A contract and governance desk for companies that are not ready for a law firm retainer
Corporate legal services are the legal work companies consume to operate: contracts drafted and negotiated, inbound agreements reviewed, governance documents kept current, commercial relationships papered. Most of that work is documents with a definable scope, which means it can be bought per deliverable at a fixed quote instead of through a retainer, an hourly engagement, or a legal department the company does not yet need.
Legal Tank supplies that document layer: licensed attorneys drafting, redlining, abstracting, and standardizing business paper, per document, quoted before work starts. We do not represent companies, appear anywhere, or file anything, and this page is explicit about where that line sits.
Written and legally reviewed by our editorial team
Drafted · Reviewed · Never Filed
Fixed quote per document, before work starts
Corporate legal support without the engagement letter
Companies below a certain size face a gap: too much legal paper to wing it, too little to justify in-house counsel or a firm relationship priced for one. The per-document model fills the gap by unbundling the work from the relationship. Each contract, agreement, or governance document is quoted as its own fixed engagement, from the document itself, so legal spend tracks deal flow instead of running as fixed overhead. A slow quarter costs nothing; a heavy one is still a list of known numbers approved in advance.
The trade is honesty about scope. A document desk does not advise on strategy, sit in your board meetings, or take the other side's angry phone calls. It produces and inspects the paper, precisely and per piece, and it tells you plainly when a matter has crossed into territory that needs retained counsel.
Contract drafting and review for corporate teams
Four kinds of contract work cover most of what a growing company sends out or signs. Each is quoted as its own fixed engagement, and each returns through the same encrypted portal.
Outbound drafting
MSAs, service agreements, SOWs, NDAs, licensing, and distribution paper drafted from your deal terms, in your favor, against the governing state. Your template becomes an asset instead of a borrowed risk.
Inbound review and redlining
The other side's paper, read against your interests: tracked-changes redline, plain-English risk notes, and ranked negotiation asks, returned fast enough to keep the deal moving.
Abstraction and portfolio work
Existing contract stacks summarized into the fields your team actually queries: parties, term, renewal windows, caps, termination rights. Due diligence and renewals stop being archaeology.
Template standardization
The agreements you reuse weekly, rebuilt once by an attorney into clean standard versions with the variable terms isolated, so routine deals stop generating bespoke risk.
Each has a dedicated page with scope and samples: the business contract drafting service for outbound paper, the redline and risk-memo review desk for inbound agreements, and contract abstraction for existing portfolios.
What comes back on a corporate document engagement
Every engagement closes with a concrete deliverable, not a memo about a meeting. What lands in your portal depends on the workstream, but it always includes the finished document and the context to act on it.
Execution-ready instrument
Clean Word and PDF versions with defined terms reconciled, signature blocks placed, and formatting your counterparty can open without a conversion step. Ready for e-signature or wet ink.
Redline plus risk note
Review engagements return the tracked-changes markup and a plain-English memo that ranks the asks: what to push back on, what to concede, and what is market for the deal size.
Drafter's note on open decisions
Every deliverable flags the business calls only you can make, liability caps, renewal terms, governing law, so nothing is silently defaulted on your behalf.
Abstract in your fields
Portfolio engagements return a spreadsheet or summary sheet built around the fields your team queries: parties, term, renewal windows, caps, termination rights.
Template with variables isolated
Standardization engagements return the master version plus a short guide to what varies deal to deal, so your team can reuse it without reopening attorney work.
Revision cycle inside the quote
The fixed quote states the deliverable, the turnaround, and the included revision pass before work starts. Scope changes are re-quoted, never surprise-billed.
Who hires a corporate document desk
The common thread is a company where legal paper arrives faster than legal headcount. The desk absorbs the document layer so the people below can keep doing their actual jobs.
Founders and co-founders
The first customer MSA, the co-founder paper everyone postponed, and the governance documents a raise or a key hire suddenly requires. Quoted per document, so legal spend starts when revenue does.
Operations and finance leads
The people vendor paper actually lands on: inbound MSAs, renewals, order forms, and data terms. A redline and risk note back fast enough that procurement stops being the bottleneck, and nobody without a law degree has to carry the risk call alone.
In-house counsel of one
A solo GC uses the desk as an overflow bench: routine drafting and first-pass review route out at a known price, and the judgment work, negotiation posture, and board questions stay in-house where they belong.
Agencies, consultancies, and services firms
Client-facing SOWs, engagement letters, and subcontractor paper standardized once, then drafted per deal. Repeat-deal businesses stop regenerating bespoke risk on every signature.
Corporate governance documents, prepared rather than filed
Governance paper is where the no-filing line matters most, so here it is up front: we draft the documents that define how your company is owned and run, and the filing of anything that must reach a state, the formation certificate, the annual report, stays with you, your accountant, or your registered agent. What we deliver is the layer filings do not cover, the agreements between the humans.
LLC operating agreements
Member rights, capital, distributions, and exit mechanics that match how the company actually runs, not the default statute.
operating agreement draftingShareholder agreements
Transfer restrictions, drag and tag rights, deadlock resolution, and valuation mechanics settled while everyone is still friendly.
shareholder agreement preparationPartnership agreements
Contribution, allocation, authority, and dissolution terms for ventures that outgrew the handshake.
partnership terms put in writingConfidentiality and IP paper
NDAs, IP assignments, and non-competition terms that hold up in the states where your people actually work.
NDA drafting for business useCorporate document lines beyond core contracts
Fundraising, a sale, board housekeeping, and hiring each generate their own paper. Every line below stays inside the per-document, drafting-only model: a licensed attorney drafts or reviews the document, and the securities, deal, classification, and compliance judgment stays with your company and its own counsel. We produce paper, not advice or representation.
Fundraising and equity paper
Raising money generates a stack of documents on a deadline. We draft that paper so the round is papered cleanly and consistently. These are documents drafted, not securities legal advice: how you raise and whether an offering is exempt are calls for your own counsel.
SAFE and convertible note drafting
Post-money or pre-money SAFEs and convertible notes drafted to the terms you and your investors agreed, with the discount, cap, and maturity mechanics stated plainly.
Priced-round stock purchase agreements
Stock purchase agreements and the related priced-round paper drafted from your term sheet, with the economic and control terms reconciled across every document.
Cap-table-driven side letters
Investor side letters drafted against the cap table, so pro rata, information, and MFN rights line up with what the round actually granted.
Founder vesting and IP assignment
Founder vesting schedules, restricted-stock paperwork, and confidential information and invention assignment documents that put the company's IP where it belongs.
M&A and due-diligence document work
When the company is bought, sold, or does the buying, the work is document-heavy. We handle the drafting and review pieces per document. This is document drafting and review, not deal representation: we do not represent a party or negotiate the transaction.
Asset and share purchase agreements
Asset or share purchase agreements drafted from the letter of intent, with the reps, warranties, indemnities, and closing mechanics built to your side of the deal.
Disclosure schedules
Disclosure schedules assembled and drafted against the purchase agreement, so every representation is tied to the exceptions that actually apply.
Data-room document review
The target's data-room contracts read and summarized into the fields diligence cares about: change-of-control triggers, assignment limits, term, and termination rights.
Due-diligence redlines
Tracked-changes redlines and issue lists on the deal documents, returned with ranked negotiation points, so the principals and their counsel can decide fast.
Corporate secretary and minutes
The paper that records what the company decided has to exist and has to be consistent. We prepare the corporate-secretary deliverables; taking the decisions and filing anything a state requires stays with you.
Board and shareholder resolutions
Resolutions drafted for board and shareholder action, worded to match the authority your governing documents actually grant.
Written consents
Unanimous or majority written consents drafted, so decisions taken outside a meeting are papered correctly the first time.
Minute-book assembly
Historical resolutions, consents, and stock records organized into a clean minute book, so diligence and audits stop being a scramble.
Annual meeting minutes
Annual meeting minutes and the supporting notices and consents drafted to reflect what the meeting actually resolved.
Employment and compliance documents
Hiring and operating generate their own document lines. We draft the paper; how you classify, hire, and comply are business calls we flag for you to make, not advice we give.
Executive employment agreements
Employment agreements for executives and key hires with compensation, equity, restrictive-covenant, and severance terms drafted to the governing state.
Offer letters
Offer letters and at-will acknowledgments standardized once, then issued per hire, so routine hiring stops generating bespoke paper.
Contractor classification with IP assignment
Independent contractor agreements with the classification factors documented and IP assignment built in, so work product and inventions transfer cleanly.
Privacy policy and DPA
Website privacy policies and data processing agreements drafted to the frameworks your product actually touches.
Regulatory-compliance documents
Policies, notices, and compliance documents drafted to the regulations that apply to your industry, ready for your compliance owner to adopt.
From intake to delivered document in five steps
The same flow runs whether the engagement is one NDA or a quarter's contract stack: quote first, encrypted handling throughout, a second attorney pass before anything is delivered.
- 1
Scope intake
Describe the document, the deal, and the governing state through the quote form. Attach the counterparty's paper if this is a review.
- 2
Fixed quote from the document
We quote from the document itself: deliverable, fixed fee, turnaround, and the included revision pass, all stated before anything is billed.
- 3
Secure upload
Deal terms, prior drafts, and source contracts move through the encrypted client portal. Access is limited to the attorney on your matter.
- 4
Attorney drafting and second pass
A licensed attorney drafts or redlines against the governing state, and a second reviewer clears the deliverable before it leaves the portal.
- 5
Delivery and revision
The deliverable returns through the portal with the drafter's note. The included revision cycle closes out any open points, and you sign under your own authority.
When the volume grows: outsourcing the whole document function
Per-document quoting is the front door, not the ceiling. Most companies enter with one agreement, and the ones with recurring volume graduate to a standing arrangement without changing providers.
Single document
One deliverable, one fixed quote.
One agreement drafted or one inbound contract reviewed. The engagement opens with the quote and closes when the deliverable lands. The normal way to test the desk.
Recurring contract flow
Same bench, per-document quotes.
Every inbound vendor agreement screened, every outbound deal papered, by the same attorney bench that already knows your templates and your risk posture. Still quoted per piece, so spend tracks the quarter.
Standing process work
The document function, outsourced.
Companies and legal departments with steady volume move onto structured engagements where the bench works as a process: defined workstreams, standing confidentiality terms, a predictable cadence.
Where a fractional or outside general counsel fits
A fractional general counsel, sometimes called an outside general counsel, is an ongoing, part-time engagement with a lawyer who carries the company's context, advises across matters, and represents it when needed, for a fraction of a full-time salary. That is a law-firm relationship, and it is not what a document desk is. The per-document model buys individual deliverables with no standing relationship; standing process work buys a predictable drafting cadence from the same bench. Neither one advises on strategy or represents the company. Companies that genuinely need a general-counsel relationship should retain one, and many pair it with a desk like this so the fractional counsel's hours go to judgment instead of drafting.
The escalation routes are already built: how legal process outsourcing engagements are structured covers rates, security, and workflow for recurring volume. Law firms buying drafting capacity for their own clients have a separate program built for attorney supervision, and consultancies that want the work delivered under their own brand use the unbranded wholesale drafting arrangement.
How your contracts stay confidential
Your contract stack is a map of your revenue, your vendors, and your pricing. Confidentiality scales with the engagement: portal-only document handling on every matter, NDAs signed on request, and business associate agreements available where the paper touches health information.
Encrypted portal, portal-only handling
Source documents and deliverables move exclusively through the encrypted client portal, never as loose email attachments. Access is named-user and revocable.
Attorney-only access
Only the licensed attorney assigned to your matter (and the second reviewer) can open your documents. There is no shared drive, no offshore handoff, no pooled queue.
NDA and BAA on request
We countersign your non-disclosure agreement before source material moves, and business associate agreements are available where the paper touches health information.
Deletion on request
When an engagement closes, your source documents and work product are deleted from the portal on request, with confirmation back to you.
Where the line sits
Legal Tank is not a law firm and does not provide legal representation, appear before courts or agencies, negotiate as your company's representative, act as registered agent, or file documents with any state or court. Business documents are drafted or reviewed by licensed attorneys and delivered for your company's own use, with no attorney-client relationship formed.
What business clients say
Feedback from founders, executives, and operators who ran their company paper through the desk: templates standardized, governance settled, deals closed.
“I run a small consulting shop and never had proper service agreements, just verbal handshakes that bit me twice. They put together a master services agreement and an SOW template I now use with every client. The whole thing is in plain language so my clients actually read it instead of glazing over. Genuinely changed how I do business.”
“Needed an international distribution agreement fast. Legal Tank delivered a thorough document covering all jurisdictions. Our attorneys had zero issues with it.”
“Used them for a shareholder agreement when my co-founder and I were setting up. They asked the hard questions we had been avoiding: vesting, exit, what happens if one of us walks. Uncomfortable but necessary. Document held up when we later raised our seed round.”
“The managed services agreement Legal Tank drafted transformed my business. Clear SLAs, liability caps, and IP provisions that protect both my clients and my company.”
Corporate legal services FAQ
What do corporate legal services include?
What is the difference between corporate legal services and hiring a corporate lawyer?
How much does an outside general counsel cost?
What is a fractional general counsel, and is that what Legal Tank provides?
Can a company outsource its legal work?
Do you form companies or act as a registered agent?
Send the first document
One agreement to draft or one inbound contract to review is a normal first engagement. The quote states the deliverable, the fixed fee, and the turnaround before anything is billed.
Quotes return same business day on intakes received before 5 PM ET