Fractional GC

Teresa has been a senior leader and general counsel across multiple tech sectors and company stages. She applies this expertise on a fractional basis to SaaS startups that have growing legal and compliance but are not yet in a position to make their first in-house legal hire.

Core benefits of working with a fractional GC include: 

  • Affordability. Teresa’s services are far more efficient and affordable than a traditional law firm because clients benefit from having a business-savvy exec for less than a junior associate, without the expectations of an FTE (especially if there isn’t at least 40 hours per week of legal-related work). A fractional GC also can effectively manage (and scrutinize!) outside counsel to make sure a company is getting the most out of its legal budget. Most startups are paying excessive amounts to big law firms for day-to-day legal work like customer disputes, employment matters, commercial drafting and negotiations, and general corporate governance like board minutes and cap table management. Seasoned fractional GC’s like Teresa can curb such outlays without compromising results.
  • More than a Lawyer. As a fractional GC, Teresa is not outside counsel. She effectively joins her clients on a part-time basis and uses her executive background and ability to learn a startup’s business to fill leadership gaps, solve specific problems, run specific processes, or help a company develop in new areas in advance of hiring their first GC. She may even help them make that hire!

Employment Law

Teresa has years of experience practicing global employment law in California and Texas, both in-house and with respected law firms. After serving as head of litigation, regulatory, and employment law at Dropbox, she went on to manage HR as general counsel and chief administrative officer of digital publishing platform Medium. Teresa also was the founding general counsel of an early-stage HR compliance platform.

Having seen these issues as an executive and legal practitioner, she is in a unique position to strategically advise clients on a broad range of issues.

These include: 

  • Hiring and recruiting compliance strategies
  • Individual separations and layoffs
  • Employee rights and performance management
  • Leaves of absence
  • Total rewards and compensation philosophies
  • Confidentiality and employee mobility (including employee non-disclosure agreements, unfair competition, and non-compete issues)
  • Internal investigations
  • Trainings
  • Anti-Harassment, Anti-Discrimination
  • Manager Training
  • Information Security + Confidentiality + Trade Secret Protection
  • Understanding Equity Compensation

Commercial Counsel and GTM Strategies

Teresa has built commercial legal processes from the ground up for startups. She also has spent years honing her negotiation skills and the ability to assess risk through a pragmatic, business-oriented lens. Applying these talents, she can:

  • Draft, redline, and negotiate SaaS commercial documents, including master service agreements, DPAs, vender agreements, referral agreements, etc.
  • Develop negotiation strategies, commonly requested fallback contract language, and playbooks for sales teams to increase deal efficiency and improve margins.

Corporate Governance + Startup Support

As a seasoned tech GC, Teresa has dealt with founders, boards of directors, and investors on an array of general corporate governance and “startup support” issues. She transfers that experience to her clients by offering:

  • Free board member attendance
  • General cap table management
  • Drafting user ToS
  • General policy development and review, including privacy and acceptable use policies.

Regulatory Compliance

Teresa has worked with executives, operators, and policymakers alike on a range of regulatory compliance issues. As head of litigation and regulatory at Dropbox, the general counsel of digital publishing platform Medium, and general counsel of an HR regulatory compliance platform, she has developed expertise in navigating different complex legal frameworks. Relying on this expertise, she can advise on the ever-changing landscape of, among other things:

  • Content moderation and intermediate liability
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • State and local HR laws