Partner level judgment, without the full-time price.
I have been a lawyer for nearly 30 years, helping businesses navigate disputes, reputation fallout, and heading off risk before it spirals.
Board-level legal expertise without the cost of a full-time in-house team. As a Partner at gunnercooke LLP, I work alongside leadership teams as a trusted adviser, helping organisations navigate commercial decisions, manage legal risk and strengthen governance as they grow.
Outsourced Legal Counsel
For organisations that require partner level judgment without a full-time in-house team, I offer outsourced General Counsel retainers. This provides:
- Ongoing legal and strategic support
- Early identification and management of risk
- A trusted advisor embedded at leadership level
- Cost-effective access to senior legal expertise
Outsourced counsel works best where organisations want clarity, continuity, and judgment - not just reactive legal advice.
What is an outsourced General Counsel?
An outsourced General Counsel is a senior lawyer retained by an organisation on an ongoing basis to act as its lead legal advisor, without joining the payroll as a full-time employee. The organisation gets the judgment, continuity, and leadership-level presence of an in-house GC at a fraction of the cost - and legal risk gets managed as part of running the business, not as an emergency purchase.
How does a retainer work?
A retainer is shaped around how your organisation actually operates: a fixed monthly arrangement covering ongoing advice, contract and dispute oversight, board attendance where useful, and early-warning review of anything that could escalate. When specialist work is needed, an outsourced GC scopes and manages it, so you buy the right expertise rather than the most expensive available.
Who is it for?
Organisations that have outgrown ad-hoc legal advice but cannot yet justify a full-time in-house team: scaling businesses, founder-led companies, boards facing an unusually contested period, and organisations where legal exposure, reputation, and governance now interact daily.