Outside general counsel for California businesses
Chris Jackson Law provides outside general counsel, fractional general counsel, and monthly business counsel for California businesses and companies with California legal needs. When an agreement, ownership issue, unpaid account, new LLC, holding-company question, or important decision comes up, it helps to have counsel who already understands the business and its structure.
Continuity matters
Monthly Business Counsel provides ongoing access to experienced California business-law guidance for a predictable monthly fee. The value is broader than a discounted block of time: Chris reserves capacity, learns your company and entity structure, and can give advice with the benefit of that continuing context.
A limited number of clients are accepted at each service level so Chris can maintain responsiveness and service quality.
Direct, business-minded counsel
Chris Jackson brings more than 30 years of business-law experience, as well as prior experience as a chief operating officer and business owner. Clients work directly with Chris rather than being handed off to an associate, providing continuity with an attorney who understands both the legal and practical sides of running a business.
Chris is licensed to practice law in California. The firm works with California-based businesses and with companies based or formed elsewhere when their operations, entities, contracts, transactions, or other legal needs involve California.
Three service levels
The first two plans cover the same types of ordinary business-law work. The principal differences are reserved capacity, scheduling priority, and the degree of proactive involvement.
Best for LLC owners and small businesses that want continuity and regular attorney access for light but recurring legal needs.
Best for established businesses, owners with multiple LLCs or holding-company structures, and companies needing more regular contract and legal support.
Best for growing and established privately held companies that want substantial ongoing involvement closer to a part-time in-house general counsel relationship.
Chris’s prior experience as a chief operating officer and business owner informs advice that considers both the legal issues and how a decision will work in practice. Engagements above the starting level are customized to the company’s size, complexity, anticipated needs, and desired involvement.
Discuss Fractional General Counsel →Starting with up to 8 reserved attorney hours per monthBusiness Legal & Risk Checkup
The review is tailored to the company, its structure, and the applicable service level. It is not a guarantee of compliance or a substitute for tax, accounting, insurance, or other specialized advice.
Additional attorney time
Plan clients receive a preferred hourly rate—including for approved work beyond the reserved monthly hours.
If requested work is expected to exceed the plan’s reserved monthly capacity, Chris will advise you before additional charges are incurred. With your approval, covered work may continue at the applicable plan rate:
A busier month does not automatically require a different plan. If your needs consistently exceed or fall below the selected level, the plan can be adjusted going forward.
Scope and fit
Government filing fees and third-party professional fees are separate. Acceptance is subject to fit, scope, jurisdiction, conflicts, and a written engagement agreement.
Ongoing California business counsel
Growing companies often reach a point where engaging an attorney separately for every contract, corporate issue, ownership question, or important business decision becomes inefficient. At the same time, employing a full-time in-house lawyer may not make economic sense. Outside general counsel can fill that gap by serving as an ongoing legal resource who becomes familiar with the company, its structure, its agreements, and the decisions its owners and executives regularly face.
Outside general counsel is an outside attorney who provides continuing legal support to a business. The work may include contract drafting and review, LLC governance, ownership and management matters, holding-company and subsidiary questions, company documentation, collections, risk issues, and coordination with tax or other specialized advisers. Businesses may also search for outsourced general counsel, outside corporate counsel, or general counsel for small business when looking for this kind of relationship.
Fractional general counsel typically describes a more involved arrangement in which outside counsel functions similarly to a part-time member of the company’s legal or management team. A company seeking fractional general counsel in California may need regular participation in management decisions, material contract negotiations, multi-entity oversight, acquisitions, investments, or coordination among professional advisers. “Part-time general counsel” is another term businesses use for experienced ongoing legal help without the fixed cost and employment commitment of a full-time attorney.
Monthly business counsel provides a lower-commitment path for businesses that want continuity, predictable access, and a monthly business attorney but do not yet require a more involved fractional GC relationship. Chris Jackson Law offers multiple service levels so a company can select the capacity and involvement that fit its current needs without being promised unlimited availability.
These California outside general counsel services are not limited to companies headquartered or formed in California. Chris Jackson Law may represent businesses based elsewhere when they have California operations, subsidiaries or entities, transactions, contracts, or other California legal needs. Chris Jackson is a California business attorney licensed to practice law in California; matters requiring advice under another state’s law may require counsel licensed in that jurisdiction.
Frequently asked questions
An outside general counsel is an attorney outside the company who serves as an ongoing legal resource. The attorney develops familiarity with the business and can help with contracts, governance, ownership questions, risk issues, transactions, and recurring legal decisions without joining the company as a full-time employee.
The terms sometimes overlap. Outside general counsel broadly describes ongoing legal support from an outside attorney. Fractional general counsel usually involves more substantial, regular participation—closer to a part-time member of the company’s legal or management team. Chris Jackson Law offers both lower-commitment monthly counsel plans and a more involved Fractional General Counsel option.
Outside counsel may make sense when contracts, corporate matters, ownership questions, unpaid accounts, risk issues, or important business decisions arise often enough that hiring a new attorney for each matter becomes inefficient, but the company does not yet need or want a full-time in-house lawyer.
Chris Jackson Law currently offers ongoing Business Counsel plans beginning at $650 per month and Fractional General Counsel beginning at $2,500 per month. The appropriate arrangement depends on anticipated legal needs, complexity, reserved capacity, and the desired level of attorney involvement.
Yes. Chris Jackson Law provides ongoing business counsel to appropriate businesses throughout California. Services are provided directly by Chris Jackson, a California-licensed business attorney, and may be delivered by phone, video, and email as appropriate.
Yes. Chris Jackson Law represents California businesses as well as companies based or formed elsewhere that have operations, transactions, entities, contracts, or other legal matters involving California. Chris Jackson is licensed to practice law in California and does not imply licensure in other jurisdictions.
Limited availability
Start with a short inquiry. Chris personally reviews each request before offering a consultation or accepting an engagement.
Request a Business Counsel Consultation