What a fractional general counsel actually costs.
Most fractional GC engagements run between $1,500 and $15,000 a month, set by cadence and scope. Law firms rarely publish that. Here is the market range with its sources, what moves the number, and how to tell whether a quote is priced for your engagement or for an average one.
The market range, with sources
The most specific published data comes from a pricing guide published by Next Era Legal in April 2026. It maps fractional GC retainers from $1,500–$2,500 a month at the light-advisory end, through $3,000–$4,500 for a steadier cadence, to $5,000–$15,000 for deeply integrated engagements, with enterprise arrangements above that. Annualized, the model runs roughly $18,000 to $180,000.
The comparison points, from the same guide: a full-time general counsel costs $350,000 to $600,000 a year all-in once salary, bonus, benefits, and equity are counted, and hourly outside counsel runs $400 to $1,500 an hour at the firms where sophisticated corporate work tends to land.
Treat all of it as orientation, not a quote. The spread is wide because no two engagements underneath it are the same, which is the part worth understanding before you compare anyone’s number.
What actually moves the number
Cadence. The hours the engagement actually contemplates each month. This is the biggest lever, and the first thing to pin down in any quote.
Scope. Answering legal questions as they arise is one engagement. Building the legal function, contract systems, governance infrastructure, board discipline, is another. The second costs more and is usually what a growing company is actually buying.
Seniority. A GC who has sat in the chair prices differently than an attorney practicing GC work for the first time, for the same reason experienced judgment prices differently everywhere else.
Who does the work. Some services quote a named attorney; others quote a bench, where the person answering in March may not be the person who learned your business in January. The bench is often cheaper. The relearning is the cost that never appears on the invoice.
Structure. Flat monthly, hourly, or flat-with-overflow. Hourly billing prices uncertainty into every phone call, and the meter changes which calls get made. A flat structure buys availability, so questions get asked while they are still small. The full comparison against outside counsel and a full-time hire is on the fractional general counsel page.
When you compare two quotes, you are almost never comparing the same engagement. Make the scopes match before you let the prices compete.
How I get to a number
A conversation about cadence and scope first, then a number in writing before you commit to anything. I don’t quote engagements on a webpage, because a meaningful number requires knowing your cadence and your scope, and anyone quoting without those is quoting an average, not your engagement. What I can promise on a webpage: the scope will be written down, the number will be attached to it, and work outside the scope gets named before it gets billed.
Common questions
Because the label covers engagements that have almost nothing in common. A few advisory hours a month from a bench of platform attorneys and an embedded senior GC building your legal function both get called fractional general counsel, and they are priced a world apart. Cadence, scope, seniority, and whether the named attorney or a rotating bench does the work each move the number. Compare scope before you compare price.
At meaningful volume, usually. At $500 an hour, a $5,000 month buys ten hours, so the arithmetic turns on whether your legal questions are persistent or occasional. If they are persistent, the flat structure usually wins twice: once on rate, and again because questions get asked while they are still small. If your needs are rare and transactional, hourly counsel is honestly cheaper, and a good fractional GC will tell you so.
There is no published Texas-specific rate index, and the market largely prices nationally because the work travels well. What Texas changes is the substance, not the rate card: an engagement here should come with fluency in Texas entity law, the Business Organizations Code, and the Texas Business Court, which is a competence question to ask before a price question.
The number, what it includes, and what triggers work outside it, in writing, before the engagement starts. A deal, a dispute, or a financing can justify overflow beyond the monthly scope; the agreement should name those triggers and the rate that applies rather than leaving them to appear on an invoice. The full clause-by-clause walkthrough is in the engagement agreement guide.
The number for your engagement takes one conversation, not a calculator.