plan) Plan-member rate
Non-litigation $400 / hour $400 / hour
Subsidiary formation $400 / hour $350 / hour ($50 plan discount)
Litigation $500 / hour $400 / hour ($100 plan discount)

Wisconsin

Type of work Rate (no plan) Plan-member rate
Non-litigation $300 / hour $300 / hour
Subsidiary formation $300 / hour $250 / hour ($50 plan discount)
Litigation $400 / hour $300 / hour ($100 plan discount)

Whitewater (Wisconsin) city limits

Type of work Rate (no plan) Plan-member rate
Non-litigation $150 / hour $150 / hour
Subsidiary formation $150 / hour $100 / hour ($50 plan discount)
Litigation $250 / hour $150 / hour ($100 plan discount)

How the plan compares to ad-hoc hourly retainers

A typical Georgia client might use 30–40 hours of legal work in a year — 8–12 hours on quarterly review meetings, 10–15 hours on contract reviews and employment matters, 5–10 hours on subsidiary formation, 5+ hours of ad-hoc questions. Without a plan, that’s $12,000–$16,000 at $400/hour.

With the Annual Plan ($4,000), the same client gets 8–10 hours included, plus discounted rates on the rest. The break-even depends on how much work is plan-eligible versus subsidiary formation or litigation (where the discounts kick in). For most clients with regular legal questions, the plan saves several thousand dollars per year and removes the friction of “is this billable?” decisions.

The honest tradeoff: if your usage is closer to 5 hours per year, the Annual Plan costs more than ad-hoc hourly billing. The plan’s value scales with how often you actually use it.

Use case examples

The plan tends to be a strong fit for:

  • E-commerce businesses with recurring vendor and customer contracts
  • Real estate investors forming new LLCs throughout the year
  • Tech startups with regular IP, contract, and employment questions
  • Multi-location service businesses with recurring compliance needs across states
  • Holding companies managing multiple subsidiary entities
  • Professional service firms that occasionally need second-opinion legal review

It’s less likely a fit for:

  • Solo consultants with no employees and minimal contracting
  • One-product businesses with stable, infrequent legal needs
  • Businesses heading into a single large transaction (a regular hourly retainer is cleaner)

How it works

Once you decide a plan is the right structure:

  1. Initial consultation. A 30-minute Zoom video conference where we discuss your business, your typical legal questions, and which plan tier and cadence fits.
  2. Engagement letter. We send a written engagement letter describing the plan scope, discounts, and any matter-specific exclusions.
  3. Trust deposit. Plan funds are paid into our IOLTA trust account at the start of the plan period.
  4. Onboarding meeting. We schedule the first review meeting (also via Zoom video conference) and set the cadence going forward.
  5. Ongoing access. During the plan period, you have standby access for plan-covered questions. All recurring review meetings are conducted via Zoom video conference.

Ethics and engagement notes

  • Plan funds are held in our IOLTA trust account in compliance with the trust-accounting rules of each jurisdiction in which the firm’s attorneys are admitted (Georgia, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia). Time spent is billed against the trust at the applicable rate.
  • Plan terms, scope, exclusions, and discounts are documented in a written engagement letter executed by both client and firm.
  • Conflict checks run before the plan begins and before any new matter that arises during the plan period.
  • The plan does not waive any of the firm’s ordinary ethical obligations under GA RPC, WI SCR Ch. 20, the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct, or the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct.

Schedule a consultation

If the Outside Counsel Service Plan sounds like a fit for your business, schedule a paid initial consultation. The consultation is 30 minutes, conducted via Zoom video conference, and paid at booking. We’ll walk through your typical legal needs, talk through the right plan tier and cadence, and quote engagement details.

Schedule a Consultation

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