Most growing businesses reach a point where legal questions come up faster than a single consultation can handle. A contract needs review before Friday. A vendor wants different terms. An employee situation needs a policy, not a lawsuit. None of it individually justifies hiring in-house counsel, and all of it adds up.
Outside general counsel is the answer between those two extremes: a lawyer who already knows your business, on call for the questions that come up in the normal course of running it.
The Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A. has served as outside counsel for Florida businesses since 1998.
What this actually looks like month to month
Not a retainer that sits unused. A working relationship built around what a business actually needs.
- Contract review and drafting: vendor agreements, client agreements, NDAs, service agreements
- Employment documents: offer letters, handbooks, independent contractor agreements
- Entity governance: operating agreement updates, resolutions, annual formalities
- Vendor and lease negotiation support
- Compliance calendar: registered agent, annual reports, licensing renewals
- First call on disputes, before they become litigation
- Coordination with accountants and other advisors on transactions
> The value is in the questions that never become problems. A contract reviewed before signature catches the personal guaranty, the auto-renewal, the one-sided indemnification clause. The same contract reviewed after a dispute starts costs far more to fix and sometimes cannot be fixed at all.
Where this fits against hiring in-house
In-house counsel makes sense at a certain size and a certain volume of recurring legal work. Below that threshold, a full-time lawyer is expensive capacity sitting idle most weeks.
Outside general counsel scales with the business. Busy months get more attention, quiet months cost less, and it pairs naturally with proper business formation done right from the start and contract terms that hold up when they are tested.
What it is not
Not a substitute for litigation counsel when a real dispute is already underway. Our business law practice covers both the ongoing advisory work and the disputes that sometimes follow, so the relationship survives the transition without starting over with a new lawyer.
Who this tends to serve well
- Companies past the startup stage with real contract volume
- Businesses managing multiple vendor and client relationships
- Companies with employees and the policy questions that come with them
- Businesses expanding into Florida that need a local point of contact
- Owners who want a standing relationship rather than a new search every time something comes up
What to bring to a first conversation
- Current contract templates, if any exist
- A sense of what has caused friction in the past year
- Any pending matters: leases, vendor disputes, employee issues
- Your entity's governing documents
Common questions
Is this the same as a retainer? Structures vary. Some relationships run on a monthly arrangement, others on an as-needed basis with priority response. The right structure depends on volume.
What if we already have a lawyer for litigation? Outside general counsel and litigation counsel are not mutually exclusive. Many businesses keep an ongoing relationship for day-to-day matters and bring in litigation counsel, sometimes the same firm, when a dispute actually requires it.
Can this help before we even form the entity? Yes. Formation decisions made correctly the first time avoid problems that are expensive to unwind later.
How is this different from calling a lawyer only when something breaks? Familiarity. A lawyer who already knows your contracts, your team, and your history moves faster and catches more than one starting from zero.
The businesses that avoid the most legal cost are the ones with a standing relationship
Waiting for a problem to call a lawyer means every call starts with an explanation. A standing relationship means the lawyer already has the context, and the business gets faster answers because of it.
Schedule a consultation with the Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A. to discuss outside general counsel for your business.
