Legal Protection Doesn't Have to Be Expensive: A Guide for Startups and Growing Businesses
- aakintomide
- Dec 8, 2025
- 5 min read
Legal protection doesn't have to be expensive, as long as it is managed correctly. As companies scale, their legal needs expand faster than their systems, people, or budgets. Many founders realise too late that they are leaking thousands—sometimes tens of thousands—on legal fees that could have been avoided with a better structure.
In the UK, SMEs collectively spend £13.6 billion annually on legal costs. Many small businesses struggle to predict their legal expenses, making it difficult to manage them effectively. This article breaks down why legal spending spirals in fast-growing companies and presents alternatives to traditional law firms and their typical high costs.
If you would like a personalised review of your current legal spend, please book a complimentary consultation.
Why Fast-Growing Companies Suffer from High Legal Costs
Even strong businesses fall into the same traps. Here’s why legal expenses become significant as you grow.
1. Over-Reliance on External Law Firms for Everyday Work
This is the biggest source of overspend. Founders often seek support from law firms, which is fine in the early days. However, as the company grows and enters into more contracts and engages with new investors, law firm hours increase significantly.
This often results in mounting fees because:
You pay senior associate rates for simple commercial reviews.
Teams send unnecessary work to law firms due to unclear internal processes.
You incur higher fees for last-minute reviews.
This can easily lead to legal costs exceeding £40,000 per year for even small businesses.
2. Founder Risk Becomes Bigger — and More Expensive
When a business grows without adjusting its legal infrastructure, issues compound. Common problems include:
Outdated template contracts.
Non-standard clauses across multiple jurisdictions.
Lack of a contract approval process.
Missing compliance steps.
No centralised training or document ownership.
Founders often deal with the consequences only when something breaks. By then, it costs more to fix.
3. Teams Waste Time on Preventable Legal Bottlenecks
Without structure:
Sales teams rewrite clauses.
Operations teams draft contracts from scratch.
Finance negotiates legal terms.
Documents get stuck in email threads.
This slows revenue, increases risk, and inflates legal spending.
4. Legal Strategy Doesn’t Grow with the Business
This is the quiet killer. What worked for a five-person startup does not work for a company with:
International customers.
Multi-partner distribution.
Regulated activities.
Data-heavy products.
Investment rounds.
If legal doesn’t scale with the business, legal spending increases without adding value.
The Modern Solution to High Legal Costs: Fractional Legal Support
Traditional hiring is expensive. With junior solicitors in London earning £120,000 per year, securing an experienced lawyer to support your business can be costly. Additionally, costs increase through benefits and training. However, hourly rates from law firms are even steeper. This is why founders and SMEs are shifting to a model already used by tech companies in the US and UK:
Fractional Legal Counsel (Part-Time Lawyer)
By using this model, you gain access to a senior in-house lawyer for a set number of hours per week or month, at a predictable cost. This covers areas from contracts to legal operations.
It's the same person integrating into your business, understanding your goals, and continuously improving your legal function. Because they focus on proactive legal work, they can prevent 70–80% of the reactive spending that founders typically incur with law firms.
The Three-Step Fix We Use to Cut Businesses' Legal Costs by Up to 50%
1. Fractional Legal Counsel Model
Instead of paying £300–£600 per hour for routine legal work or £10,000 plus a month for a full-time legal hire, we provide you with a part-time senior lawyer. This gives you legal support for a fraction of the cost. We tailor the level of weekly or monthly support to your business's specific legal needs, with packages starting from £850 per month. They act as an extension of your business, managing your legal strategy, contracts, operations, and, if necessary, external counsel for specialist support.
2. Implement a Legal Strategy with Simple and Scalable Legal Processes
The fractional lawyer implements a lightweight structure for contracts, approvals, and documentation to help instantly reduce unnecessary repeated work and internal contract delays. Templates catered to your business needs and risks are produced to speed up processes and reduce risks.
3. Only Use External Law Firms Where Truly Needed
Law firms can play a valuable role by advising on niche and specialist areas. We review when they are used, cutting them out from day-to-day operations that are handled by the fractional lawyer.
The result of our model is immediate savings on annual legal expenses and faster speed-to-contract.
Implementing a Legal Strategy with Simple Scalable Legal Processes
This alone can cut spending dramatically. By understanding the current legal framework and issues, a strategy and new framework can be developed.
A solid legal framework would include:
Centralised templates and terms - One source of truth. Consistent terms. Reduced risk.
Playbooks - Clear guidance on what the business can accept, reject, or negotiate.
The strategy would also determine updates to:
Processes.
Documents.
Legal budget.
Internal legal support versus external legal support.
This shifts legal from reactive firefighting to proactive value creation.
Only Using Law Firms When Needed
With law firm fees costing £350-600 per hour, determining the best time to bring in additional support is crucial. This decision can mean the difference between reasonable costs and high expenses. We review the needs of the business for specialist areas, forecast likely spending based on our experience working with lawyers in over 90 countries, and negotiate reasonable fees on your behalf.
Expected ROI: What Founders Typically Save
After implementing the steps above, fast-growing companies usually see:
Up to 50% reduction in external legal fees.
Faster contract turnaround, allowing your deals to progress quicker.
Lower operational risk.
Improved compliance readiness.
Reduced founder stress.
More predictable legal budgeting.
Stronger legal infrastructure for scaling.
This is why fractional legal support is currently one of the fastest-growing legal support models in the UK and US.
Other Ways Count & Sol Helps Scaling Businesses Reduce Legal Spend
In addition to providing fractional legal support, we also offer one-off services to help improve your internal legal function for those not requiring ongoing legal support yet, including:
• Legal Strategy and Risk Assessments
We review current operations so founders can scale confidently.
• Contract Management
We implement new processes to streamline and standardise your legal documents.
• Cross-Border Compliance
We assist in ensuring new products and services are compliant before expanding into new jurisdictions.
• External Counsel Management
We ensure you only pay for the specialist work you actually need and manage the costs in the process.
The Business Advantage
Businesses that manage their legal operations early don’t just avoid risks—they set themselves apart. This means:
✔️ Robust protection and risk management
✔️ Faster revenue
✔️ Reduced costs
At Count & Sol, we help ambitious founders and scaling businesses treat legal as a growth strategy while managing costs. For deeper insight into how Count & Sol can support the legal needs of your business whilst reducing costs, book a consultation today.
