What Is a Fractional General Counsel?

The term "Fractional General Counsel" is steadily entering the vocabulary of Swiss and European business leaders. Behind the phrase lies a simple idea: having an experienced legal director, but on a shared-time basis rather than full-time.

A simple definition

A Fractional General Counsel is a senior in-house lawyer — typically a former General Counsel or group legal director — who makes their experience available to several organisations at once, each for a fraction of their time. Instead of hiring a full-time legal director, the company draws on the same seniority for a few days a month.

The word "fractional" refers to the fraction of time. "General Counsel" refers to the role: an organisation's most senior legal officer — the person who advises executive management and the board, steers risk and decides sensitive matters. A Fractional GC is therefore not an occasional subcontractor; it is a member of the leadership team, simply on a part-time basis.

Why the model is emerging now

The model answers a mismatch that many companies experience. An SME, a scale-up or a growing subsidiary quickly generates complex legal questions — strategic contracts, fundraising, compliance, disputes, international expansion. Yet the volume does not yet justify a full-time role, and the budget does not always allow one.

Until recently, these companies had only two options: send every matter to an external law firm — expensive and disconnected from daily operations — or rely on a non-lawyer. The Fractional GC opens a third way: the seniority of a legal director, the proximity of an in-house lawyer, the cost of part-time work.

The spread of remote working, the maturity of collaborative tools, and the changing expectations of experienced lawyers — who often seek more variety and autonomy in the second half of their careers — have made this model viable at scale.

What a Fractional GC actually does

The scope is that of a legal director. Day to day, it typically covers:

• Strategic advice to executive management and the board on decisions with significant legal stakes.
• Negotiation and drafting of structuring contracts — clients, suppliers, partnerships, joint ventures.
• Setting up governance and compliance frameworks: codes of conduct, internal policies, data protection.
• Steering legal risk and coordinating external counsel where specialist expertise or court representation is required.
• Supporting exceptional transactions: fundraising, acquisitions, disposals, restructurings.
• Building the capability of internal teams and gradually structuring the legal function.

In practice, the Fractional GC does the work of a legal director; it is simply organised around an agreed amount of time — from a few days a month to a weekly presence.

Fractional GC, law firm, freelance lawyer: what's the difference?

Three neighbouring models, often confused — and yet very different.

The law firm

A firm acts matter by matter, bills by the hour and reasons first in terms of legal risk. Essential for litigation and specialist expertise, it remains structurally external: it does not live the company's daily reality and does not arbitrate its priorities.

The freelance lawyer and platforms

Many platforms provide access to a pool of lawyers for one-off assignments. Seniority varies, and the relationship is rarely continuous: a different person may take over from one assignment to the next.

The Fractional General Counsel

The Fractional GC combines the seniority of a legal director with the continuity of an in-house lawyer. It is the same person, over time, who knows the company, its culture and its priorities — and who acts as a partner to management, not as an interchangeable supplier.

Watch the comparison (≈ 1 min) →

Which companies is it for?

• SMEs and scale-ups structuring their growth that do not yet have a legal director.
• Subsidiaries of international groups that need a senior legal point of contact on the ground.
• Companies whose legal director is on leave, in transition or overloaded.
• Organisations whose legal volume does not justify a full-time role, but whose complexity demands genuine seniority.
• Private-equity-backed companies that must professionalise their governance quickly.

How to get started

Engaging a Fractional GC usually begins with a confidential conversation of thirty to forty-five minutes, designed to identify the real need and the right format. Collaboration can then start quickly, with no lengthy recruitment cycle and no onboarding delay.

DL Legal Advisory offers precisely this model in Switzerland. To understand the engagement formats available, see the Services page, or compare the costs in the guide Outsourced General Counsel vs. hiring.

This guide is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice.