Who This Is For
You are the CEO or COO of a SaaS company — somewhere between early product-market fit and Series A. You have a real business now. Customers, contracts, employees, and vendors. But you are still calling outside counsel every time something legal comes up, and the invoices are unpredictable.
You do not need a $250,000/year in-house lawyer yet. But you do need someone who knows your business, answers your questions the same day, and catches problems before they become expensive.
That is what a fractional General Counsel does.
The Problem with Reactive Legal Support
Most SaaS founders manage legal the same way — call a law firm when something goes wrong. The problem with that approach is not just the hourly rates (though those add up). It is that outside counsel does not know your business. Every call starts with background. Every matter is handled in isolation. The lawyer who negotiated your last SaaS agreement has no memory of the equity grant you structured six months ago.
Legal risk compounds quietly. By the time it surfaces as a real problem, the cost to fix it is almost always higher than what prevention would have cost.
Prevention beats crisis response on cost. Every time.
What the Engagement Looks Like
A fractional GC engagement with Scopal Firm runs on a monthly subscription. Here is what that means in practice:
Day-to-day access — Send a contract for review, ask a question about an employee situation, or think through a commercial negotiation. You get a same-day response on business days. The clock is not running.
Proactive review — Before you sign, before you send, before you hire. Your GC is in the room for decisions that have legal implications — not brought in after the fact.
Continuity — The longer Scott knows your business, the better the advice. He learns your customer base, your vendor relationships, your risk tolerance, and your growth plans. Legal judgment improves with context.
One subscription, one relationship — $995/month covers corporate matters, contracts, HR questions, pre-litigation dispute management, and data privacy work. No hourly billing. No surprise invoices.
Common Scenarios
These are the situations Scopal’s fractional GC clients run into regularly:
- Inbound enterprise contract — A large customer sends their paper. Standard terms are almost never standard — they often include caps, indemnification obligations, and data processing terms that need review before you sign.
- First hire — Employment relationships create legal obligations from day one. Offer letters, confidentiality agreements, and equity documentation should be right before the employee starts, not revised later.
- SaaS customer agreement audit — Your standard customer agreement was drafted two years ago for a different version of your product. Before you scale, it should reflect what you are actually selling.
- Vendor negotiation — Cloud infrastructure, software tools, and professional services agreements all carry risk. Having someone who knows what to push back on matters.
- Data privacy questions — If you handle customer data (and all SaaS companies do), privacy compliance is not optional. GDPR, CCPA, and customer DPA requests require consistent attention.
Scope and Pricing
The Fractional GC subscription is $995/month. It covers the day-to-day legal work that keeps your business running: corporate matters, contract drafting and negotiation, HR questions, pre-litigation dispute management, and data privacy matters.
Major discrete projects — M&A, financing transactions, complex multi-party deals, or matters that require counsel in jurisdictions outside Scott’s bar admissions — are scoped and billed separately. When a matter falls outside the subscription, you will know what it costs before work begins.
There are no hourly rates. No minimum hours. No surprise invoices.
Learn more about how Scopal Firm structures engagements on the pricing page.
About Scott Palmer
Scott A. Palmer spent more than seven years as VP, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of uPerform, a PE-backed healthcare SaaS company. Before that, he served as Staff and Associate Counsel at Ancile Solutions, managing IP and trademark matters, negotiating Fortune 100 software licenses, MSAs, SOWs, and SaaS agreements, and developing the company’s Global Policy Handbook.
Scopal Firm is an AI-native practice — Scott uses current technology to deliver faster, more consistent legal work than a traditional practice.
Read Scott’s full bio and background.
Ready to Talk?
If you are spending more time managing legal invoices than you expected, or if you have a growing stack of contracts that need attention, it is worth a conversation.
Book a Fit Call — 30 minutes to understand your situation. No obligation, no sales pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does a fractional GC do that an hourly attorney doesn't?
- A fractional GC is embedded in your business — attending meetings, reviewing contracts proactively, and flagging legal issues before they become crises. An hourly attorney responds after a problem appears. The difference is the relationship: the longer your GC knows your business, the better the advice.
- How quickly can I reach Scott?
- Same-day response on business days. Day-to-day questions, contract reviews, and quick calls are all included in the subscription — no clock running.
- What's included in the subscription?
- Corporate matters, contract drafting and negotiation, HR questions, pre-litigation dispute management, and data privacy work are all covered at the $995/month rate. Major discrete projects — such as M&A, financing rounds, or complex transactions — are scoped and priced separately.
- Is this the right fit if we're early-stage?
- Yes. Early-stage is exactly when having proactive legal guidance matters most. Formation decisions, equity structures, and early contracts create the foundation your company builds on. Getting them right from the start is far less expensive than unwinding mistakes later.
- How is this different from hiring an in-house attorney full-time?
- A full-time GC costs $200,000–$350,000 per year in salary and benefits before you add recruiting fees. A fractional GC gives you the same senior judgment — someone who knows your business, attends your meetings, and is available day-to-day — at a fraction of that cost.