Fractional General Counsel

Your company’s lawyer,
on a monthly retainer.

For Texas companies that need ongoing legal judgment but cannot justify a full-time in-house lawyer. A Fractional General Counsel engagement puts a 30+ year transactional attorney on a predictable monthly fee — available for the contract, governance, regulatory, and strategic questions that arise continuously, across every area this firm practices.

Norris Lozano, founding attorney
The Dallas skyline at dusk — the business community this firm serves.

One relationship, across every matter.

Most businesses do not need a lawyer once a year. They need one most weeks — for the contract that needs review before signing, the regulatory question that needs a fast answer, the partner dispute that needs managing, the governance decision that needs to be done correctly the first time. Hiring full-time in-house counsel is expensive and premature for most companies at this stage. Calling a different lawyer for each problem is slow and produces no continuity.

A Fractional General Counsel engagement solves both. One senior attorney, on retainer, who already knows the business — reachable for the questions that come up and accountable for the matters that matter. The engagement draws across all of this firm’s practice areas: corporate, contracts, real estate, business entities, regulatory, and tax. A single retainer pulls from whichever discipline the month requires.

What the engagement covers.

Corporate governance and entity matters

Board and member decisions, governance policies, officer and director duties, entity maintenance, and the formal actions a growing company needs as it approaches a capital event or institutional relationship. Routine entity questions fall inside the monthly hours.

Contracts and commercial agreements

Review, drafting, and negotiation of the commercial documents a business runs on — customer and vendor agreements, master services agreements, NDAs, licensing, and the recurring contract questions that would otherwise wait for an available lawyer or go unreviewed entirely.

Regulatory and compliance guidance

Practical guidance across federal tax, Texas business regulation, and industry-specific regimes, from an attorney whose career has been built at the intersection of finance, tax, and regulation.

Tax credit advisory

Eligibility questions, whether the Employee Retention Credit or other programs apply, and basic structuring guidance fall within your monthly hours — backed by a $180 million New Markets Tax Credit track record and more than $1.1 billion in tax credit transactions. Tax credit transactions themselves — deal structuring, syndication, transaction documentation — are scoped as defined-fee projects, with the project fee credited against your retainer.

Litigation management

When a dispute requires litigation, this firm provides assessment, oversight of outside counsel, budget control, and settlement strategy — the general counsel function of directing litigation in the company’s interest. The firm manages the matter; it does not appear as counsel of record.

Strategic counsel

The judgment calls. The decisions where a familiar attorney who understands the business and its risk tolerance is worth more than an hourly relationship with someone seeing the company for the first time.

Engagement Tiers

Three levels of ongoing counsel.

Every tier is priced below the published Dallas market comparable — and your rate falls as you scale. The more counsel you commit to each month, the lower your effective hourly rate, from $312.50 at Counsel to $187.50 at General Counsel. No minimum commitment at any tier.

Counsel
$2,500 / month
8 hours of counsel each month
$312.50/hour effective
Month‑to‑month
For an established company that needs reliable access to senior counsel for ongoing contract and operational questions, with no minimum commitment.
Request a scoping call
Counsel+
$5,500 / month
20 hours of counsel each month
$275/hour effective
Month‑to‑month
For a company in active growth — regular contracts, governance, and regulatory matters — that wants a standing legal relationship rather than transaction-by-transaction engagements.
Request a scoping call
General Counsel
$7,500 / month
40 hours of counsel each month
$187.50/hour effective
Month‑to‑month
For a company that needs the general counsel function in full — ongoing transactional volume, governance, regulatory oversight, and litigation management — without the cost of a full-time in-house hire.
Request a scoping call

How the hours work. Unused hours carry forward one month. Hours used beyond your monthly allotment are billed at a flat $300 per hour. Sustained use more than 20% above your tier requires prior approval, at which point moving up a tier is usually the better value. Tax credit transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and other specialized matters are scoped separately as defined-fee projects, with the project fee credited against your retainer.

The counsel behind the retainer

Experience you cannot rent
by the hour anywhere else.

A 30+ year transactional attorney who has held three concurrent Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel seats — at the Portland Family of Funds, Urban Development & Finance, and Pure Power Distribution. $180 million in New Markets Tax Credits secured from the U.S. Treasury and more than $1.1 billion in tax credit transactions. Admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. And an AI-native practice that lets one senior attorney deliver the responsiveness of a department — a combination no comparable Dallas practice offers.

Full attorney bio

Frequently asked questions.

What is included in the monthly fee, and what is billed separately?

Counsel, review, drafting, governance, regulatory guidance, and tax credit advisory fall within your monthly hours. Defined-fee projects — tax credit transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and other specialized matters — are scoped separately, with the project fee credited against your retainer. Scope is defined clearly at engagement, not improvised later.

What happens if I go over my hours in a month?

Unused hours carry forward one month, so an uneven month evens out. Hours beyond your allotment are billed at a flat $300 per hour. If your use runs consistently more than 20% above your tier, that requires prior approval, and moving up a tier is usually the better value — your effective rate drops as you do.

Can I start at the entry tier and move up later?

Yes. Every tier is month-to-month with no minimum commitment, so you can start at Counsel and step up to Counsel+ or General Counsel as the relationship and your needs grow — and your effective hourly rate drops as you move up.

How is this different from calling a lawyer when something comes up?

Continuity. An attorney on retainer already knows your business, your contracts, and your risk tolerance, and is reachable without re-explaining the situation each time. The marginal question gets asked — the contract gets reviewed before signing rather than after a problem — because the relationship is already paid for and in place.

Do you appear in court?

This is a transactional practice. When a matter requires litigation, the firm serves the general counsel function — assessing the dispute, selecting and overseeing outside litigation counsel, controlling budget, and directing settlement strategy in your interest. The firm manages the litigation; it does not appear as counsel of record.

Start with a scoping call.

A short conversation about your company, the matters you expect, and which tier fits — before any engagement. Scope and fees are agreed in writing at the outset.

Request a scoping call