+ What is “Scalable General Counsel”?

Scalable General Counsel was launched to provide growing companies bespoke business-savvy legal counsel to collaborate with lean executive teams in the execution of their strategy. Scalable General Counsel is Maura Lendon, an accomplished internationally-experienced business person, lawyer and corporate director. Inspired by more than 20 years’ practice “in-house” in technology and mining, and having served clients while in Bay Street firms, she recognized that many growing companies address legal risk reactively. They missed out on the benefit of having the consistent involvement of experienced counsel who knows the business and the environment in which it operates to identifity and mitigate legal risk and help guide robust development of a company. Scalable General Counsel was created to offer growing companies access to expert in-house counsel to efficiently support their sustainable growth and provide lean executive teams peace of mind and the ability to focus on their core responsibilities.

+ What services does Scalable General Counsel offer?

Scalable General Counsel’s cornerstone service is Retained General Counsel, providing entrepreneurial companies a fixed number of business days/month of general counsel (depending on the company profile). Your company is growing, your executive team is lean and focused, and you’re ready to start to integrate legal risk management seamlessly into your company’s forward-motion. Retained General Counsel provides counsel that knows your business and anticipates issues that may arise as it gains momentum, offering a pragmatic approach to mitigate risk and identify optimal paths forward.

For companies with existing in-house legal counsel, Scalable General Counsel’s services may be engaged to support periodic heavy work-loads, special project needs and bridge other legal resource gaps. With over 25 years’ experience practicing initially on Bay Street and over 20 years’ in-house, Scalable General Counsel is also available to mentor in-house counsel new to the GC role and be an occasional resource to ‘sole’ GC’s who are a legal team of one.

For publicly traded companies (and companies preparing to go public), Scalable General Counsel delivers a variety of board-related services including governance and disclosure reviews, legal risk road maps, corporate secretarial services and compliance programs.

+ What are the benefits of having a Retained General Counsel?

Scalable General Counsel collaborates with the executive team providing insightful counsel in the development and implementation of the company’s strategic direction. Scalable General Counsel is aligned with your business and its long-term interests, supporting your company’s sustainable growth. Scalable General Counsel is not so much an in-house lawyer as a business leader focused on pragmatic solutions that advance the business anticipating risks and navigating through complex, multi-faceted challenges. Scalable General Counsel approaches legal risk holistically, recognizing the context of the business and creating solutions that recognize the many factors that can evolve into risk. Scalable General Counsel offers the management team greater peace of mind so they can focus on growing the business.

+ If I engage Scalable General Counsel, will I still need external legal counsel?

Scalable General Counsel functions as your in-house legal resource and can address essential day-to-day legal, compliance and board activities as well as facilitate major initiatives. For major transactions or litigation, specialized services and labour-intensive legal projects, external counsel will supply the additional resources or specialized expertise necessary for the task at hand. In these matters, Scalable General Counsel will facilitate and liaise with external counsel so that external counsel can focus on their legal deliverables, and the company’s executive team can focus on their objectives, knowing that Scalable General Counsel is engaged on the legal front.

+ Our business is international and so are our legal concerns. How can Scalable General Counsel assist us with that?

With over 20 years’ experience working in companies with multi-jurisdictional operations, the management of international legal risk is one of our specialties. Scalable General Counsel is highly skilled in selecting and instructing international counsel for diverse in-country legal needs, integrating foreign legal advice across jurisdictions and implementing compliance structures that meet all applicable legal requirements. Scalable General Counsel understands the elevated risks a company faces operating in multiple jurisdictions and can navigating to address these risks. Scalable General Counsel is licensed to practice law only in the Province of Ontario and relies on duly qualified professionals for substantive legal advice in foreign jurisdictions.

+ My company is focused on managing costs. If I engage Scalable General Counsel, will our legal spend go up?

Scalable General Counsel provides companies with cost-effective oversight of legal risk. Our philosophy is the lowest cost legal problem is the one you never have. Scalable General Counsel can efficiently address many of your day to day legal needs, ensure that legal solutions are sustainable as your business grows, implement protections that will mitigate risks and often avoid the costs of a matter that has festered into a problem. When external counsel is required, Scalable General Counsel’s co-operative management and interface with external counsel supports more efficient delivery of their services and allows company management to focus on its core responsibilities. Over time, we believe your overall legal spend will be lowered, along with your risk.

+ What are your fees?

Scalable General Counsel solutions have flexible fee structures based on the nature and scope of service engaged. For certain defined matters, we can provide a fixed fee quote. We also offer attractive per diem and monthly rates for ongoing services. We are focused on efficiency and providing value with no surprises. Expert general counsel is more affordable than you think and the risk mitigation is priceless.