01
Legal hires often take four to six months
Interim coverage buys the team breathing room without lowering the hiring bar, whatever level the role sits at.
The hidden pressure
You need relief now, but you cannot afford the wrong permanent hire.
Vacancies create an awkward middle. Work is piling up, the team is tired, and a recruiter may already have exclusivity. The safest move is a bridge that does not disturb the search.
02
Recruiter conflict is a real concern
If a search firm already holds the mandate, interim coverage can coexist with it. Your recruiter keeps the permanent search — we keep the team standing in the meantime.
03
The team cannot keep absorbing the vacancy
A vacancy becomes burnout when every contract, policy, and escalation lands on the remaining legal team.
04
Hiring freezes shouldn’t stall legal
Goodlawyer sits in the outside-counsel budget, not HR headcount, so legal stays covered while a freeze holds.
Built for the bridge
Interim coverage that supports the permanent search.
Goodlawyer gives you senior contractor coverage while the permanent hiring process keeps moving. Because the bench is pre-vetted and double opt-in, first introductions come in days, not months, and if the interim lawyer becomes the obvious long-term fit, the conversion path is transparent.
- vetted lawyers across the network
- 750+
- to first interim introductions
- 9 Days
- typical senior counsel search
- 4-6 mo
Non-competitive with search
We come in as relief while your recruiter runs the permanent search, not as a shadow search designed to create conflict.
Try before a permanent decision
If the interim relationship becomes the right permanent path, the conversion mechanism is front-ended and clear.
Keeps the team intact
Senior interim operators keep the lights on so your existing team does not spend months in emergency mode.
Meet the lawyers customers actually work with.
16 yrsPearl C.
Fractional General Counsel
Toronto, ON
- Corporate
- Commercial
- Venture capital
15 yrsNofa K.
Technology, SaaS & Privacy Counsel
Toronto, ON
- SaaS
- Data privacy
- Commercial
16 yrsRyan T.
Fractional General Counsel
Cambridge, ON
- Technology
- IP
- Privacy
15 yrsRebecca H.
Fractional Commercial Counsel
Vancouver, BC
- Commercial
- Mining
- Leadership
34 yrsShari H.
Fractional General Counsel
Vancouver, BC
- Commercial
- IP & licensing
- Governance
11 yrsJosée B.
Global Technology & AI Counsel
Montréal, QC
- Technology
- AI
- Cybersecurity
17 yrsNatasha G.
Fractional General Counsel, B2B SaaS
Toronto, ON
- B2B SaaS
- Privacy
- Legal operations
8 yrsThelma Z.
Employment & Labour Counsel
Vancouver, BC
- Employment
- Investigations
- Human rights
12 yrsStefan B.
Commercial In-House Counsel
Calgary, AB
- Commercial
- Fintech
- Telecom
Choose the right model
Fractional, secondment, and recruiting are different answers to different risks.
Buyers often ask where one model ends and another begins. The simplest answer is to start with capacity, duration, and whether the relationship should become permanent.
Pricing and sizing
Trade the legal meter for a planned mandate.
Legal coverage gets risky when the work goes into an open-ended billing meter. We scope the route before the work starts: responsibilities, monthly capacity, seniority, and handoff expectations.
Before work starts
The triggerLeave, vacancy, overflow, or specialist gap
The capacity1–5 days/week
The operating rhythmMeetings, tools, stakeholders, handoff
The budget logicPlanned scope instead of surprise invoices
No meter anxiety
No vague handoff
Right-fit talent
If the bridge becomes the hire
What if you want to hire them? That is the plan working.
Law firms guard their people because losing one to a client breaks their model. Ours is built the other way: if the interim lawyer turns out to be your permanent answer, that is a win we planned for, not a breach of trust.
01
Try before you commit
You see how the lawyer actually operates inside your business before any permanent decision. No cold hire, no leap of faith.
02
A fee that steps down
The conversion fee is transparent from day one and decreases the longer you have worked together: tracking the market rate for legal recruiting, then dropping below it.
03
No awkward conversation
Conversion is front-ended in the engagement, so nobody has to tiptoe around the question. When it happens, we celebrate it.
How the bridge works
Create coverage without derailing the search.
We scope the vacancy, respect the existing recruiting process, and match for immediate relief.
Name the gap
Clarify what the vacant role, what must be covered now, and what can wait for the hire.
Respect the search
Flag any recruiter exclusivity or internal hiring process so the interim talk track stays clean.
Install relief
Bring in senior legal talent for work that cannot wait, with scope tied to the search timeline.
Handoff or convert
Hand off cleanly when the permanent hire starts, or discuss conversion if the interim is the fit.
Customer proof
Bridge the vacancy, and keep the bar for the permanent hire.
We needed an exceptional lawyer, and Goodlawyer delivered. Our fractional hire integrated seamlessly from the outset, delivering results that ultimately led us to bring them on full-time. We look forward to working with Goodlawyer again.
Niamh Pollak
VP, Legal · Clio
FAQ
Questions worth asking before you bring someone in.
Straight answers on how the model works, who you will be working with, what it costs, and what happens if things change.
Goodlawyer is not a law firm and not a traditional recruiter. We are an alternative legal service provider that curates a network of independent lawyers and matches them to in-house legal needs.
Bridge the vacancy
Give your team relief while the search runs.
Tell us what role is open, what work is piling up, and whether a recruiter is already engaged. We’ll shape interim coverage that doesn’t lower the bar on the permanent hire.
- Breathing room in weeks, not months
- Plays well with your recruiter
- Convert only if it’s the right fit