[SERVICE]Fractional IP Counsel
Ongoing IP and business legal help without the cost of in-house counsel. Pick a plan sized to your stage, and one firm covers contracts, investors, patents, trademarks and disputes.
Your attorneys
Andrew RapackeManaging Partner · Registered Patent AttorneyFormer Naval Engineering Officer. M.S. in electrical and electronics engineering.[01]Who it's for
Whether you are an entrepreneur, a growing startup or an established company, a plan gives you counsel on call without a full-time salary.
Formation, trademarks, founder stock and the first customer and employee agreements in one package.
Frequent hiring, IP development and contract negotiation, with a lawyer who already knows the company.
IP enforcement, litigation, larger contracts and negotiations handled for you.
Patent, trademark and IP depth that a generalist legal team rarely has.
[02]What's included
A Fractional IP Counsel plan covers the legal work a growing company runs into every month, from one firm that already knows your business.
Every plan and every larger matter is quoted before work begins. Our team includes James Stark, Attorney of Counsel, a business attorney who serves as general outside counsel for companies.
[03]The basics
Fractional IP counsel is an outside firm that acts as your company’s IP and legal team part time, usually for a monthly fee. You get the judgment of counsel who knows your business and its IP, without an in-house hire or paying a law firm by the hour for every question.
Usually when legal questions arrive every week, not every quarter. Common signs are steady hiring, a pipeline of customer contracts, an upcoming raise, IP worth protecting, or a first dispute. Before that, a single flat-fee package often covers the basics.
More on building the legal side of a software company in the legal playbook by a SaaS lawyer, and on what a flat-fee IP attorney costs.
[04]Your options
Each fits a different stage. The difference is cost, availability and how well the lawyer knows your business.
| Fractional IP Counsel | In-house counsel | Hourly outside counsel | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | A set monthly fee | Salary, benefits and overhead | By the hour, for every call and email |
| Knows your business | Yes, month after month | Yes | Only what each matter needs |
| IP depth | Patent and trademark attorneys in the same firm | Depends on the hire | Depends on the firm |
| Predictable cost | Yes | Yes, but high | No |
| Where it fits | Startups and growing companies | Companies with constant legal volume | Occasional, one-off matters |
[05]Plans
Built for startups that need patentability searches and trademark filings on a steady cadence, at 20% below what the same work costs at our flat fees.
First patents and brand
$400/mo
Billed monthly. Worth $5,996 a year at our flat fees.
For founders filing their first patents and protecting their brand.
Book a callA product line
$1,200/mo
Billed monthly. Worth $17,988 a year at our flat fees.
For startups protecting a product line as it grows.
Book a callLarge portfolios
Custom
Custom pricing, billed annually.
For companies with large or fast moving portfolios, or their own in-house counsel.
Talk to usEvery plan includes
Compare every detail on the IP plans page.
[06]Fees
There is no hourly billing. Your plan is quoted as a flat fee on your strategy call, once the scope is clear, and nothing starts until you approve it.
Book A Free Strategy CallWhat sets the fee is the work itself, not the time on the clock.
Ongoing work for a growing company can run on a monthly Fractional IP Counsel plan instead of one fee per document. This service is not covered by The RLG Guarantee, which applies to patentability searches, provisional patents, design patents and trademarks.
[07]The process
What happens at each step and who does the work.
Fractional IP CounselCall to plan
[08]Questions
Still deciding? Your first call is free and comes with a straight answer on whether a plan fits.
Book A Free Strategy CallAn outside firm that acts as your company’s IP and legal team part time, usually for a monthly fee. It gives a growing company ongoing judgment from counsel who knows the business and its IP, without a full-time hire.
A one-time Startup package covers formation and the first documents, and monthly Angel, Series A, Series B and IPO plans cover ongoing work. A custom plan is available too.
With us, each plan is quoted on your strategy call before any work begins, based on your stage and how much legal work you expect each month. There is no hourly billing, and larger matters outside the plan are quoted as a flat fee first.
When legal questions come up every week. Steady hiring, a stream of customer contracts, a fundraise, valuable IP or a first dispute are the usual signs. Many companies use fractional counsel for years before hiring in-house.
Close. Both describe an outside lawyer acting for the company on an ongoing basis. Fractional IP counsel puts the IP at the center and usually means a set share of the firm’s time on a monthly plan, rather than billing each matter separately.
Sometimes. Specialized matters, such as a large litigation or a regulatory question outside our practice, may need separate counsel. We tell you when that is the case, and we coordinate with them.
Yes. Monthly plans can be cancelled at any time. The terms, including notice, are in your engagement letter before you start.
Yes. Patent prosecution, trademarks, cease and desist letters and enforcement are among the services plans cover. Filing fees charged by the USPTO are paid at cost.
[09]Learning Center
Are you wondering why your startups needs a SaaS lawyer focused on tech law? Picture this: Your software business is growing rapidly, but so are the legal complexities…
Imagine this scenario: you’re a SaaS founder with a hot new software. You’ve been working on it for months and you’ve finally got a SaaS product that could be huge. You…
One of the biggest challenges businesses face every year is figuring out how to extract the most value for every dollar that gets spent. Return on investment is crucial…
[10]Client reviews
4.7 across 614 public reviews on Google, Trustpilot and Avvo.
#1Top reviewed IP law firm*
Read client reviews“The Rapacke Group stands by their fees with no surprises.”
“From creating a new business and checking to make sure we were in full compliance, the team at The Rapacke Law Group handled everything with ease for us.”
“As a small business owner, Andrew was invaluable to my business. Not only was his firm responsive and professional, Andrew went above and beyond and connected me with the right person in the industry for my business.”
Reviews reflect individual client experiences. Quotes are excerpts. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. *#1 top reviewed means the most public client reviews on Google, Trustpilot and Avvo of any US patent or trademark firm.
Talk through your company and the plan that fits. The call is free, with no obligation.
