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Austin · Travis, Williamson & Hays Counties

A general counsel for the
size you are now.

Flat monthly plans from $1,500 — contracts reviewed, questions answered same business day, and a litigator's judgment before problems become lawsuits.

Book a Fit Call Call (512) 643-5185
$1,500/mo
Core · up to 5 hrs
$2,500/mo
Growth · up to 10 hrs
$4,500/mo
Partner · up to 15 hrs
The problem this solves

The call you didn't make is the one that costs you.

Most growing businesses don't need — or want — a full-time general counsel on payroll. A GC that size runs $250K a year before benefits. So instead, legal questions get answered by Google, a co-founder's gut, or nobody, until something has already gone wrong.

Hourly counsel doesn't fully solve this either. When every phone call has a meter running, you learn to stop calling — which means the small stuff never gets looked at until it's not small anymore.

Flat monthly counsel removes that friction. You call before it's a crisis, because the call is already paid for.

The most expensive legal problems aren't dramatic. They're the contract clause nobody read closely, the vendor agreement with a quietly shifted liability, the employment policy a year out of date, the deal that moved fast without anyone spotting the flag. Twenty years of watching those exact issues turn into litigation is what shapes how we review your paper before it becomes a problem.

Past results from prior complex litigation practice do not guarantee future outcomes.

The plans

Three tiers. One flat number each month.

Every plan is a fixed monthly fee for a block of attorney hours, with a same-business-day response commitment. Scoped on a free fit call before anything starts.

Core
$1,500 /mo
Up to 5 hours / month
Contract review, quick questions, and strategy calls, with two contract reviews (up to ~20 pages each) or the equivalent, and a 30-minute monthly strategy call. Same-business-day response.
Best for: existing clients and startups with manageable complexity.
Growth
$2,500 /mo
Up to 10 hours / month
Everything in Core, at higher volume — active project work and deeper vendor negotiation, plus the monthly strategy call. Same-business-day response.
Best for: fast-growing companies and more complex arrangements.
Partner
$4,500 /mo
Up to 15 hours / month
Everything in Growth, plus priority scheduling, involvement in major deals, ongoing strategic advising, and on-call access alongside the monthly call.
Best for: complex businesses and those going through transitions.

What every plan includes

  • Contract and vendor-agreement review before you sign
  • Same-business-day answers on the questions that come up
  • A monthly strategy call on what's ahead — a hire, a deal, a lease
  • A standing check on policies and templates that drift out of date
  • One attorney who already knows your business

Not included, plainly

  • Litigation appearances
  • Employment investigations
  • Mergers & acquisitions
  • Transactions over $250,000
These get scoped and quoted separately — you'll know the flat cost up front, not after the invoice. Overage hours bill at 15% off the standard hourly rate. Two months hitting your cap is the natural signal to move up a tier — we'll flag it, you decide.
What you're actually buying

A typical month might look like this.

Who this is built for

Businesses with real legal exposure, not yet ready for a full-time lawyer.

Businesses signing contracts, hiring people, or making decisions with real legal exposure — but not yet at the size, or the inclination, to carry a full-time lawyer. Usually $1–20M in revenue, 5–50 employees, a steady flow of paper crossing someone's desk.

Often, an existing Ridgeline client who has already seen how a scoped, flat-fee matter gets handled and wants that same relationship on an ongoing basis.

Technology handles the first pass on research and routine drafting, so review moves fast. Every matter that matters still gets read by a licensed attorney.

Who you'll work with

A litigator's judgment, on retainer.

Patrick Hotze, Founder, Ridgeline Legal

Patrick Hotze

Founder & Attorney, Ridgeline Legal, PLLC

Before founding Ridgeline, Patrick spent two decades in complex litigation, co-founding a practice that recovered more than $200 million for clients across mass tort, pharmaceutical liability, and industrial accident matters. Past results don't guarantee future outcomes — but twenty years of litigating disputes teaches you exactly where contracts break and how the other side thinks.

On an Outside General Counsel plan, that judgment is the point: the same attorney reads your paper every month, so the context compounds instead of resetting with every new matter.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Licensed in Texas and Washington, D.C.

Questions

Straight answers, before you call.

What does "up to X hours" mean in practice? +

Each plan includes a monthly block of attorney hours — 5, 10, or 15 depending on the tier. We track and share your usage as the month goes, so you're never surprised at renewal. Unused hours don't roll over; the point of the flat fee is a predictable number, not a bank.

What happens if we go over the hours? +

Overage bills at a discounted hourly rate — 15% off the standard rate — with no scope disputes and no surprise invoices. If you hit your cap two months running, that's usually the signal to move up a tier, and we'll flag it so you can decide.

Can we cancel? +

Yes. Plans run month-to-month after the first three months. The initial three-month commitment exists so the arrangement has enough runway to actually be useful — after that, you stay because it works, not because you're locked in.

Is litigation covered? +

No. Litigation appearances, employment investigations, M&A, and transactions over $250,000 are scoped and quoted separately — we tell you the cost up front, not after the invoice. Litigation is billed at rates reflecting the trial background this whole plan draws on.

How is this different from a legal-plan subscription service? +

You get one attorney who knows your business — not a call-center rotation or a form library. Every matter that matters is read by a licensed attorney who already has the context on how your company operates.

Start with a fit call, not a contract.

Twenty minutes to see whether an ongoing arrangement makes sense for where your business is. Not every business needs one — we'll tell you if yours doesn't.

Book a Fit Call
Prefer to talk now? Call (512) 643-5185