Legal Counsel - Job Offers
We serve as attorney counsel individuals who are evaluating the legal terms of their equity and employment offers.
Workflow
Document Review
Analyze offer documents and identify additional documents for client to request from the company.
Evaluation
Summarize and discuss key legal terms including risks and opportunities for improvement including tax design.
Negotiation
Client negotiates key legal terms in plain language. Counsel on goals, strategy and document review throughout the client’s negotiation.
Testimonials
“Mary made sure I fully understood every detail of my equity offer, and she helped me request changes that I never would have known to ask for without her guidance. Best money I ever spent!”
— James Messinger, Senior Software Engineer
“As a female leader in Silicon Valley, I’ve found that negotiating on my own behalf is hard. In some cases, I have felt uncomfortable asking for what I want, even when I know it’s rational and justified. Mary took time to understand my goals, provided me with expertise to give me confidence in my asks and supported me with feedback along the way. Mary was a terrific partner! She understood that the process was, for me, about getting to a win-win with my future employer and making sure we all got what we wanted in the end. A terrific example of women helping women to negotiate in a style that works for us. Thank you, Mary!”
— Megan Hanley, CMO
“When I had an offer from an early stage startup, my friend referred me to Mary Russell to help me evaluate the offer. To be honest, because this was my first time doing this, I was not sure what to expect or how much value to expect. This has been extremely valuable! Mary taught me about the many nuances of the offer to be negotiated with the founder - nuances I didn't even know existed. The final agreement I negotiated was miles and miles better than the original, keeping many future options open for me that I didn't even think about. The founder even complimented me on my fluency in startup equity. Thank you!”
— Satanjeev Banerjee, Head of Engineering
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome
FAQs
What is the fee structure?
Fees are hourly for Legal Counsel - Job Offers. Hourly rates vary based on the staffing required for the project.
Hourly fees for Legal Counsel - Job Offers usually total from $4K - $10K, and we can estimate fees on the intro call.
How can we start?
Schedule a brief intro call. Please call (650) 326-3412 or email info@stockoptioncounsel.com for scheduling.
From there, we would sign a DocuSign engagement letter and arrange to deposit estimated fees into a trust account, via an online credit card payment service for attorneys. We can usually get started on the first business day after those are complete.
How long does it take?
The process usually takes about one week from start to finish.
Will you be negotiating the legal terms in my job offer on my behalf?
Probably not. The cultural expectation is for individuals to act as their own advocates. We empower clients to do this effectively.
We do sometimes act as direct advocates to finalize any technical legal terms, but our clients love our approach of education and empowerment and the results they achieve for themselves.
Does this service include advice on the numbers, such as the salary and number of shares, in the offer?
No. See our Compensation Counsel - Job Offers page for the services we offer on the numbers side of an offer.