Partner-level counsel without the overhead of in-house legal.
Your company's lawyer — without the in-house overhead.
Full-Scope
Day-to-Day Legal Support, Scaled to Growth
The legal framework
Most growing companies need senior legal counsel far more often than they can justify a full-time hire — and far more deeply than a matter-by-matter engagement allows. As outside general counsel, we become the lawyer your team calls first: on the new hire, the vendor contract, the investor term sheet, the board question, the regulatory wrinkle, and the dispute that just appeared in the inbox. We learn your business, your risk tolerance, and your operating rhythm — and we provide partner-level counsel that scales with you through every inflection point, from formation through exit.
Engagement Model
We structure the engagement to fit your stage — a flat monthly retainer for predictable day-to-day coverage, an as-needed hourly relationship, or a hybrid. The goal is the same: a lawyer who already knows your business when the question arrives.
Industries Served
We serve as outside general counsel to companies across tech, construction, hospitality, entertainment, and professional services — industries where we already know the contracts, the regulators, and the disputes that tend to follow.
Scope of Coverage
Employment, commercial contracts, board governance, regulatory compliance, IP, fundraising, M&A, and disputes. When a matter requires specialized depth (patent prosecution, tax structuring), we coordinate and manage outside specialists on your behalf.
Growth & Scaling
As your business grows, we scale with you — managing new hires, equity grants, investor rounds, strategic partnerships, and the governance changes that come with each stage. Counsel that fits a five-person team and a fifty-person company.
What we handle
Employment & HR Counsel
Day-to-day employment advice — offer letters, separation agreements, employee handbooks, PTO and classification questions, non-competes and restrictive covenants, and the responsive counsel that keeps a single personnel issue from becoming a litigation matter.
Commercial Contracts
Drafting, negotiating, and managing the contract backbone of the business — vendor and supplier agreements, customer and channel agreements, NDAs, SaaS terms, leases, and the recurring paper that a running company generates every week.
Board Governance & Compliance
Advising boards and management on fiduciary duties, corporate formalities, board minutes, resolutions, and the governance changes that accompany fundraising, equity grants, and growth-stage transitions.
Regulatory Compliance
Navigating the industry-specific regulatory landscape — licensing, consumer protection, data privacy, advertising, and the operational rules that apply to your business — and keeping compliance ahead of growth, not behind it.
Fundraising & Investor Relations
Supporting fundraising activities — SAFEs, convertible notes, preferred-stock rounds, investor due diligence, and the ongoing reporting and investor-relations questions that arise once capital is on the cap table.
Disputes & Risk Management
When disputes arise — with customers, vendors, employees, or regulators — we manage the response, coordinate with litigation counsel when warranted, and keep the business running while the matter resolves. Risk counsel is cheaper than litigation.
Business & Corporate Law
The best outside general counsel relationship is the one where your team calls early — before the contract is signed, before the hire is made, before the dispute escalates. Our job is to make that call worth making, every time.
— Michael A. Johnson, Shareholder
How we work
Shareholder-led from intake. Counsel that moves as fast as the matter requires — and prepares for the resolution that may never require a courtroom.
Learn the Business
We start by learning your business, your contracts, your cap table, your team, and your risk tolerance — so our counsel fits your operating rhythm rather than imposing ours.
Establish the Cadence
We set the engagement structure — retainer, as-needed, or hybrid — and the communication cadence so your team knows exactly when and how to reach us.
Day-to-Day Counsel
We provide ongoing, responsive counsel on the matters that arrive every week — contracts, hires, governance, regulatory questions, and the calls that need a lawyer's judgment before they become a problem.
Scale With You
As you grow — new hires, investor rounds, partnerships, disputes — we scale the scope and depth of our involvement to match the inflection points along the way.
Representative results
Outcomes in this area. Every result depends on its facts; past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Cross-Industry
Serve as outside general counsel to a portfolio of growth companies across tech, construction, hospitality, and entertainment — managing the full scope of day-to-day legal needs from employment to fundraising.
Retainer Engagements · 2025
Series A
Guided a technology client through a Series A preferred-stock round as outside general counsel — negotiating term sheet economics, managing investor diligence, and closing with the cap table intact.
Tech Company · 2024
Pre-Litigation
Resolved an escalating vendor dispute through pre-litigation negotiation and contract restructuring — preserving the commercial relationship and avoiding a six-figure litigation exposure.
Growth Company · 2023
Michael A. Johnson
Shareholder Nashville
Business and intellectual property counsel to founders, creative companies, and technology businesses.
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Shareholder-led from the first call. We'll assess the situation, frame the options, and tell you what we'd do — straight.