Outside General Counsel
Ongoing legal support for businesses that need regular access to counsel without adding a full-time legal position.
Legal issues do not always arrive as lawsuits. They often begin with a contract that needs review, an employee concern, an unpaid account, a difficult customer, a vendor dispute, or a business decision carrying more risk than it first appears.
The Law Office of Enoch P. Hicks, LLC provides ongoing outside and fractional general counsel services to businesses that need consistent legal support but do not require a full-time in-house attorney.
The relationship gives the business one attorney who learns how the company operates, understands its priorities, and can provide advice in context rather than starting from the beginning with each new issue.
When Legal Needs Become Too Frequent to Handle One at a Time
Many businesses reach a point where isolated legal projects are no longer enough.
The company may be reviewing contracts more often, managing employees, pursuing overdue accounts, entering new commercial relationships, or dealing with recurring disputes. Different issues begin to overlap, and decisions made in one area can create legal or operational consequences elsewhere.
An ongoing counsel relationship may make sense when:
- Legal questions arise regularly but do not justify hiring full-time in-house counsel
- Owners or managers spend too much time identifying and explaining issues to different attorneys
- Contracts are being signed without consistent legal review
- Employment and personnel concerns are becoming more frequent
- Unpaid accounts or customer disputes are affecting cash flow
- The business is growing, reorganizing, or taking on additional operational risk
- The company wants counsel involved before problems become lawsuits
- Leadership needs a regular legal sounding board
The objective is not to involve a lawyer in every routine decision. It is to make legal guidance available when it can improve a decision, protect the business, or prevent a larger problem.
Ongoing Legal Support for the Business
The scope of an outside or fractional general counsel relationship is tailored to the company’s needs. Services may include:
Contracts and Commercial Agreements
- Reviewing and revising contracts
- Preparing routine business agreements
- Addressing termination, renewal, indemnity, and limitation-of-liability provisions
- Developing more consistent contract practices
Employment and Workforce Concerns
- Reviewing employment-related agreements and policies
- Advising on workplace disputes and disciplinary issues
- Evaluating separation and termination risks
- Coordinating with specialized employment counsel when needed
Collections and Payment Issues
- Reviewing delinquent commercial accounts and supporting records
- Preparing demands and negotiating payment arrangements
- Evaluating guarantees, security interests, and available documentation
- Assessing when formal collection efforts or litigation should begin
Business Disputes
- Responding to demand letters and threatened claims
- Evaluating contract and commercial disputes
- Preserving evidence and preparing settlement proposals
- Assessing when a dispute should transition into formal litigation
Business Risk and Decision Support
- Identifying legal issues affecting significant business decisions
- Reviewing proposed relationships and transactions
- Evaluating operational and contractual risk
- Coordinating with accountants, insurers, and specialized counsel
Outside-Counsel Coordination
- Helping the company identify the appropriate specialist
- Organizing information for outside counsel
- Coordinating responsibilities among lawyers and other advisers
- Helping management understand recommendations and significant developments
Advice Is More Useful When Counsel Knows the Business
The relationship begins with an initial review of the company, its immediate legal concerns, and the issues most likely to arise.
That review may include:
- The company’s ownership and organizational structure
- Existing contracts and standard forms
- Current disputes and collection matters
- Employment and workforce concerns
- Insurance coverage
- Key vendors, customers, and commercial relationships
- Immediate deadlines or operational risks
- Other lawyers and professional advisers already involved
The firm then works with the client on an ongoing basis under an agreed scope and working arrangement.
Because the same attorney remains involved, the business does not need to repeatedly explain its history, priorities, and decision-making structure. The relationship provides continuity across contracts, workforce concerns, collections, and developing disputes.
Over time, recurring problems become easier to identify. Contract provisions can be improved, internal practices can become more consistent, and earlier involvement can improve coordination with accountants, insurers, and specialized counsel before a manageable issue becomes a larger dispute.
Clients work directly with Enoch P. Hicks.
Business Advice Informed by Litigation Experience
Enoch P. Hicks advises businesses with an understanding of how contracts, internal decisions, payment disputes, and operational problems may later be examined in litigation.
Before opening his firm, Enoch represented institutional investors in complex securities and shareholder litigation, defended Georgia government entities as an Assistant Attorney General, and worked as a staff attorney in Cobb County Superior Court.
That background informs how he reviews documents, evaluates risk, preserves evidence, responds to disputes, and advises clients before litigation begins. He also earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Risk Management and Insurance from the University of Georgia.
Discuss the Company’s Legal Needs
Use the Scheduling page to choose the appointment that fits a discussion of the company, its current legal needs, and whether an ongoing outside or fractional general counsel relationship is a practical fit.