Axolotl LawPart-time General Counsel
for the Full-time Founder
How we work Plans and pricing Get coffee
Plans and pricing

One flat fee a month. Attorney hours included. Nothing billed you didn't approve first.

You are buying the general counsel function, not a stack of hours: described services, a response priority, a bound on attorney hours.

Not incorporated yet? Start with Formation. Otherwise pick a plan; each includes everything in the one before it. Hours are attorney time only.

Formation

Not incorporated yet · one-time
$1,999 all in
Delaware filing fees included

Everything a new company should start with, done once. Afterwards, hourly at the Plan Rate until you're ready for Foundation.

  • Delaware C corporation: certificate, bylaws, initial consents
  • Founder stock with vesting, assignment of pre-formation IP, 83(b) package with deadline tracking
  • Equity incentive plan adopted and approved
  • Indemnification agreements, cap table setup and California or other state qualification; state fees at cost

In person

  • A founders' walkthrough over lunch, on us: what you just signed, what's going to come up this year, and what to ignore until it matters
Afterwards
$550 an hour, estimates first
Next step
Foundation, when the work gets regular

Foundation

Pre-seed to seed
$2,199 / month

A lawyer on call and the basics kept clean.

  • Questions answered by email: corporate, commercial, employment
  • NDAs on your form or theirs, within our playbook
  • Offer letters, consulting agreements and invention assignments on our forms
  • Routine board and stockholder consents
  • An annual legal health check

The relationship

  • A seat at the founder dinners we host through the year
  • After six months, an axolotl adopted in your company's name, funding habitat conservation in Xochimilco
Attorney hours
Up to 4 a month
Response
Within a few business days
Standard NDA
A few business days
Check-in
Quarterly, 30 minutes
Rollover
None

Growth

Seed to Series A
Recommended
$5,499 / month

Customer, vendor and people paper every week, plus the equity.

Foundation, plus

  • Customer and vendor agreements negotiated within your playbook
  • Separations, handbook and contractor-classification calls
  • Option grants, 409A coordination and 83(b) tracking
  • Materials for up to four board meetings a year
  • A compliance calendar: Form D, state notices, policy refreshes

Foundation's, plus

  • A day in person at your office each quarter
  • Board meetings we attend don't count against your hours, up to four a year
  • A half-day team offsite once a year, planned and led by us
Attorney hours
Up to 10 a month
Response
Priority, usually the next business day
Standard NDA
Usually the next business day
Check-in
Monthly legal sync
Rollover
Up to 25% of hours, one month

Scaled GC

Series A to Series B
$10,999 / month

The general counsel function, before a full-time hire makes sense.

Growth, plus

  • Counsel in the room at board meetings
  • Enterprise, partnership and channel agreements negotiated
  • Executive employment: offers, separations and releases
  • The policies a scaling company needs: equity administration, insider trading, data retention
  • A quarterly legal risk report to the CEO and board

Growth's, plus

  • A day in person at your office every month, two if you want them
  • Board meetings never count against your hours
  • After your first year, a two-night executive legal retreat each year, hosted by us: a cabin at Lake Tahoe, or Puerto Vallarta if the team votes for warm
  • Dinner with your leadership team twice a year, our table
Attorney hours
Up to 20 a month
Response
First in line, with an urgent line for board and deal matters
Standard NDA
Usually the next business day
Check-in
Every two weeks, plus your board meetings
Rollover
Up to 25% of hours, one month

Big events (a SAFE, a priced round, an equity plan) are quoted as a flat fee up front and never come out of plan hours. Disputes, patents, immigration and tax go to specialists we manage. Third-party fees pass through at cost. In-person days, dinners and retreats are hosted and run by the firm as part of the plan: venue, meals and program on us, getting there on you, no cash value, details in the engagement letter. Rates are reviewed each January.

How the hours work

You will never get an invoice you didn't see coming.

We track your hours and tell you where you stand. When they run short, we stop and ask, and nothing over your plan is billed without your written OK.

AT 75%Heads-up

A note showing hours used, what's open and where the month is heading.

AT 100%We stop and ask

You get the open matters, an hour estimate for each, and four choices.

YOUR CALLDefer, authorize, upgrade or convert

Push it to next month. Approve a capped block at the Plan Rate. Move up a plan, prorated. Or make the event a flat-fee project.

IN BETWEENWork in flight gets finished

Anything underway, or urgent while you decide, gets finished. An occasional small overage is a courtesy, not an allowance.

Right-sizing works both ways. Run hot for two months and we recommend an upgrade; run under half your hours for three and we offer a downgrade.

See how we work
Hourly rates

Two rates, one reason.

Hourly work is billed only after you approve it. Plan clients and companies we formed pay less because we already know the company, and the Plan Rate is never below a plan's included-hour rate, so the right plan always beats a smaller one plus hours. Large-firm rates for this work run $650 to $1,300 an hour, an industry range, not any firm's price.

Plan Rate
$550 / hour

Plan clients, outside the plan; companies we formed. Every attorney, one rate.

Baseline Rate
$625 / hour

Clients not on a plan. Estimates before any project starts.

The right comparison

Compare us to hiring a GC, not to a law firm's hourly rate.

A first in-house general counsel at a Bay Area Series A or B company commonly costs well over $250,000 a year in cash, before equity, benefits and the recruiter.

In-house GC
$250k+
a year in salary alone, plus equity, benefits, recruiting and tools
Scaled GC plan
$132k
a year at list price, 20 attorney hours a month, first in line
Questions founders ask

The fine print, in plain English.

Is the monthly fee a retainer?
No. It is a flat fee for that month's described services, billed monthly; the hours are a bound on capacity, not a bucket you pre-fund. Our engagement letter explains how flat fees are handled, including your right to have a fee held in trust until earned and to a refund of any unearned part if we part ways mid-month.
What if I don't use all my hours?
Foundation hours don't roll over; the fee buys availability and the Foundation services, including the systems we set up and run for you. On Growth and Scaled GC, up to a quarter roll into the next month.
Why does a law firm host dinners and retreats?
Because the relationship is the product. Most legal services are going fully virtual, and we think the counsel who has sat in your office, touched your technology and met your team gives better advice. Everything we host is part of your plan, at the firm's expense, described in your engagement letter. It has no cash value, can't be traded for fees or hours, and we don't pay your company's expenses: we host and run the retreat, the venue, meals and program, and your team gets itself there.
Do you use AI?
Yes, and the engagement letter says so. Our tools do first passes; a licensed attorney reviews, manages and signs off on every document. Included hours count attorney time only, and hourly work never bills the time the tool saved. The flat fee matters here too: we earn the same whether you have ten issues or two, so we are paid for fewer, which hourly billing can never say.
What happens when we hire a full-time GC?
We help you find them, hand over a functioning system that already runs smoothly, and stay available in an advisory role for as long as that is useful.

Not sure which plan? Tell us your stage.

We'll tell you which plan fits and what we'd do in the first thirty days.

hello@axolotl.law
Axolotl Law
HomeHow we workLegal noticesPrivacy policy

Axolotl Law, P.C., a California professional law corporation · 28 Geary St., Suite 650 #5108, San Francisco, CA 94108 · hello@axolotl.law

Attorney advertising. Matthew Muir is the attorney responsible for the content of this site. Fees shown are current as of October 2026; the terms of any engagement are those in a written engagement letter. The in-house GC comparison is an approximate market figure. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Axolotl LawPart-time General Counsel
for the Full-time Founder
How we work Plans and pricing Get coffee
Plans and pricing

One flat fee a month. Attorney hours included. Nothing billed you didn't approve first.

You are buying the general counsel function, not a stack of hours: described services, a response priority, a bound on attorney hours.

Not incorporated yet? Start with Formation. Otherwise pick a plan; each includes everything in the one before it. Hours are attorney time only.

Formation

Not incorporated yet · one-time
$1,999 all in
Delaware filing fees included

Everything a new company should start with, done once. Afterwards, hourly at the Plan Rate until you're ready for Foundation.

  • Delaware C corporation: certificate, bylaws, initial consents
  • Founder stock with vesting, assignment of pre-formation IP, 83(b) package with deadline tracking
  • Equity incentive plan adopted and approved
  • Indemnification agreements, cap table setup and California or other state qualification; state fees at cost

In person

  • A founders' walkthrough over lunch, on us: what you just signed, what's going to come up this year, and what to ignore until it matters
Afterwards
$550 an hour, estimates first
Next step
Foundation, when the work gets regular

Foundation

Pre-seed to seed
$2,199 / month

A lawyer on call and the basics kept clean.

  • Questions answered by email: corporate, commercial, employment
  • NDAs on your form or theirs, within our playbook
  • Offer letters, consulting agreements and invention assignments on our forms
  • Routine board and stockholder consents
  • An annual legal health check

The relationship

  • A seat at the founder dinners we host through the year
  • After six months, an axolotl adopted in your company's name, funding habitat conservation in Xochimilco
Attorney hours
Up to 4 a month
Response
Within a few business days
Standard NDA
A few business days
Check-in
Quarterly, 30 minutes
Rollover
None

Growth

Seed to Series A
Recommended
$5,499 / month

Customer, vendor and people paper every week, plus the equity.

Foundation, plus

  • Customer and vendor agreements negotiated within your playbook
  • Separations, handbook and contractor-classification calls
  • Option grants, 409A coordination and 83(b) tracking
  • Materials for up to four board meetings a year
  • A compliance calendar: Form D, state notices, policy refreshes

Foundation's, plus

  • A day in person at your office each quarter
  • Board meetings we attend don't count against your hours, up to four a year
  • A half-day team offsite once a year, planned and led by us
Attorney hours
Up to 10 a month
Response
Priority, usually the next business day
Standard NDA
Usually the next business day
Check-in
Monthly legal sync
Rollover
Up to 25% of hours, one month

Scaled GC

Series A to Series B
$10,999 / month

The general counsel function, before a full-time hire makes sense.

Growth, plus

  • Counsel in the room at board meetings
  • Enterprise, partnership and channel agreements negotiated
  • Executive employment: offers, separations and releases
  • The policies a scaling company needs: equity administration, insider trading, data retention
  • A quarterly legal risk report to the CEO and board

Growth's, plus

  • A day in person at your office every month, two if you want them
  • Board meetings never count against your hours
  • After your first year, a two-night executive legal retreat each year, hosted by us: a cabin at Lake Tahoe, or Puerto Vallarta if the team votes for warm
  • Dinner with your leadership team twice a year, our table
Attorney hours
Up to 20 a month
Response
First in line, with an urgent line for board and deal matters
Standard NDA
Usually the next business day
Check-in
Every two weeks, plus your board meetings
Rollover
Up to 25% of hours, one month

Big events (a SAFE, a priced round, an equity plan) are quoted as a flat fee up front and never come out of plan hours. Disputes, patents, immigration and tax go to specialists we manage. Third-party fees pass through at cost. In-person days, dinners and retreats are hosted and run by the firm as part of the plan: venue, meals and program on us, getting there on you, no cash value, details in the engagement letter. Rates are reviewed each January.

How the hours work

You will never get an invoice you didn't see coming.

We track your hours and tell you where you stand. When they run short, we stop and ask, and nothing over your plan is billed without your written OK.

AT 75%Heads-up

A note showing hours used, what's open and where the month is heading.

AT 100%We stop and ask

You get the open matters, an hour estimate for each, and four choices.

YOUR CALLDefer, authorize, upgrade or convert

Push it to next month. Approve a capped block at the Plan Rate. Move up a plan, prorated. Or make the event a flat-fee project.

IN BETWEENWork in flight gets finished

Anything underway, or urgent while you decide, gets finished. An occasional small overage is a courtesy, not an allowance.

Right-sizing works both ways. Run hot for two months and we recommend an upgrade; run under half your hours for three and we offer a downgrade.

See how we work
Hourly rates

Two rates, one reason.

Hourly work is billed only after you approve it. Plan clients and companies we formed pay less because we already know the company, and the Plan Rate is never below a plan's included-hour rate, so the right plan always beats a smaller one plus hours. Large-firm rates for this work run $650 to $1,300 an hour, an industry range, not any firm's price.

Plan Rate
$550 / hour

Plan clients, outside the plan; companies we formed. Every attorney, one rate.

Baseline Rate
$625 / hour

Clients not on a plan. Estimates before any project starts.

The right comparison

Compare us to hiring a GC, not to a law firm's hourly rate.

A first in-house general counsel at a Bay Area Series A or B company commonly costs well over $250,000 a year in cash, before equity, benefits and the recruiter.

In-house GC
$250k+
a year in salary alone, plus equity, benefits, recruiting and tools
Scaled GC plan
$132k
a year at list price, 20 attorney hours a month, first in line
Questions founders ask

The fine print, in plain English.

Is the monthly fee a retainer?
No. It is a flat fee for that month's described services, billed monthly; the hours are a bound on capacity, not a bucket you pre-fund. Our engagement letter explains how flat fees are handled, including your right to have a fee held in trust until earned and to a refund of any unearned part if we part ways mid-month.
What if I don't use all my hours?
Foundation hours don't roll over; the fee buys availability and the Foundation services, including the systems we set up and run for you. On Growth and Scaled GC, up to a quarter roll into the next month.
Why does a law firm host dinners and retreats?
Because the relationship is the product. Most legal services are going fully virtual, and we think the counsel who has sat in your office, touched your technology and met your team gives better advice. Everything we host is part of your plan, at the firm's expense, described in your engagement letter. It has no cash value, can't be traded for fees or hours, and we don't pay your company's expenses: we host and run the retreat, the venue, meals and program, and your team gets itself there.
Do you use AI?
Yes, and the engagement letter says so. Our tools do first passes; a licensed attorney reviews, manages and signs off on every document. Included hours count attorney time only, and hourly work never bills the time the tool saved. The flat fee matters here too: we earn the same whether you have ten issues or two, so we are paid for fewer, which hourly billing can never say.
What happens when we hire a full-time GC?
We help you find them, hand over a functioning system that already runs smoothly, and stay available in an advisory role for as long as that is useful.

Not sure which plan? Tell us your stage.

We'll tell you which plan fits and what we'd do in the first thirty days.

hello@axolotl.law
Axolotl Law
HomeHow we workLegal noticesPrivacy policy

Axolotl Law, P.C., a California professional law corporation · 28 Geary St., Suite 650 #5108, San Francisco, CA 94108 · hello@axolotl.law

Attorney advertising. Matthew Muir is the attorney responsible for the content of this site. Fees shown are current as of October 2026; the terms of any engagement are those in a written engagement letter. The in-house GC comparison is an approximate market figure. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.