Case study · For companies
An interim general counsel for a Series C fintech in San Francisco
Parental leave landed on the same calendar as a financing. They asked for a full-time GC. The honest brief was interim cover, live on day 6, then a permanent search.
Live on the work on day 6. Permanent can wait.
A Series C fintech in San Francisco needed a general counsel in the building before the leave started and before the financing documents froze.
A Series C fintech in San Francisco engaged an interim General Counsel on a day-rate. The sitting legal lead was going on parental leave. A financing was already in motion. The company asked for a full-time GC. We said interim cover for the leave and the raise, then a permanent search. The interim counsel was live on the work on day 6. The file sits in 60+ interim and fractional engagements since 2017 — counted separately from 230+ permanent in-house and corporate placements. Median from first call to start, across that 60+, is 7 days. This file beat the median by a day.
At Series B-C the median in-house bench is one lawyer. Often that lawyer is already fractional. A permanent GC search runs 24 days to shortlist and 11 weeks median to accepted offer (n=38 GC/CLO). This company did not have 11 weeks. It had a leave date and a financing calendar. Talent acquisition could not fill that gap with a posting. Outside counsel could draft. They could not sit as GC to a board between sign and close.
- Mandate
- Interim GC, Series C fintech, San Francisco. Parental leave plus a financing. One of 60+ interim/fractional files.
- Start
- Live on the work on day 6. Programme median: 7 days from first call to start.
- Commercial terms
- Day-rate only. Interim GC $1,800-$3,200 a day. Days billed credit against a later retained fee.
- Not in the 230+
- Interim is a separate book from 230+ permanent in-house placements (38 of those GC/CLO).
- What we declined
- A rushed permanent GC search against an 11-week median clock the company did not have.
- What followed
- Cover through the leave and the raise, then a permanent search on a honest calendar.
Two clocks, one empty chair
Parental leave is a known date. A financing is a moving one. Together they turn a one-lawyer department into an empty chair on the week the board is most exposed. Series C fintech legal work in San Francisco is commercial contracts, privacy, employment, and the financing documents themselves. Outside counsel already had the raise. They did not have the rest, and they were conflicted on the parts they did have.
The internal talent team had been told to "find a GC." The first specification was a permanent, full-time, equity-heavy seat copied from a later-stage company. A first GC at Series B-C is a $240,000-$340,000 base with a 20-40% bonus — and an 8-16 week search. Running that search against a leave date is how companies hire the available person rather than the right one, then live with them for four years. We stopped that specification in the first call.
Confidentiality still mattered. A public "we have no GC during a raise" is a signal to investors and to the sitting counsel's team. Approaches were private. The company was unnamed until the candidate needed it to clear conflicts. San Francisco in-house context lives at in-house counsel recruiting in San Francisco; the cover product is interim legal talent in San Francisco.
Day-rate cover. Then, if the board still wants it, a retained search.
Start before the leave
In the building, with the files, before the sitting counsel logs off. Not a handover memo in week three.
Financing fluency
Can sit with the board and the lead investor without the outside-counsel partner in the room for every question.
Day-rate, not a disguised perm
No quiet conversion without a new brief. If a permanent search follows, it is retained, with a new letter.
Credit the days
Days billed credit against a later retained GC fee. The company is not punished for having been honest about the gap.
US interim GC day-rates run $1,800-$3,200. Fractional GC at two to three days a week runs $2,800-$4,500 a day on the days worked. This file was interim: presence against a leave and a raise, not a standing two-day-a-week seat. First-GC fractional for sub-$100 million revenue is a different band ($2,200-$3,400) and a different brief. We kept them apart so the company did not buy a fractional standing arrangement when it needed cover with an end date.
If the board later wanted a permanent GC, that search would run on the GC/CLO clock — 24 days to shortlist, 11 weeks median to accepted offer, retained at 28-33% of first-year cash, 12-month replacement — with days already billed credited. That sequence is how we avoid hiring a permanent leader in a panic. The permanent product is in-house and general counsel recruiting. The first-GC long form is hiring your first general counsel.
Sitting and fractional GCs in the Bay Area who can start this week — a field in the tens
We mapped sitting general counsel, recently departed GCs, and known fractional GCs in San Francisco Bay Area fintech and neighbouring software who could start inside a week — a field in the tens. Availability is the scarce fact. Competence is not rare in that corridor. A free diary in six days is. We do not publish exact map totals. The band is the honest unit.
Conflicts were the filter. A financing means investors, counsel to investors, and a cap table that has already used half the city's specialist firms. We cleared conflicts before a name reached the CEO. Two names were workable. One started. Assessment was a working session on the live raise, not a competency theatre. City pay context, not this day-rate: in-house counsel salary, 2026 and general counsel salary, 2026.
Interim, not retained
A six-day sequence, not an 11-week one
- Day 0 First call
Leave date and financing calendar on the table. Permanent spec paused.
- Days 1-2 Day-rate letter
Interim GC band $1,800-$3,200. Credit against a later retained fee written in.
- Days 2-4 Map and conflicts
Bay Area GCs who can start this week — a field in the tens. Conflicts before names.
- Days 4-5 Working session
Live financing pack. Two workable names. One chosen.
- Day 6 Live
On the work. Programme median is day 7 across 60+ interim files.
Days, not weeks — until the permanent clock is honest
| When | Milestone | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 | First call | Permanent GC spec paused. Leave + financing named as the brief. |
| Days 1-2 | Day-rate letter | Interim GC $1,800-$3,200. Days credited to a later retained fee. |
| Days 2-4 | Map the available field | Sitting and fractional GCs in Bay Area fintech — a field in the tens. |
| Days 4-5 | Conflicts and working session | Live raise. Two names. One start. |
| Day 6 | Live on the work | Programme median: 7 days (n=60+). This file: day 6. |
| Weeks 2-12 | Cover | Leave plus financing. Board packs. No quiet conversion. |
| After | Permanent search, if briefed | New letter. GC/CLO clock: 24 days / 11 weeks median, n=38. |
Interim is not inside the 230+ permanent book. Offer-acceptance (96%) applies to permanent corporate offers, not to a day-rate start.
Source: Sartori & Partners corporate track record, 2017-2026 (this file; interim/fractional n=60+).
- Day 6
- Live on the workProgramme interim median: 7 days.
- Sartori corporate track record, 2017-2026
- 60+
- Interim and fractional engagements, separate from 230+This file is in the 60+.
- Sartori corporate track record, 2017-2026
- $1,800-$3,200
- US interim GC day-rate bandDays billed credit against a later retained fee.
- Sartori corporate terms, current
We thought we needed a full-time GC. They said fractional for two quarters, then a permanent search. Both were right. The fractional counsel started in a week.
Cover held. The permanent search waited for an honest calendar.
The interim counsel sat through the leave and the financing. The board did not have to invent a GC in a week. When the calendar opened, a permanent search could run on the GC/CLO clock rather than against a leave date. We do not attach a named-client retention promise to an interim file. Across placed in-house leaders on permanent seats, 97% remain at 12 months. An interim engagement is cover. It is judged on whether the work was held, and whether the later permanent brief was cleaner than the panicked one we were first handed.
Client reference
The San Francisco Series C voice
We thought we needed a full-time GC. They said fractional for two quarters, then a permanent search. Both were right. The fractional counsel started in a week.
The matching Bay Area voice is above, verbatim. This file's ledger clock is day 6, interim, day-rate, parental leave plus a financing. The client's words are "fractional" and "a week." We do not rewrite either. Programme median to start is 7 days. The research under the city pages is the Sartori & Partners research programme.
Do not run an 11-week search against a six-day problem
- If the need has an end date, the product is interim or fractional, not a panicked permanent GC.
- This file was live on day 6. The programme median across 60+ interim engagements is 7 days. Count it separately from the 230+.
- Bay Area GCs who can start this week are a field in the tens. Conflicts on a financing are the real filter.
- Day-rate ($1,800-$3,200 interim GC) with days credited to a later retained fee is how you do not punish honesty.
- A later permanent search runs on the GC/CLO clock (24 days / 11 weeks, n=38). Retention rates (97% at 12 months) apply to permanent placements, not to cover.
Interim and fractional legal talent
Day-rate GC, CCO and counsel cover, including parental leave and financings.
Open interim legal talentHow to run a general counsel search
Mandate Blueprint to 90-day check-in on the 24-day / 11-week clock.
Read the 2026 search clockLegal talent for companies
How CEOs and boards choose cover versus a retained search.
Go to the companies hubCase studies
Anonymised corporate files, including this San Francisco interim GC.
Browse case studiesRelated files: first GC in California SaaS, CCO in New York payments, in-house transition playbook, 2026, and interim legal talent in San Francisco. Process: how we run a search.
Interim GC, Series C San Francisco: four questions
How fast can an interim general counsel start in San Francisco?
This file was live on the work on day 6. Across 60+ interim and fractional engagements, the median from first call to start is 7 days. That clock is separate from the 230+ permanent in-house placements. See interim and fractional legal talent.
When should a Series C company hire interim counsel instead of a permanent GC?
When the need has an end date — parental leave, a financing, a defined surge — and a permanent seat is not yet the honest brief. This company asked for a full-time GC. The honest brief was cover for a leave plus a raise, then a permanent search. A San Francisco Series C chief executive put it: both were right. The fractional counsel started in a week.
How is an interim GC paid, and does the day-rate credit toward a later search?
Interim GC work is a day-rate, not a percentage of salary. US interim GC rates run $1,800-$3,200 a day. Days billed credit against a later retained fee if the company converts to a permanent GC search. Abort of a later retained mandate still leaves the engagement instalment with us. Terms: legal recruitment fees explained.
Is an interim engagement counted in the 230+ in-house placements?
No: interim and fractional work is a separate book of 60+ engagements since 2017. Permanent in-house and corporate placements are 230+, of which 38 are GC/CLO. Mixing the two is how a firm double-counts. This file is in the 60+.
Start interim cover
If the leave date is inside a month, do not open a permanent GC search.
Day-rate, conflicts cleared, live in days. If a retained search follows, the days already billed credit against the fee.