Startup GC Plan

Outside General Counsel Support for Early-Stage Companies

The Startup GC Plan is an outside general counsel subscription for early-stage companies that want recurring access to business legal guidance and support for agreed legal priorities.

The plan is designed for companies that want an ongoing outside legal partner but do not need full-time in-house counsel.

Monthly Legal Support

Each month, the Startup GC Plan includes up to 6 hours of legal support.

The monthly time may be used for legal services that Wilkinson Law LLC determines are appropriate for the plan, including scheduled check-in calls, short legal questions, document issue-spotting, ordinary-course legal guidance, internal attorney review, legal triage, project scoping, and work toward one or more mutually agreed legal goals.

Before monthly time is applied to a specific legal project, Wilkinson Law LLC and the client must agree on the scope of the project and the estimated amount of monthly time to be used. If the project is expected to require more than the available monthly time, Wilkinson Law LLC may recommend a separate fixed-fee project, hourly engagement, revised subscription arrangement, or phased approach.

Scheduled Check-In Calls

The plan includes up to two scheduled check-in calls per month, and time spent on those calls counts against the 6 hours of monthly legal support.

Each check-in call is limited to 30 minutes. Check-in calls are intended for legal triage, prioritization, practical business legal guidance, and discussion of agreed legal goals.

Clients should provide agenda items before each check-in call so the time can be used efficiently.

Legal Questions and Document Issue-Spotting

The monthly time may be used for short legal questions and limited issue-spotting of ordinary-course business documents.

A short legal question means one discrete, non-urgent business legal question that can reasonably be answered within the available monthly time and without substantial factual investigation, legal research, drafting, redlining, negotiation, or analysis of multiple legal issues.

Document issue-spotting may include identifying whether a document appears routine, whether it raises business legal concerns, whether certain provisions should be reviewed more closely, or whether the document should be handled through a specific legal project.

Examples of questions or issue-spotting requests that may fit within the plan include:

  • “Is this the type of issue we should handle in our standard agreement or through a separate addendum?”
  • “Does this customer request raise a legal concern that should be reviewed more closely?”
  • “Should this contractor issue be handled through an agreement or a separate legal project?”
  • “Is this NDA issue routine, or does it require a more detailed review?”
  • “What legal issues should we consider before taking this next ordinary-course business step?”

Responses to short legal questions and document issue-spotting requests are intended for practical legal guidance and issue-spotting, not formal legal opinions.

Agreed Legal Goals and Project Work

The monthly time may be applied toward agreed legal goals or discrete legal projects if Wilkinson Law LLC and the client agree on the scope and estimated hours before the work begins.

Depending on the circumstances, agreed legal goals or project work may relate to:

  • company formation;
  • formation documents;
  • founder equity documents;
  • stockholder agreements;
  • buy-sell agreements;
  • restricted stock agreements;
  • equity incentive documents;
  • IP assignment agreements;
  • employment agreements;
  • contractor agreements;
  • advisor agreements;
  • customer agreements;
  • vendor agreements;
  • partner agreements;
  • NDAs;
  • commercial contract templates;
  • website terms;
  • privacy policies;
  • contract review;
  • contract revisions;
  • legal project planning;
  • governance support;
  • other agreed business legal work.

Wilkinson Law LLC may decline to apply monthly time to a requested project if the matter is too broad, too specialized, too time-sensitive, too uncertain in scope, or otherwise unsuitable for the plan.

Matters Not Included in the Plan

The Startup GC Plan does not include the following services:

  • litigation, disputes, demand letters, threatened claims, or adversarial matters;
  • tax, accounting, patent, securities, fundraising, investment, immigration, employee benefits, cybersecurity, privacy compliance, or specialized regulatory advice;
  • formal legal opinions;
  • legal research memoranda;
  • emergency legal services;
  • representation of individual founders, officers, directors, employees, investors, contractors, partners, affiliates, or other persons in their individual capacities;
  • legal work for anyone other than the client identified in the engagement agreement.

No Rollover or Banking of Monthly Time

Unused monthly time, calls, questions, review capacity, or other included services do not roll over to future months and may not be banked, transferred, credited, refunded, or applied to separate projects.

Minimum 12-Month Commitment

The Startup GC Plan requires a minimum 12-month commitment, subject to a signed engagement agreement.

After the minimum commitment period, the subscription may continue or end as provided in the applicable engagement agreement.