Bringing you the value-added services of your own general counsel on your own terms. Part-time or full-time. On-site or off-site. Temporary or long-term. We can act as your sole internal legal resource or supplement your existing in-house legal team. Our flexible model allows you to decide.
Virtual Counsel
In a world of virtual employees, the idea of a virtual legal resource just makes sense. Gone are the days of mahogany desks, boardrooms with million dollar views and world-class art collections. Today, money is better spent on technology to stay connected with clients. Overhead is substantially reduced, flexibility is dramatically increased and savings are passed directly on to clients. You want virtual counsel.
Quality Counsel
There is no shortage of legal resources available to business owners and executives. Aside from cost, the single most differentiating factor is quality. Quality legal counsel does so much more than outline legal risks. You want to achieve the perfect balance between mitigating risk exposure and facilitating the needs of your business. You are not looking for academic opinions but practical solutions and reliable advice. You want quality counsel.
Customized Counsel
Your legal needs may differ depending on where you are in the lifecycle of your business: start-up, building business through customer acquisition or product development, joint venture, reorganization, special projects, and more. You want to manage your costs while maintaining control over the scope of legal engagements. You want to set the terms tailored to your needs and pay only for what you use. Made-to-order. You want customized counsel.
Our mission
Caplan Legal Consulting was founded to provide business clients with critical corporate legal services replicating the methods, approach, and style of an in-house law department. We are committed to cost control, speed of delivery, practicality of advice, creativity of solutions, and understanding your business.
How we are different
As a client, you are unique. Unique needs require unique solutions. Caplan Legal Consulting will modify our approach to fit your business.
Our level of involvement depends entirely upon you. You may already know exactly what you need – you can communicate clearly at the outset as to the scope of the project and what type of end product you would like to receive. But you may not know what you want. Together, we will determine your goals. We concentrate on identifying potential gaps and looks for potential pitfalls. We can make this assessment and then offer you a realizable approach to achieve your defined goals.
Our alternative to the traditional legal model offers flexibility in fee structures. Our goal is to fulfill your legal needs in the most cost-effective manner. In addition to the conventional billable hour (which we offer at a fraction of the cost of external law firms), fixed-fee retainer and project-based structures are offered.
Who we are
Elana Caplan is the founder of Caplan Legal Consulting. She brings to the business and services a unique ability to apply her broad and deep knowledge of payment and technology law to the specific business strategies and priorities of her financial services and corporate clients. Elana has strong legal experience in the business and regulatory aspects of the payment environment. She provides legal advice and services on the financial, regulatory, business and technology aspects of the business of her clients. She works primarily with credit card issuers, payment processors, merchant cash advance providers and mobile and other payment innovators. Her employers have included American Express, TD Bank Financial Group and MTS Allstream. Elana began her career practicing corporate and securities law in the law firm McMillan Binch LLP (now McMillan LLP). She received her Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School and is a member of the Ontario Bar. In 2013, Elana was appointed to the Board of Directors of the North York Women’s Shelter. She also holds the position of co-chair of Out of the Cold – Holy Blossom, an organization for which she has volunteered since 2006.
Our Services
Initial Consultation
We will meet with your management team to learn all about you – the structure of your business as well as your priorities, key supplier relationships, key customer relationships, culture, risk tolerance and strategic direction. The information gathered at this initial consultation will be used to develop a unique client profile in order to provide you with customized services.
Everyday In-house Counsel
Working either onsite or offsite on a part-time basis, we will manage your everyday legal requirements arising from strategic decisions, and advise on and negotiate matters relating to the ongoing operations of your business. A dedicated legal resource provides countless benefits to an organization. Advice is provided from an in-house perspective focusing on your unique business needs. Your team will have a consistent legal resource to discuss everyday matters as they arise and manage their external counsel costs. For smaller companies without the need for a full-time in-house legal resource, this ongoing relationship can promote a larger image of your organization within your industry. This function can also serve as sounding board and valuable part of management team.
In-house counsel is typically engaged earlier and more frequently than an external firm. This allows for business processes to be developed in light of associated legal risks – considering and managing them as part of the strategy instead of dealing with them as an afterthought. The integration of counsel into the business provides a greater understanding of the organizational culture, risk tolerance and limitations. Your legal resource will have greater insight to leverage in providing practical solutions while weighing legal considerations.
Consider ongoing and consistent access to a lawyer for:
- immediate contract review or responses to relevant legal questions during negotiations or discussions with your clients, vendors and partners
- active protection of your proprietary information including customer lists and critical competitive information
- implementation of preventative legal strategies through ongoing consultation with management
- management of legal issues that would otherwise demand the time of senior management
- a responsive member of your team who deals with each project, matter or issue with the time-sensitivity you require
- drafting of contracts and preparation of standard forms is best accomplished by a team member with intimate knowledge of the structure, goals and culture of the organization
- management of and greater control over external legal expenses
On-Demand Legal Resource
A question today, contract review next week, a prospective joint venture next month. An on-demand legal resource can be a valuable asset to your business. Efficient, reliable and practical legal advice to help you make strategic decisions or simply provide you with peace of mind. We will take the time to get to you know your business in order to provide the ongoing legal advice you are looking for, and we’ll do it at a fraction of the cost of external counsel.
Project Counsel
Where a specific project or initiative within your organization requires substantial legal attention and expertise, consider adding project counsel to your management team or your existing legal team. This type of surge resource can focus strictly on the task at hand to provide you with the legal direction necessary to see the project through to completion with reliability, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Corporate Legal Audit
By helping you identify and analyze your legal risks, a corporate legal audit will allow you to make more informed business decisions. You will be in a better position to adopt practices to conduct your business in the most productive and beneficial way.
We will review your corporate organization, minute books, supplier/vendor contracts, customer/client contracts, strategic partnerships and other corporate arrangements to develop of a full summary report and assessment. The resulting report will help you to: prepare better agreements, negotiate better agreements, know your rights before signing an agreement, better resolve disputes, terminate an agreement early and understand your remedies. In collaboration with you, a customized course of action can be designed to meet your individual needs.
Above and Beyond
In-house legal counsel customarily provide ancillary services as part of their management or executive roles. These services include strategic planning, board development and governance, leadership training, policy strategies, message development and communications strategies, as well as writing and responding to Requests for Proposals.
Contact Us
Location:
4936 Yonge St.
Suite 723
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M2N 6S3
Email:
info@caplanlegal.ca
Call:
647.352.8428