Fractional general counsel for software and AI startups
A licensed attorney who has shipped Rust to production, operated petabyte-scale data systems, and spent eleven years practicing law reads your contracts and runs your compliance work. We publish every retainer price, every turnaround commitment, and every overage rate on this page.
Monthly retainer tiers
Each tier includes a fixed number of contract reviews per month with a published turnaround commitment. Reviews beyond the tier are billed at the published overage rate. All prices are fixed monthly amounts, not ranges.
| Tier | Monthly fee | Contract reviews / month | Standard SLA | Complex SLA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $3,500 | 10 | 72 business hours | 5 business days |
| Growth | $7,500 | 20 | 48 business hours | 3 business days |
| Scale | $12,500 | 40 | same business day | 48 business hours |
A standard contract is a vendor agreement, NDA, MSA, SOW, DPA, or order form drawn on a familiar template. A complex contract is a financing document, M&A document, technology license with custom IP terms, or any agreement over 50 pages. We classify the contract before the clock starts and tell you which it is.
The SLA is a service commitment about our turnaround. It is not a promise about how a counterparty will respond, whether a deal will close, or any other outcome outside our control.
Overage rates
Beyond the tier, billed transparently. All amounts below are our legal fees; third-party fees (filing fees, auditor fees, registered-agent fees) are pass-through at cost where applicable.
| Overage | Fixed rate |
|---|---|
| Additional standard contract review | $500 / review |
| Additional complex contract review | $1,500 / review |
| Ad-hoc legal advice outside the tier's scope | $500 / hour, billed in 15-minute increments |
| Cap-table or 409A coordination with the company's accountant | $2,500 / matter |
SOC 2 and HIPAA readiness packages
We prepare your environment, policies, and contracts for the audit and quarterback the independent CPA firm that issues the SOC 2 attestation. We are your readiness counsel, not your auditor; the independence rules forbid us from being both. Engagements are flat-fee, scoped after a paid Phase 1 diagnostic.
| Package | Flat fee |
|---|---|
| SOC 2 Type I readiness | $15,000 |
| SOC 2 Type II readiness (Type I plus six months of evidence-collection support) | $22,000 |
| HIPAA readiness (covered-entity or business-associate posture) | $12,000 |
| Combined SOC 2 Type I + HIPAA readiness | $24,000 |
SOC 2 Type I readiness covers the gap assessment, policy authorship, control design, vendor and DPA review, and coordination with the independent CPA firm. HIPAA readiness covers policies, business-associate agreements, and workforce training materials.
The CPA attestation fee is a separate engagement with an independent CPA firm; we publish a short list of CPAs we have worked with and you contract with them directly.
Phase 1 diagnostic (on-ramp)
Before any retainer or readiness engagement, you can buy a $1,500 flat-fee Phase 1 diagnostic: a two-week engagement where we review your existing contracts, policies, and compliance posture and deliver a written report. The report is yours to keep whether you continue with us or not. If you continue into a retainer, the $1,500 is credited against your first month.
Engagement letter governs
Every retainer, readiness package, and Phase 1 diagnostic is confirmed by a written engagement letter signed before work begins. The letter states the exact scope, the final fee, the SLA mechanics for your tier, the overage rates that apply to your engagement, and the disengagement terms. The fees, SLAs, and overage rates on this page are a starting point, not a binding offer; standard terms and conditions apply.
How this funds the access-to-justice work
The fractional-GC retainer is what funds the access-to-justice tier on this site — the $500 simple wills, $500 trusts, and LLC formations from $1,000. The same tooling we build for startup clients runs the high-volume access-to-justice work underneath, which is why the wills and LLCs can be priced the way they are. Read the mission for the architecture behind the cross-subsidy.
Get a quote
Email support@neonlaw.com with your company name, stage, and a one-paragraph description of what's on your plate. We respond within one business day with a tier recommendation, a calendar link, and the Phase 1 diagnostic option.