- Consumer's Choice Award 2019
- Consumer's Choice Award 2020
- Consumer's Choice Award 2021
- Consumer's Choice Award 2022
- Consumer's Choice Award 2023
- Consumer's Choice Award 2024
Outside General Counsel services offer ongoing strategic legal leadership for businesses in Indian Head Park and the broader Illinois region. Rather than maintaining a large in-house team, you can partner with seasoned professionals who understand your industry, goals, and daily operations. This approach provides continuity, budget predictability, and proactive risk management. Our promise is practical guidance, clear communication, and measurable outcomes that support growth, protect assets, and keep your governance practices aligned with current regulations and market expectations.
From contract reviews and policy development to board advisory work and regulatory compliance, our outside general counsel team integrates with your leadership to deliver timely, business-focused legal support. You will receive responsive guidance tailored to your industry, company size, and risk tolerance. Our process emphasizes accessibility, clear milestones, and practical solutions that avoid legal jargon while ensuring you stay informed and in control of major decisions affecting budget, operations, and long-term strategy.
This service offers a strategic layer that keeps your business compliant while enabling swift decision-making. The right outside counsel helps you align legal and business objectives, manage risk, and preserve value as you scale. With predictable costs, you can plan for unexpected events without sacrificing growth. Regular reviews, policy updates, and governance guidance provide a stable foundation for day-to-day operations and investor confidence, while you retain control over important choices affecting the company’s future.
Our firm serves businesses across Illinois with a practical, collaborative approach to corporate and commercial matters. Our attorneys bring broad experience in contract management, governance, regulatory compliance, employment, and financing. We focus on building lasting relationships with clients, listening to their concerns, and translating complex legal concepts into clear actions. By combining industry insight with disciplined processes, we help prevent problems, respond quickly to opportunities, and support confident strategic planning for companies at every growth stage.
Understanding outside general counsel means recognizing that legal leadership is an ongoing partnership rather than a one-time transaction. It involves ongoing risk assessment, policy development, and alignment of legal strategy with business goals. Clients typically appreciate a single point of contact who coordinates across functions, keeps calendars aligned with regulatory timelines, and ensures that counsel decisions support daily operations as well as longer-term planning.
This model integrates seamlessly with internal teams, supports remote work, and ensures timely responses to contracts, regulatory changes, and governance matters. You gain continuous access to guidance, training, and documentation that helps your organization stay compliant, competitive, and prepared for upcoming milestones without unnecessary disruption to your day-to-day activities.
Outside General Counsel is a partner who provides ongoing legal leadership and counsel without the fixed structure of a traditional in-house department. The arrangement includes strategic planning, risk management, policy development, and coordination with business leaders. It emphasizes practical, actionable advice and timely support to address evolving regulatory landscapes, disputes, and growth initiatives while keeping legal costs predictable and aligned with business needs.
The core elements include proactive risk assessment, policy and procedure development, contract governance, regulatory monitoring, and governance support. Processes emphasize clear communication, defined escalation paths, regular reviews, and collaborative problem solving. The approach blends legal insight with business sense to deliver outcomes that protect assets, support growth, and align operations with evolving standards and best practices.
Glossary terms are provided to give clients a clear, practical understanding of common concepts used in outside general counsel engagements. Each term includes a concise definition and explanation of how it applies to your business, governance, and compliance activities. This helps ensure consistent understanding across leadership teams and legal partners.
A Retainer Agreement outlines the ongoing legal services arrangement, including scope, service levels, fees, and billing cadence. It establishes the relationship, sets expectations for response times, and defines how work is prioritized. The retainer ensures you have access to essential legal leadership and support as your business navigates contracts, compliance, and governance decisions.
Corporate Governance refers to the systems, principles, and processes by which a company is directed and controlled. It includes board oversight, fiduciary duties, policy development, risk management, and compliance with regulatory requirements. Strong governance helps align management decisions with shareholder interests and long-term business value.
Policy Development involves creating, updating, and enforcing formal guidelines that govern how a company operates. Clear policies reduce ambiguity, standardize practices, and support consistent decision making across departments. Regular reviews keep policies current with laws, industry standards, and organizational changes.
Risk Management is the process of identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing risks to the business and applying resources to minimize, monitor, and control the impact. It includes legal risk, regulatory compliance, contracts, employment, and operational exposure, with strategies designed to protect assets and preserve value over time.
Businesses have several paths for legal support, ranging from adhoc advisory arrangements to full internal teams. Outside General Counsel offers sustained leadership at a predictable cost, with access to diverse practice areas and industry knowledge. In contrast, traditional law firms may focus on project-based work. A clear comparison helps leadership decide between ongoing governance support and discrete, one-off legal services based on current needs and long-term goals.
A limited approach is often suitable when the company faces a well-defined project, a specific contract issue, or a discrete compliance task. In these situations, targeted advisory support can provide the necessary guidance without committing to ongoing, full-time general counsel services. This flexibility helps you control costs while achieving a timely, effective resolution.
When existing staff require a strategic legal perspective for a short period, a focused engagement can augment internal capabilities. This approach delivers practical guidance, accelerates decision making, and ensures that complex issues receive steady, informed attention without a long-term commitment.
A comprehensive service covers multiple departments and functions, ensuring governance, contracts, employment matters, and regulatory compliance align with business strategy. This integrated approach helps prevent gaps, reduces friction between teams, and supports consistent decision making across the organization. It creates a cohesive legal framework for growth, investment, and organizational change.
As a company grows, the need for coordinated legal leadership amplifies. A comprehensive service scales with your operations, providing continuity during hiring, expansions, or acquisitions. It ensures governance structures keep pace with development, while maintaining clarity, responsiveness, and reliable access to counsel across the organization.
A broad, integrated approach brings consistency to policy, contracts, compliance, and governance. It reduces duplication of effort, speeds up response times, and fosters alignment between leadership and legal teams. By maintaining a steady cadence of reviews and updates, your organization stays ahead of regulatory changes and market developments while preserving operational agility and strategic focus.
With stable leadership and a coordinated set of practices, you benefit from clearer accountability, improved risk visibility, and a stronger foundation for budgeting and planning. The comprehensive model supports smoother negotiations, better vendor management, and a proactive stance on governance, all of which contribute to long-term value creation for the business and its stakeholders.
predictable costs help you allocate resources with confidence and avoid surprise bills. A fixed or structured retainer arrangement aligns legal spend with business cycles, enabling better budgeting and financial planning. This clarity supports strategic investments and reduces the risk of reactive spending during critical moments.
With a single, aligned point of contact for legal matters, your leadership can move more quickly through negotiations, approvals, and policy changes. Faster decision cycles minimize delays, reduce opportunities for miscommunication, and help you capitalize on strategic opportunities while maintaining compliance and governance standards.
Establish a regular governance cadence with your outside general counsel. Schedule periodic policy reviews, board material preparation, and risk briefings to maintain alignment with strategy and market conditions. Clear expectations and timely communication help your leadership stay informed and prepared to respond to changes in the business environment.
Maintain a planned schedule for regulatory reviews and training. Your outside counsel can prepare concise, actionable summaries of new rules and their impact on operations, helping your team implement changes swiftly while preserving compliance and efficiency.
If your leadership seeks consistent legal guidance, risk management, and governance that keeps pace with growth, this service offers a clear path. You benefit from ongoing strategic counsel designed to protect value, support decisions, and minimize disruption across the organization. A steady partnership helps you navigate complex matters with confidence and clarity.
Consider this approach when you want predictable costs, coordinated policy development, and integrated advice across departments. The model is well suited for companies that require reliable legal leadership, timely responses, and a strong alignment between business goals and compliance requirements.
Growing organizations facing evolving regulatory requirements, complex contracting needs, and ongoing governance concerns often find value in outside general counsel. When leadership seeks proactive risk management, consistent policy leadership, and a trusted advisor for strategic decisions, the service provides a cohesive framework to address these challenges and support sustainable growth.
Young companies accelerating growth benefit from a steady legal partner who understands the business, negotiates effectively, and helps build scalable processes. This support covers formation, contracts, employment, and compliance, ensuring the company can focus on product and market strategy while governance remains strong and compliant.
When regulatory landscapes shift or new rules emerge, having ongoing guidance ensures timely adaptations across policies, procedures, and training. A proactive approach reduces risk, aligns operations with the latest requirements, and supports a culture of accountability throughout the organization.
In environments with complex supplier arrangements, customer agreements, and cross-border considerations, a continuous legal partner helps streamline negotiations, standardize terms, and manage risk. This leads to clearer expectations, faster cycles, and more predictable outcomes for critical deals.
From initial needs assessment to ongoing governance, our team is ready to provide practical guidance, responsive support, and reliable leadership. We aim to be a steady, accessible resource that helps your business navigate legal obligations, protect interests, and pursue strategic opportunities with confidence and clarity.
Our firm combines deep market understanding with a practical approach to legal leadership. We focus on clear communication, measurable outcomes, and collaborative problem solving that supports growth. Clients appreciate a dependable partner who can align legal strategy with business priorities, manage risk, and help governance practices evolve as needs change.
With flexible engagement options and a demonstrated ability to scale, we provide consistent access to governance, contracts, compliance, and strategic advice. You gain a reliable, long-term partner who helps your leadership make informed decisions and maintain confidence among stakeholders, investors, and regulators.
Our approach emphasizes practical results, clear timelines, and plain language explanations. We work to minimize disruption, optimize processes, and support your company’s growth trajectory with steady, proactive counsel that keeps your business resilient and compliant.
Our process begins with a structured intake, where we learn about your business, objectives, and current legal posture. This is followed by a planning phase that defines priorities, milestones, and communication protocols. Ongoing engagement includes regular reviews, policy updates, and governance support, all designed to keep you aligned with goals while maintaining flexibility to adapt to change.
During the initial phase, we perform a comprehensive needs assessment, identify critical risks, and establish a governance framework. You will receive a tailored plan that outlines responsibilities, timelines, and expected outcomes, ensuring everyone understands how legal leadership will support the business from the outset.
Discovery involves listening to key stakeholders, reviewing existing policies, and mapping regulatory requirements to the company’s operations. The goal is to gain a clear picture of what is working well, where gaps exist, and how to prioritize improvements for governance, contracts, and compliance.
Planning and coordination establish a practical road map for ongoing legal leadership. We set milestones, assign responsibilities, and create communication channels that keep leadership informed and engaged. This phase ensures that all legal initiatives are aligned with business objectives and resource constraints.
In the engagement phase, we begin implementing governance structures, contract management processes, and policy updates. Ongoing collaboration with the leadership team ensures that legal considerations are embedded in daily decisions, with regular check-ins to track progress and adjust plans as needed.
Monthly reviews focus on key policies, risk indicators, and contract portfolio status. We provide actionable next steps, prevalence of compliance concerns, and recommendations to strengthen the organization’s governance posture. This regular cadence keeps leadership informed and prepared for upcoming obligations.
Policy updates reflect changes in law, industry standards, and business operations. We translate complex requirements into clear, implementable guidance, ensuring teams stay aligned and accountable. Frequent revision cycles prevent drift and support consistent behavior across the organization.
The final phase emphasizes project work, special assignments, and ad hoc advisory support as needed. We adapt to evolving priorities, providing targeted expertise while maintaining the overall strategic direction of governance, contracts, and compliance. This phase reinforces resilience as the business grows and encounters new challenges.
Special projects cover critical, time-limited initiatives such as complex negotiations, regulatory migrations, or governance modernization. We bring focused attention, coordinated effort, and clear outcomes to these efforts without disrupting ongoing operations.
Responsive advisory ensures you have timely access to counsel for urgent matters, contract disputes, or sudden regulatory changes. Our aim is to provide practical, timely guidance that minimizes risk and supports steady progress toward business objectives.
At the Frankfort Law Group, we take great pride in our commitment to personal service. Clients come to us because they have problems, and they depend upon us to help them find solutions. We take these obligations seriously. When you meet with us, we know that you are only doing so because you need help. Since we started our firm in northeast Illinois, we have focused on providing each of our clients with personal attention. You do not have to be afraid to tell us your story. We are not here to judge you or make you feel ashamed for seeking help. Our only goal is to help you get results and move past your current legal problems.
At the Frankfort Law Group, we take great pride in our commitment to personal service. Clients come to us because they have problems, and they depend upon us to help them find solutions. We take these obligations seriously. When you meet with us, we know that you are only doing so because you need help. Since we started our firm in northeast Illinois, we have focused on providing each of our clients with personal attention. You do not have to be afraid to tell us your story. We are not here to judge you or make you feel ashamed for seeking help. Our only goal is to help you get results and move past your current legal problems.
Outside general counsel is a long-term legal leadership arrangement that integrates with your business strategy and operations. It provides ongoing guidance across governance, contracts, compliance, and risk management, while avoiding the overhead of a full in-house department. This model emphasizes clear communication, predictable budgeting, and aligned decision making to support growth. It is designed to be flexible, scalable, and responsive to changing business needs while maintaining a steady focus on practical outcomes and value creation.
Pricing for outside general counsel typically uses a retainer or monthly fee structure that corresponds to the breadth of services and the level of engagement. This arrangement offers cost predictability and easier budgeting. Depending on the scope, some work may be billed separately, but the aim is to keep ongoing leadership accessible and affordable while providing high-quality, consistent guidance.
Businesses of varying sizes, particularly those experiencing growth, regulatory complexity, or a need for centralized governance, benefit from this service. Companies seeking strategic legal leadership without committing to a large internal team or high fixed costs often find outside general counsel to be an efficient and effective solution for ongoing support.
Implementation typically begins with a needs assessment, followed by a planning phase that defines scope, milestones, and contact points. A dedicated practice partner oversees the setup, introduces the governance framework, and aligns the engagement with your business calendar. With clear expectations and early wins, the relationship can ramp up smoothly.
A typical retainer includes ongoing governance guidance, contract review, policy updates, risk assessments, and advisory support for strategic initiatives. It may also cover board materials, training, and regulatory monitoring. The exact scope is tailored to your industry, company size, and risk tolerance.
Yes. The engagement is designed to be flexible, allowing adjustments to scope and depth as business needs evolve. You can expand services during periods of growth or reduce activity during quieter times, while maintaining a stable legal leadership framework and predictable costs.
A dedicated counsel coordinates with your leadership and key departments to ensure policy alignment and timely responses. Regular reviews, risk dashboards, and governance meetings keep matters on track. This structure supports consistent decision making while providing a clear line of communication for urgent issues.
A team of seasoned attorneys with broad corporate, contract, and regulatory experience will work with you. You will have a primary contact plus suitable specialists as needed, ensuring depth of knowledge across matters without sacrificing accessibility or quick response times.
Success is measured by governance clarity, risk reduction, contract efficiency, and the ability to make well-informed strategic decisions. We track milestones, policy updates, and compliance indicators, and we solicit feedback from leadership to continuously refine the partnership.
For the initial consultation, please prepare a summary of current contracts, key regulatory concerns, governance framework, and any ongoing projects. This helps us understand your environment, identify gaps, and tailor a plan that delivers immediate value and sets the stage for a productive, long-term relationship.