Senior legal support for ambitious businesses
Employment, commercial and HR support across any sector, from expert input on a specific issue through to acting as your fractional General Counsel.
I work with founders, leadership teams and HR functions across multiple industries. The same senior expertise sits behind every engagement; what changes is the shape of the relationship depending on where your business is and what's on your plate.
The difference this makes
Underneath everything I do across employment, commercial and HR, the same outcome is what clients actually pay for:
Founders and CEOs get their time back. You stop being the bottleneck on contracts, exits, and people decisions. You get on with running your business.
Management gains confidence. Your managers and HR team stop hesitating on tricky people issues because they know they have senior, commercial advice on call. Decision-making speeds up.
Stress drops. Grievances, performance issues, sensitive exits, the things that disrupt your week get handled properly the first time.
Your team learns. I mentor your managers through the reasoning, not just the answer. Next time the same issue lands, they already know how to handle it so your reliance on legal advice goes down over time, not up.
What I cover
Employment Law
Your people are your single biggest asset and, if mishandled, your biggest source of risk. I support founders, HR leaders and management teams through the full sweep of employment law issues, from day-one contracts to senior exits.
Where I help
Contracts and documentation. Employment contracts, consultant and contractor agreements, director service agreements, restrictive covenants, IP and confidentiality clauses, staff handbooks and policies.
Day-to-day advisory. Grievances, disciplinaries, performance management, sickness absence, family leave, flexible working, workplace investigations.
Difficult exits. Senior departures, settlement agreements, protected conversations, garden leave, post-termination restrictions.
Restructures and change. Redundancy programmes, TUPE transfers, terms-and-conditions changes, collective consultation
Reward and incentives. Bonus and commission schemes, equity and option arrangements, long-term incentive plans.
General Commercial
The contracts that run your business — and the legal questions that come with launching, scaling, and selling. I cut through the legalese and give you robust, commercial agreements your team can actually use.
Where I help
Contracts. Customer and supplier agreements, terms of business, NDAs, services agreements, framework contracts, SaaS and technology contracts, partnership and reseller arrangements.
Negotiation support. Sitting alongside your team on key deals knowing where to push, where to concede, and what to walk away from.
Contract playbooks and process. Standardised templates, fall-back positions, and contract management tooling so your team can move fast without re-inventing the wheel each time.
Compliance and governance. GDPR and data protection, anti-bribery, modern slavery, board governance, policy frameworks, and risk registers - all proportionate to your stage.
Corporate and growth. Investment readiness, due diligence preparation, founder and shareholder arrangements, working alongside your corporate lawyers on transactions.
Legal health checks. A structured review of your contracts, policies and risk exposure telling you where the real gaps are, prioritised by what matters most.
HR Advisory
With a CIPD Level 7 qualification alongside my legal background, I bring a genuinely integrated view of legal and people strategy. I work both directly with leadership teams on people issues, and as a trusted legal sounding board for in-house HR teams and external HR consultants who want senior employment law input on call.
Where I help
Support for HR teams and consultants. Support with the day-to-day queries to give you clear answers, fast.
Strategic people work. Reward strategy, performance frameworks, culture and conduct, succession planning, and equity and incentive design.
Manager training. Practical sessions on managing performance, handling difficult conversations, conducting investigations, and avoiding the common employment-law traps.
Mentoring. For early- and mid-career in-house lawyers and HR professionals navigating the transition into more senior, commercially-facing roles.
How I can work with you
Three ways to engage, depending on the level of support your business needs. All three give you senior, commercially-minded counsel — what changes is the depth and shape of the relationship.
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Best for: ambitious businesses scaling fast, those preparing for investment or exit, and those who would otherwise need to hire a senior in-house lawyer.
I act as your part-time General Counsel, owning your legal function, providing strategic legal leadership, contributing at board level, and acting as the senior legal voice in the room when decisions get made.
You get:
The advantages of an in-house GC, at a fraction of the cost
An advisor who knows your business inside out and can advise proactively on strategic growth and risk
This is typically structured as an ongoing engagement of 2-5 days per month, scaling up or down as the business demands.
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Best for: businesses that want a steady, predictable legal partner for the day-to-day matters, including contracts, people issues, regulatory questions, and the surprises that land in any given month.
A set number of senior legal hours each month, available to be drawn down as you need them. You call when there's a contract to review, a tricky exit to handle, or a question that needs proper attention.
You get:
Predictable monthly cost.
No surprise invoices.
A trusted advisor who already knows your business when the next issue lands.
Multiple tiers available, scaling with the size and complexity of your business.
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Best for: one-off issues, defined projects, or testing the relationship before committing to a retainer.
Expert input when a specific issue lands and you need a senior view. For example, on a contract negotiation, a tricky people issue, a restructure, an investment round or a regulatory question.
Billed either by the project (defined scope, defined fee) or by the hour — no retainer, no minimum commitment.
“Katie cuts through complexity, focuses on outcomes and delivers advice that balances legal risk with commercial reality. She has become a trusted advisor to my business and someone I would not hesitate to recommend.”
Kate, HR Consultant