Legal 8 September 2026 By Matthew Strain

Fractional, interim, outsourced, or just part-time

Somewhere between hiring a lawyer and instructing a firm sits a category with too many names. Fractional general counsel, interim counsel, part-time legal counsel, outsourced legal services, general counsel as a service. Some of those describe genuinely different arrangements and some are the same thing wearing a better suit. Here is what actually separates them.

Key takeaways
  1. Only two things really differ across the labels: whether the arrangement is permanent or temporary, and whether you are buying seniority or capacity.
  2. Interim means covering a gap - a departure, a parental leave, a transaction. It ends when the gap closes, and it is usually the most expensive per day.
  3. Fractional means a permanent arrangement at part-time intensity, aimed at seniority. You are buying judgement a few days a month, not volume.
  4. Outsourced legal services usually means capacity rather than seniority - a team absorbing work your business generates, often at a lower rate per hour.
  5. For most SMEs the practical choice is between a fractional or retained arrangement and a first in-house hire, and the deciding factor is whether you need somebody in the room or somebody on the end of a line.

The labels, decoded

Five terms, in rough order of how specific they are.

  1. Interim counsel. A lawyer filling a defined gap - somebody has left, somebody is on leave, or a transaction needs a pair of hands for four months. Time-limited by definition, usually full-time or close to it while it lasts, and frequently placed through a recruiter.
  2. Fractional general counsel. A permanent arrangement at part-time intensity. A senior lawyer acting as your GC for an agreed slice of their week, ongoing rather than temporary. The point is seniority: strategy, risk, the board conversation.
  3. Part-time legal counsel. Broadly the same shape as fractional, described from the employment side rather than the service side. Sometimes an actual part-time employee rather than an external arrangement, which changes the tax and employment position considerably.
  4. Outsourced legal services. Capacity rather than seniority. A provider absorbs a stream of work - contract review, NDAs, high-volume drafting - usually with a team behind it and a lower unit cost.
  5. General counsel as a service, virtual GC, external GC. Marketing names for the fractional arrangement. Occasionally they signal something specific about delivery. Usually they do not.

If a provider cannot tell you in one sentence whether you are buying seniority or capacity, you are looking at a label rather than a service.

What actually differs

Strip the naming away and four questions separate every arrangement in this category.

  1. Permanent or temporary? Interim ends. Fractional and outsourced do not. This changes how much context the person accumulates, which is most of what makes internal legal support valuable.
  2. Seniority or capacity? Do you need someone who can tell the board what the real risk is, or someone to get through forty contracts a month? Very few arrangements do both well, and paying GC rates for volume work is the most common expensive mistake here.
  3. Employed or engaged? A part-time employee brings employment rights, NICs, pension and holiday. An engaged consultancy does not. Neither is better, but they are not interchangeable and the cost comparison is frequently made as though they were.
  4. In the room or on the line? Some arrangements include attending board or leadership meetings. Some are strictly reactive. This is worth being explicit about, because it is the difference people most often assume rather than agree.
Read more Fractional general counsel: what it is, and when you need one

What each costs, in shape rather than in numbers

Precise figures depend on sector and seniority, but the relative shape is consistent.

Interim is the highest day rate, because you are paying for availability at short notice with no ongoing relationship. Fractional is lower per day and predictable, often billed monthly. Outsourced capacity is the lowest unit cost and the highest variability, because it scales with the volume you send. A retainer sits alongside these as a fixed monthly fee for routine work, which is the cheapest way to buy the small questions.

Against all of them, a permanent hire is a six-figure fully loaded commitment for an experienced commercial solicitor once NICs, pension, holiday, recruitment and software are counted. That is the number the whole category is priced against, and it is the comparison worth making rather than an hourly rate.

Which fits you

Four situations, and what each points to.

  1. Your GC has resigned and a deal is live. Interim. Pay the day rate, close the gap, decide properly afterwards.
  2. You need senior judgement occasionally and volume rarely. Fractional or a retainer. Most SMEs are here, and the two shade into each other - the distinction is mainly whether you want board attendance.
  3. Contract volume is drowning the team and the questions are routine. Outsourced capacity, or a retainer with unlimited contract review, which is often the cheaper version of the same thing for a smaller business.
  4. Legal work is now continuous and needs somebody inside the business. Hire. Before you hire an in-house lawyer covers what to get right first, and the retainer guide covers how to know you have reached this point.

Silva sits in the second and third of those, and says so plainly. Where the answer is genuinely an interim placement or a permanent hire, that is a shorter conversation and a more useful one.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between fractional and interim general counsel?

Permanence. Interim counsel fills a defined temporary gap - a departure, a leave, a transaction - and ends when the gap closes. Fractional general counsel is an ongoing arrangement at part-time intensity, so the relationship and the accumulated knowledge of your business continue. Interim is typically the higher day rate; fractional is usually cheaper and more predictable.

Is outsourced legal services the same as a fractional GC?

No, and confusing them is expensive. Outsourced legal services generally means buying capacity - a team absorbing a volume of routine work at a lower unit cost. A fractional GC is buying seniority - judgement, strategy and risk, a few days a month. Paying GC rates for volume work, or expecting strategic input from a capacity provider, are the two failure modes.

How much does a fractional general counsel cost in the UK?

It varies with seniority and the number of days, and is usually billed as a fixed monthly fee rather than hourly. The useful comparison is against a permanent hire: an experienced commercial solicitor is a six-figure fully loaded cost once employer National Insurance, pension, holiday, recruitment and software are included, which is what the whole fractional category is priced against.

Do I need a fractional GC or just a legal retainer?

If the questions are mostly routine - contracts, employment queries, commercial issues as they arise - a retainer is usually the better value, and covers the small questions a day-rate arrangement discourages. A fractional GC earns its cost where you need senior input on strategy and risk, or somebody attending board and leadership meetings. Plenty of businesses start with a retainer and add seniority later.

Work out which one you actually need

Most of these conversations start with a label and end somewhere else, because the real question turns out to be seniority against capacity, or whether anyone needs to be in the room. Silva will tell you where the answer is an interim placement or a permanent hire.

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