Naperville Outside General Counsel

Practice Areas

Retainer counsel designed for your business structure

Legal Counsel for Creative Agencies & Professional Services

Creative agencies and professional services firms face legal issues that don’t fit neatly into one-off projects. Contracts are negotiated continuously. Employment questions arise as teams grow. Intellectual property must be protected across clients, collaborators, and platforms. Leadership decisions often carry legal implications long before a dispute appears.

Traditional law firm models—transactional work or reactive litigation—rarely match this reality. Outsourced General Counsel (OGC) services are designed to fill that gap. As retainer counsel, we work alongside founders and leadership teams on an ongoing basis, providing practical legal guidance integrated into day-to-day operations. Our role is to help manage legal risk before it becomes disruptive, while supporting growth, governance, and decision-making.

We serve creative agencies and professional services firms across Naperville, the Chicago suburbs, and greater Illinois with 10–50 employees and annual revenue between $2M and $10M. Our practice areas reflect the core legal needs of these businesses and are structured to support long-term advisory relationships rather than isolated legal tasks.

Our Core Practice Areas

Each practice area below is designed to function independently while working together as part of a comprehensive outsourced general counsel relationship.

Contracts & Commercial Agreements

Agencies and professional services firms rely on contracts to define scope, protect pricing, and manage expectations. When agreements are outdated, inconsistent, or negotiated without strategy, they may contribute to margin erosion and stalled deals. Our contracts practice focuses on drafting, reviewing, and negotiating client and vendor agreements as part of an ongoing retainer relationship. We assist with master service agreements, statements of work, amendments, and inbound contract review. This work is designed to clarify obligations, align terms with how your business operates, and assist in managing contractual risk over time.

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Employment & Workforce Compliance

As teams expand, employment decisions become more complex. Hiring, classification, discipline, and termination decisions made without consistent legal guidance may increase exposure under Illinois and federal law. Through our employment and workforce compliance practice, we advise leadership on workforce structure and day-to-day employment issues. Our work includes drafting employment and independent contractor agreements, reviewing and updating handbooks and policies, and counseling clients on compliance considerations as their organizations scale. The goal is to support informed decision-making and help reduce operational disruption tied to employment matters.

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Intellectual Property & Content Protection

For creative agencies and professional services firms, intellectual property is often central to business value. Unclear ownership, incomplete licensing language, or inconsistent contributor agreements can create long-term challenges. Our intellectual property practice focuses on structuring ownership and usage rights through contracts rather than reactive enforcement. We assist with IP provisions in client agreements, talent and collaborator contracts, and internal policies. This approach is designed to align intellectual property protection with your business model while managing risk associated with content creation and delivery.

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Corporate Governance & Fractional General Counsel

Founders and executives often manage legal and governance responsibilities alongside operational demands. Without centralized legal oversight, important decisions may be delayed or addressed reactively. As fractional general counsel, we advise leadership on governance, strategic agreements, and legal considerations tied to growth. This includes preparing and reviewing governance documents, supporting board and investor communications, and coordinating legal alignment across contracts, employment, and intellectual property. Our role is to provide steady, experienced legal guidance as part of your leadership infrastructure.

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A short compliance review allows us to understand your structure, priorities, and current legal challenges.