September 26, 2026 — Aldo R. Edwards van Muijen
Every startup founder knows the dilemma. You need a lawyer — for the formation documents, the founder agreements, the first hires, the financing that’s (hopefully) coming. But the economics are brutal: a full-time general counsel costs $240,000 a year or more, and traditional firms sell their time by the hour, which means every phone call comes with a meter running. So most early-stage companies do one of two things: they overpay for work they don’t need yet, or they go without counsel until something breaks. Both are expensive. The second is just expensive later.
I’ve spent the past few years developing a different answer, and I’m building my practice around it: the fractional general counsel.
The idea is simple. Instead of buying legal services the way law firms have sold them for a century — by the hour, matter by matter, each engagement its own negotiation — startups subscribe to an outsourced legal department. One relationship, predictable cost, coverage that scales with the company.
Here’s how I think about it. Every startup needs the same foundation: entity governance, employment and HR basics, and the day-to-day operational contracts that keep the lights on. That’s the core. Then, as the company grows, it layers on what it actually needs, when it needs it: financing support for a seed or Series A round, intellectual property protection, regulatory compliance, data protection, complex licensing. Modules, not matters. You don’t pay for a practice area you aren’t using.
What makes this work now — and why it didn’t work ten years ago — is technology. AI has changed the economics of legal work. The billable hour made sense when every task consumed a lawyer’s hours. Today, AI-assisted workflows handle the repetitive drafting, research, and document management, which means the lawyer’s time goes where it belongs: judgment, strategy, negotiation. The result is in-house-quality counsel at a price an early-stage company can actually budget for.
To be clear, this isn’t “cheap legal.” It’s the same work — governance, transactions, financing, compliance, dispute prevention — delivered under a model that matches how startups actually operate. Predictable. Scalable. Aligned: when my clients grow, I grow with them.
If you’re a founder weighing whether you can afford a lawyer, you’re asking the wrong question. The question is whether you can afford to keep buying legal services the old way.
So, we’re not just redesigning this site; we’re preparing for a new paradigm. Stay tuned….
Aldo R. Edwards van Muijen is the principal of Edwards van Muijen, P.C., a New York City law firm for startups. Contact: aedwards@evm.law | 212-466-6908