Your Business Shouldn't Meet Its Lawyer for the First Time During a Crisis.
Business Solutions Counsel™ gives small and growing businesses ongoing access to practical legal counsel for contracts, ownership, risk, transactions, disputes, and the decisions that come with operating a company.
Outside general counsel plans start at $750/month. Choose Essential, Growth, or Strategic Counsel based on the complexity of your business. Pay the annual recurring fee upfront and save 10%.
Every new relationship begins with a $750 30-Day Business Legal Assessment.
Too Many Legal Questions for One-Off Calls. Too Early for Full-Time In-House Counsel.
Most businesses do not suddenly wake up one morning needing a legal department. Legal complexity builds gradually.
A customer sends a contract. A vendor changes its terms. An owner wants out. A major employee leaves. A customer refuses to pay. An acquisition opportunity appears. A lease needs renegotiated. A dispute starts heading in the wrong direction.
None of those events alone necessarily justifies hiring a full-time general counsel.
Together, however, they can signal that legal decision-making has become part of operating the business instead of something that happens only during an emergency.
Business Solutions Counsel™ is designed for that middle ground.
Six Signs Your Business May Have Outgrown DIY Legal
Contracts Are Routine
Customers, vendors, landlords, lenders, contractors, technology providers, and strategic partners regularly send agreements across your desk.
Ownership Is More Complicated
New owners, departures, distributions, buyouts, succession, or disagreements create questions the original company documents may not adequately address.
The Stakes Have Increased
Informal practices that worked when the company was small may create much larger exposure as revenue, employees, and enterprise value increase.
You Are Buying Businesses
Acquisitions introduce LOIs, diligence, financing, purchase agreements, closing obligations, and transition risk.
Disputes Keep Appearing
Customer, vendor, ownership, payment, and commercial disputes may be easier to address before positions become entrenched.
You Keep Saying "Ask the Lawyer"
If legal questions are becoming part of ordinary management decisions, the business may be ready for an ongoing counsel relationship.
Have a Business Lawyer in Your Corner Before Something Goes Wrong.
Business Solutions Counsel™ is The Skeen Firm's outside general counsel program for qualifying small and growing businesses.
The goal is not to recreate a Fortune 500 legal department for a few hundred dollars a month.
The goal is to develop an ongoing relationship with counsel who increasingly understands the company's ownership, contracts, business model, goals, recurring problems, opportunities, and legal risk.
That context can make legal guidance more efficient and allows counsel to become involved while meaningful options still exist.
Depending on Your Plan, Ongoing Counsel May Include:
- Recurring legal strategy meetings
- Scheduled business-law consultations
- Commercial contract review
- Routine agreement drafting
- Ownership and governance advice
- Business risk identification
- Early dispute intervention
- Transaction planning
- Coordination with accountants and advisors
- Preferred access to additional legal services
Start With the Business, Not the Pricing Tier.
We do not think it makes sense to recommend an ongoing counsel plan before understanding the company.
Every new Business Solutions Counsel™ relationship starts with a structured 30-Day Business Legal Assessment.
The assessment helps identify what needs attention now, what can be addressed over time, and the level of ongoing counsel that actually fits the company's needs.
- Review business structure and ownership
- Identify significant contract and documentation gaps
- Evaluate recurring legal issues
- Identify important areas of legal risk
- Discuss growth and acquisition objectives
- Discuss succession and exit considerations
- Prioritize issues requiring attention
- Recommend an appropriate counsel tier when applicable
Choose the Level of Counsel Your Business Actually Needs
Growing businesses do not all create the same legal workload. Our tiered model is designed to match the scope of counsel to the complexity, activity, and legal needs of the company.
Essential Counsel
For established businesses with recurring but relatively straightforward legal needs.
- Ongoing outside general counsel relationship
- Recurring legal strategy conversations
- Scheduled business-law consultations
- Routine contract review within scope
- Routine document drafting within scope
- Basic governance and ownership guidance
- Early guidance on developing disputes
- Risk identification and prioritization
Growth Counsel
For growing companies with regular contracts, ownership issues, strategic decisions, and increasing legal complexity.
- Everything available under Essential Counsel
- Greater recurring contract support
- More frequent legal strategy involvement
- Ownership and governance planning
- Growth and expansion guidance
- Acquisition and transaction planning
- More substantial negotiation support
- Earlier involvement in commercial disputes
- Coordination with accountants, lenders, and advisors
- Higher-priority access for recurring business matters
Strategic Counsel
For more complex businesses that need counsel involved in major decisions and ongoing business strategy.
- Everything available under Growth Counsel
- More significant recurring contract volume
- High-level strategic legal involvement
- Complex ownership and governance matters
- Acquisition strategy and transaction support
- Business succession and exit planning
- Significant negotiation support
- Ongoing risk-management strategy
- Coordination across major business initiatives
- Priority access for qualifying business matters
Need More Than a Standard Tier?
Businesses with substantial transaction volume, heavy contract workloads, complex ownership structures, frequent disputes, regulatory concerns, or other intensive legal needs may require a customized outside general counsel plan.
Talk With Us About a Custom PlanAssess. Match. Stay Ahead.
The process is designed to match the level of ongoing counsel to what the business actually needs rather than forcing every company into the same legal package.
Assess
Begin with the $750 30-Day Business Legal Assessment so we can understand the company's legal infrastructure, recurring needs, priorities, and significant risks.
Match
Based on the assessment, determine whether Essential, Growth, Strategic, or a customized counsel arrangement best matches the company's needs.
Stay Ahead
Continue with ongoing counsel so legal questions can be addressed while the business still has options instead of after a problem becomes a crisis.
Different Businesses Need Different Levels of Legal Involvement
Essential Counsel
Best suited for companies that want a continuing lawyer relationship and predictable legal access but have relatively moderate contract volume and legal complexity.
Think: "We want a business lawyer we can call."
Growth Counsel
Designed for companies where contracts, ownership decisions, strategic planning, negotiations, acquisitions, and disputes are becoming a more regular part of operating the business.
Think: "Our lawyer is regularly involved in the business."
Strategic Counsel
Designed for companies that need counsel integrated more deeply into major transactions, governance, strategic decisions, negotiations, risk management, and planning.
Think: "Our lawyer is part of major decision-making."
Growing Businesses Accumulate Legal Debt.
Business owners regularly postpone legal work because nothing appears broken today.
The operating agreement is outdated. The customer contract came from the internet years ago. A handshake ownership arrangement was never documented. Nobody knows exactly what happens if an owner wants out.
Vendor agreements get signed without review. Collection language is weak. The company's actual operations no longer match its contracts.
Each issue can seem small on its own.
Over time, however, unfinished legal infrastructure can accumulate into what we call legal debt.
Common Forms of Legal Debt
- Outdated operating agreements
- Handshake ownership arrangements
- Old or copied contract templates
- Weak collection and payment provisions
- No owner-exit framework
- No succession planning
- Inconsistent vendor contracts
- Poor dispute documentation
- Agreements that no longer match operations
You Do Not Need to Fix Everything at Once.
Part of practical business law is determining what matters, what can wait, and where spending legal dollars today can create the most value or reduce the most meaningful risk.
Build. Buy. Grow. Protect. Resolve. Exit.
Build
Entity structure, ownership agreements, operating agreements, contracts, governance, and foundational legal systems.
Buy
LOIs, due diligence, purchase agreements, financing, negotiations, and business acquisition closings.
Grow
New agreements, expansion, strategic relationships, ownership changes, and increasing business complexity.
Protect
Contract maintenance, legal risk analysis, documentation, governance, and dispute prevention.
Resolve
Address developing business disputes, defaults, ownership issues, and commercial conflicts before they become larger problems.
Exit
Business sale preparation, succession, ownership transfers, buyouts, and transition planning.
Reactive Legal Services vs. Ongoing Business Counsel
| Issue | Reactive Legal Model | Business Solutions Counsel™ |
|---|---|---|
| Legal Questions | Find and call counsel after an issue becomes urgent. | Maintain an existing relationship with counsel familiar with the business. |
| Legal Spend | Primarily hourly or project based and less predictable. | Defined recurring fees for defined ongoing services. |
| Contracts | Review only agreements that feel sufficiently important. | Build contract review into normal business operations. |
| Risk | Address problems after they become visible. | Identify recurring legal risk before it becomes a crisis. |
| Context | Re-explain the company and history as matters arise. | Counsel develops institutional knowledge over time. |
| Business Planning | Lawyer becomes involved primarily after decisions are made. | Counsel can be involved earlier in major business decisions. |
Owner-Operated and Growing Businesses
Established Small Businesses
Companies that have moved beyond startup legal needs and now face recurring contracts, vendor, ownership, operational, and risk-management issues.
Growing Companies
Businesses adding customers, employees, locations, revenue, contracts, and complexity faster than their legal systems are keeping up.
Acquisition-Minded Owners
Entrepreneurs and operators buying companies and needing recurring legal guidance before, during, and after acquisitions.
Businesses Without In-House Counsel
Companies that need regular legal judgment but cannot justify maintaining a full-time internal legal department.
Outside General Counsel in Pennsylvania and West Virginia
The Skeen Firm works with qualifying businesses throughout our operating region, including Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia.
Pennsylvania Business Counsel
Business legal services for qualifying companies throughout Western Pennsylvania, including Washington County, Butler County, Beaver County, Allegheny County, and surrounding communities.
Our business practice assists with contracts, governance, acquisitions, risk management, disputes, and ongoing outside general counsel services.
West Virginia Business Counsel
Business legal services for qualifying companies in Northern West Virginia, Wheeling, the Northern Panhandle, and other areas where The Skeen Firm provides business representation.
We work with owners and growing businesses on recurring legal needs, business transactions, commercial disputes, and strategic legal planning.
Business Solutions Counsel™ FAQs
What is outside general counsel?
Outside general counsel is an ongoing legal relationship in which an outside attorney or law firm provides many of the functions a business might otherwise expect from an internal lawyer. Depending on the engagement, this can include contracts, strategy, governance, risk management, business transactions, and recurring legal questions.
What is Business Solutions Counsel™?
Business Solutions Counsel™ is The Skeen Firm's outside general counsel program for qualifying small and growing businesses that need recurring legal guidance but do not necessarily need a full-time internal legal department.
How much does Business Solutions Counsel™ cost?
Business Solutions Counsel™ currently offers three standard starting tiers: Essential Counsel at $750 per month, Growth Counsel at $1,250 per month, and Strategic Counsel starting at $2,500 per month. Customized plans may also be available for businesses with greater legal complexity or workload.
Is there an initial fee?
Yes. New Business Solutions Counsel™ relationships begin with a 30-Day Business Legal Assessment for $750. The assessment fee is separate from ongoing monthly or annual counsel fees.
How does the 10% annual discount work?
Businesses that pay the applicable 12-month recurring counsel fee in full at the beginning of the annual term receive a 10% discount. At the current standard rates, Essential Counsel is $8,100 annually instead of $9,000, Growth Counsel is $13,500 instead of $15,000, and Strategic Counsel begins at $27,000 instead of $30,000.
What is the difference between Essential, Growth, and Strategic Counsel?
Essential Counsel is designed for businesses with moderate, recurring legal needs. Growth Counsel is intended for growing companies with greater contract activity, strategic decisions, ownership issues, and recurring legal complexity. Strategic Counsel is designed for businesses that need counsel more deeply involved in major decisions, transactions, governance, negotiations, and ongoing risk management.
Which plan do you recommend?
The appropriate plan depends on the business. The initial Business Legal Assessment is intended in part to identify the likely workload, priorities, complexity, and level of ongoing involvement needed before recommending a recurring tier.
Does Business Solutions Counsel™ include unlimited legal work?
No. Business Solutions Counsel™ provides defined recurring legal services under a written engagement agreement. It is not an unlimited legal-services subscription. Matters outside the recurring scope may require separate pricing or a separate engagement.
Does the plan include litigation?
Major litigation is generally outside the standard recurring Business Solutions Counsel™ scope and ordinarily requires a separate engagement. The Skeen Firm also handles qualifying business and civil litigation matters.
Can outside general counsel prevent lawsuits?
No attorney can guarantee that litigation will be avoided. However, clearer contracts, stronger documentation, earlier risk identification, and legal involvement before disputes escalate may reduce certain risks or improve the company's position when disputes occur.
How do we get started?
Start by scheduling a discovery call. If Business Solutions Counsel™ appears to be a potential fit, the next step is the $750 30-Day Business Legal Assessment. After that process, we can determine whether Essential, Growth, Strategic, or a customized ongoing counsel arrangement makes sense.
Stop Waiting Until You Need a Lawyer. Have One.
If contracts, ownership questions, acquisitions, disputes, risk, or legal decisions have become part of operating your company, it may be time to stop treating legal counsel as an emergency service.
Start with the $750 30-Day Business Legal Assessment.
Attorney Advertising. This page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Viewing this page, using this website, or contacting The Skeen Firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. Representation is subject to conflicts review, jurisdiction, attorney availability, and execution of a written engagement agreement. Prices shown are starting prices and are subject to change. The scope of Business Solutions Counsel™ services, tier availability, annual terms, prepayment discounts, renewal provisions, included services, and matters outside the recurring scope are controlled by the applicable written engagement agreement.