Heather Byrd Asher

I am former General Counsel & Corporate Secretary with over 15 years of legal experience as a senior in-house lawyer and law firm associate.

My firm, Extended Counsel LLC, is a virtual law firm specializing in corporate and transactional business law matters. The firm offers variety of legal billing options (subscription, flat fee and hourly fee) to accommodate different business needs.

The firm assists businesses without in-house counsel or in-house legal departments with overflow work. Services include strategic legal advice, commercial contract review and negotiation, draft of contract templates and company policies, corporate governance and compliance review and Fractional GC/legal staffing services.

For companies without in-house counsel, we can:

• Guide you through initial business phases by identifying legal risks and offering actionable solutions. We'll help you through the "I don't know what I don't know" phase.
• Build your legal program and processes, such as reviewing contracts, preparing templates, developing playbooks, and creating compliance programs. Don't wait until your first legal hire to start this work.

For companies with in-house counsel, we can:

• Immediately support your legal team by handling overflow work, saving the time and costs of using a staffing company or handling a permanent hire.
• Finally address those backlogged projects - updating contract templates, drafting new policies, and creating new streamlined processes.
• Provide in-house experience that allows us to quickly get up to speed and work directly with your business persons if desired. Take yourself out of the loop so you can focus on other tasks.