Outside General Counsel

Start Your Business, Then Safeguard It

When you start your business, you are faced with many different questions. Should it be a sole proprietorship, a corporation, or a partnership? What is an LLC? Am I liable for additional taxes? Do I need a fictitious name certificate or an operating agreement? And many more.


Answering these questions correctly is absolutely vital to the success of your operation. Doing it early on in the process is smart business. That's why sound legal advice should be high on your list of priorities. 


Making and following a sound plan of action can save you time, money and frustration, and it can set you up for success. We can help you get off on the right foot.


But who wants to put all of that work into starting a business, only to lose it to a an unanticipated lawsuit, or a notice about unpaid taxes? Most large companies have one or more attorneys on staff, designated as general counsel. Their only job is to make sure the company remains protected.


Smaller businesses often do not have the resources to hire business counsel full-time, but that does not mean that you should leave your business unprotected. 


Ashton Law Office in Roanoke offers you another option. We offer our services by subscription to local businesses as outside general counsel, providing responsive legal counsel for companies who have a need, but who are not in a position to employ an attorney full-time.


Better yet, we offer a tiered system tailored to your company's needs. All tiers have a specific number of hours per month of attorney time allocated for your company's use for general legal projects, whether it's answering your legal questions, researching, or drafting and reviewing contracts.  All tiers also include an initial evaluation and periodic assessment of your company's legal needs.


The basics of our system are as follows:


  1. Tier I - Clients receive up to three (3) hours of attorney time per month. The price of a Tier I package is $500 a month. A Tier I subscription is a great value for new businesses just starting out, or those small businesses simply wishing to examine and refine their legal posture.
  2. Tier II - Clients receive up to five (5) hours of attorney time per month. The price of a Tier II package is $850 a month. A Tier II subscription is a great value for existing businesses experiencing growth or moderate recurrence of similar legal issues.
  3. Tier III - Clients receive up to ten (10) hours of attorney time per month. The price of a Tier III package is $1,550 per month. A Tier III subscription is a great value for existing businesses who have recognized a need for ongoing legal counsel on a number of issues, but who do not have a place for full-time in-house counsel.

Clients are able to roll over limited hours from month-to-month. Additional hours during a given month may be available. Please contact us for additional details. Also, note that the services offered under this package do not include litigation or large transactions.


Call us today!