Rural General Counsel Services
What is a General Counsel?
A General Counsel (GC) is the chief legal officer of a business or organisation. This role involves overseeing the legal aspects of the organisation, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations, providing strategic legal advice to the management team, and managing legal risks associated with the business' operations.
Many landed estates are moving toward a model where a Chief Executive Officer is employed to run the business. This recognises the value and benefit delivered by employing the right people to do the right work and from increased governance.
Whilst many larger rural businesses now employ a CEO, they have always needed regular, and at times urgent, advice on a diverse portfolio of operations; in hand farming, commercial and residential lettings; events spaces, retail operations; let farms; sporting operations and forestry, and often need access to legal advice.
The trouble that most landed estates face is that employing a suitably experienced lawyer is far too expensive but just a short conversation with retained external lawyers can induce large bills which provide little value to the overall business.
As well as having grown up on a farm in Suffolk, I have over 20 years experience of providing targeted commercial legal advice to landed estates, charities, farms and institutions on a range of matters from day to day tenancy issues, land use and development, governance, director/trustee duties and crises management.
Landed estates are complex businesses with complex legal needs which can be met cost effectively by the use of a general counsel where advice from external legal advisors does not represent good value and through the management of external legal advisors by a general counsel.
In many organisations, the General Counsel can be a key member of the executive leadership team and play a critical role in shaping the strategic direction of the company.
What does a GC do?
Legal Advisory
Offering legal advice on a wide range of issues, including farm tenancies (AHAs and FBTs), commercial tenancies, land development, contracts, intellectual property/reputation, employment law, litigation and managing external legal spend.
Compliance
Ensuring that the organisation complies with all applicable laws, regulations, and internal policies. This can include ensuring the relevant minutes are recorded to maintaining accurate and up to date information at the Land Registry to ensure teh correct individual, trustees or entity is correctly stated.
Litigation Management
The nature of Landed estates means that it is sometimes difficult to avoid legal disputes and litigation, most often arbitrations and tribunal proceedings arising out of AHA's and FBT's. With everthing else that needs attention on a day to day basis, it can be difficult to allocate sufficient time to manage litigation without risking undermanaging something else. A GC will typically Oversee any legal disputes or litigation involving the organization, by managing the external legal team engaged including budget for legal fees.
Risk Management
Identifying and mitigating legal risks that could affect the organisation's operations and reputation.
Governance
Advising the executive management, trustees and family on governance issues, including the preparation of legal documents and ensuring the executive management's actions are legally sound.
Contract and Title Management
Assisting with (and sometimes leading) the negotiation of contracts with external parties, such as suppliers, clients, and partners. Making sure that changes to the title of land is properly dealt with and supporting the Estate's land agents with their day to day work including the preparation of farm business tenancies, licences and consents.
Freelance Solicitor
I provide legal services as a freelance solicitor.
A freelance solicitor is someone who operates as a solicitor but is not a firm or part of a larger business. Being a freelance solicitors does not mean that I can undertake all work, I have taken a conscious decision not to undertake for instance, litigation, or open market conveyancing work.
However, as a freelance solicitor I can offer my expertise built up over a long period of legal practice at a cost effective rate to undertake work which is often not carried out or only begrudgingly because of the cost being charged by an external firm of solicitors, such as checking over a tenancy agreement.
I realised that many rural land based businesses, especially landed estates, needed access not only to their external retained lawyers, but to everyday cost effective and timely advice from someone who knew the estate and the people managing it and how the countryside works. In other words landed estates and large farming enterprises needed access to a cost effective in-house legal solution.
I have an FAQ on being a freelance solicitors here. For the type of legal work which I do, I generally find that my clients benefit greatly from working with a freelance solicitor. I can offer clients the reassurance of working with a qualified and experienced professional without necessarily incurring the full cost of a traditional law firm service. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
