On-site Support Service
On-site Legal Support by a Lawyer
A lawyer works on site at your company, handling contract review and coordination with business units, and supports the running of your legal function with regulatory, advertising and data issues in mind.
Contract review stalls for reasons other than legal difficulty: how requests are received, how facts are confirmed with business units, and the order in which internal approvals are given. Where the bottleneck lies determines which work should be taken outside.
At the first consultation we identify whether the bottleneck is volume, internal coordination or judgment.
Depending on the issue, we may also suggest a retainer or support on individual matters.
When On-site Support Is Used
- Contract reviews are backing up, but additional headcount has not been approved
- Business units say that “sending it to legal slows everything down”
- Internal checks and approvals stall, and matters do not move
- A legal officer has left and there is no one to take over the work, or is temporarily absent on parental or sick leave
- Checks on new services, advertising and data arise continually, and no one in-house can make the call
- The governance structure, approval system and internal regulations need to be reorganized for an IPO or a corporate reorganization
- The company is setting up a legal function for the first time
Division of Roles Between Us and Your Company
| Area | What we do | What your company does |
|---|---|---|
| Contract review | Review, preparation of proposed revisions, explanatory materials for the counterparty | Deciding the commercial terms; approval |
| Intake and triage | Receiving requests, organizing their content, proposing priorities | Final decision on priorities |
| Confirmation with business units | Confirming the facts; requesting the documents needed | Informing the people concerned internally |
| Regulation, advertising and data | Identifying the issues, presenting the options, proposing how to reflect them in contracts and internal rules | Business decisions |
| Standardisation | Preparing templates; documenting review criteria (what can be decided on the ground) | Internal approval of the criteria |
| Systems and structure | Preparing regulations, designing approval workflows, building a matter-management system | Deciding how these operate; internal roll-out |
| When an incident arises | Organizing the facts, preserving evidence, initial legal assessment | Deciding the response |
| Handover | Documenting procedures; handover to a successor | Securing a successor |
Before we start, we settle the documents and information we will need from you and the roles of your internal staff. If additional work becomes necessary after we start, we discuss the division of roles and how to proceed.
Indicators reviewed after introduction
Number of matters outstanding / Days from receipt to return of the first review (separating the overall time from the time spent on legal analysis, waiting for confirmation from business units and so on) / Number of times a matter is sent back internally / Number of consultations from business units
* The number of consultations is treated as a measure of workload, not of performance. It is neither good nor bad for it to rise or fall.
Our Lawyers Include Those Who Have Handled Legal Work Inside Operating Companies
Running legal work inside a company requires not only legal analysis but also confirming matters with business units and coordinating internal approvals. Our lawyers include those who have been seconded to or worked on site at operating companies and handled legal work from the inside.
We Take Part in Day-to-day Work Through Your Internal Communication Channels
We also use Slack, LINE WORKS and other chat tools to confirm matters and exchange documents for the work we handle. The channels we join and how requests are received are settled according to the work involved and your information-management policy.
Form of Service, Conditions of Engagement and Fees
How we are involved
On site / we work at your office, in a workspace you provide. Online / we take part in your chat tools and meetings, during agreed hours. Combined / we attend on set days and otherwise respond by chat and online meetings.
Work covered
We cover legal work generally: contract review, responding to internal legal inquiries, checks on regulation, advertising and data, preparation of regulations and workflows, and training. The scope is set when the contract is concluded.
Locations
Because on-site support involves attending your office, the locations we can cover are decided case by case.
Conditions of engagement On-site support means that one of our lawyers works for you on a continuing basis. The number of engagements we can take on at one time is limited. Depending on when you approach us, we may ask to adjust the start date or suggest another form of support.
We do not recommend on-site support simply because contract reviews are backing up. Where sending individual reviews to outside counsel is enough, we propose that instead. On-site support is for cases that also require continuing confirmation and coordination within the company.
How fees work
Fees are based on a monthly amount that reflects the number of days on site. The amount depends on the scope of work, the frequency of involvement and the breadth of the areas covered. At the first consultation we confirm the current volume of matters, your internal set-up and where work is stalling, and then set out the form of involvement and the fee. There is no charge for confirming the scope of work, contract terms and fees.
If you are comparing this with a mid-career hire, please take into account the cost and time of recruitment, the training period and the effect of a departure. Where a consistently high level of activity is required, it is more sensible to bring the function in-house through recruitment. We will tell you so frankly.
How Introduction Proceeds, and Term and Handover According to Purpose
| Purpose | What is settled at contracting |
|---|---|
| Setting up a legal function | The scope and timing of the work to be brought in-house, the internal staff who will take it over, the documents to be prepared, the method of training and handover, and the point at which progress is reviewed |
| Cover for a vacancy or busy period | The expected term, the work covered, the point at which ending or extending the term is decided, and the handover of matters still open when the term ends |
| Continuing external provision of the legal function | The scope of work and the points at which it is reviewed, the matters your company decides and approves, and how matter records and documents are kept and transferred to you |
We also support companies that choose not to have an in-house legal department and to secure the function externally on a continuing basis.
Term and handover Before contracting, we confirm the procedure on termination, the documents and open matters to be handed over, and the extent of handover included in the contract. Where you would like additional documentation, further training or other work beyond the contract scope, we explain the content and cost and proceed by agreement.
Information Management, Form of Contract, and Roles When a Problem Arises
- Confidentiality Lawyers are bound by a statutory duty of confidentiality. We will also enter into your company’s standard non-disclosure agreement.
- Conflicts of interest We check for conflicts before contracting. How similar support for competitors is handled is settled when the contract is concluded.
- Accounts and devices We can work either with accounts and devices issued by your company or on our own devices.
When misconduct is suspected, we first confirm whether it is appropriate for us to be involved, and then support the initial response: preserving documents, identifying the departments concerned and the reporting lines, and considering how the investigation should be organized. Whether we conduct the internal investigation ourselves depends on any interest we have in the matter and on our previous involvement.
Where an investigation by a third-party committee or another body independent of the company is required, we do not act as the independent investigator while serving as your retained counsel. Instead, within the limits of our involvement, we help prepare documents and manage the internal response so that the investigation can be carried out by other professionals.
Where the lawyer working on site has previously advised on or been involved in the work concerned, or where the lawyer’s own conduct is within the scope of the investigation, that lawyer does not take charge of the investigation. We consider whether a change to another lawyer in this firm is sufficient or whether an investigator from outside the firm is needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does this differ from the retainer service?
The form of involvement differs. Under a retainer, we take consultations on a continuing basis from outside the company. With on-site support, we are continuously involved in the company’s own work and handle it from within the internal exchanges. Both involve legal judgment and both involve practical work, and the two can be combined. If you are unsure which is appropriate, please consult us as you are.
Contract reviews are backing up. Do we need on-site support?
Not necessarily. If the volume of routine contracts is the problem, sending individual reviews to outside counsel may be enough. Consider on-site support where involvement is also needed in confirming matters with business units and coordinating internally.
How much extra work will introduction create for us?
At the outset, work is needed to take stock of tasks and hand them over. We settle the documents and information we will need and the roles of your internal staff before starting.
Can a company that does not yet have a legal department use this?
Yes. We also support companies at the stage of setting up a legal function.
Contact
We will ask about the current volume of contract reviews, the number of legal staff and where the process is stalling.
Discuss the conditions and cost of on-site support