The rise of Fractional General Counsel set to continue in 2025…

An emerging trend in the legal industry, especially for fast-growing companies, is that of the fractional general counsel.

The rise of fractional leadership is reshaping the way companies access top talent and leverage external experience. The concept has gained popularity in recent years and the legal industry is no exception. There is now a hiring trend where businesses contract interim or part-time executives to provide specialised expertise for specific projects or to meet ongoing resource requirements.

The role of General Counsel is pivotal in helping businesses to steer company strategy within a legally compliant framework. A full-time in-house counsel can offer businesses a competitive advantage, however, this can also come at a cost.

The need for legal outsourcing has grown exponentially in recent years. Our team at HCR Law understand the challenges that legal departments face when determining how best to resource significant volumes of legal work.

In the legal industry, the fractional general counsel (“GC”) is where highly experienced senior lawyers, who are commercially minded, go into a business and provide top-level commercial advice to the board. Typically, this is where there is a gap in the team due to resources available or where a specialist skillset is required.

Fractional GCs provide high-level, hands-on legal support, helping to navigate critical legal needs without the overhead of a full-time hire.

The fractional GC role allows companies to hire experienced legal professionals on a part-time or project basis, typically when they don’t require or cannot afford a full-time general counsel.

Funding for legal resources within in-house legal teams is one of the biggest issues our clients face. With companies tightening budgets and reimagining their legal resourcing, we have seen a growing appetite for interim and secondment lawyers who are brought in to cover a GC role in full, support on special projects – such as capital raises – or simply to cover gaps in the team.

This model offers a win-win scenario for organisations, providing flexibility, expertise, and cost-effectiveness.

That’s why we created HCR Flex – a general counsel and in-house lawyer secondment service, which provides instant access to a team of dedicated commercial lawyers, who can work with you remotely or at your offices.

Designed for businesses that need regular access to legal services, while allowing you to control your costs, HCR Flex is here to supplement or complement your in-house counsel.

It gives you flexible access to commercial legal expertise, exactly when you need it most.

Robert Capper, Partner, and Head of Commercial said: “Our clients view us as an extension of their team, by their side, providing the commercial and often technical advice they need to move forward.”

Many well-known brands are currently benefitting from the HCR Flex model by adding our specialist Commercial lawyers to work in-house alongside their existing team.

HCR Flex can help you and your legal team with:

• Spikes in workload – interim support to help you deal with these fluctuations
• New or large projects – legal support without a permanent increase in headcount
• Absences and departures – additional capacity to fill your gaps with temporary or long-term secondments
• Skillset gaps – specific legal expertise when you neeflexd it
• Legal team transformation – flexible support with price certainty and transparency.

The rise of the fractional general counsel marks a significant shift in how businesses approach legal resourcing.

Our innovative HCR Flex model provides companies with flexible, highly cost-effective, day-to-day strategic legal support on commercial matters, while aligning with the dynamic nature of the modern business environment.

As more and more businesses recognise the advantages of the fractional general counsel, this trend is likely to continue shaping the legal landscape.