The general Counsel, Ltd.

The General Counsel, Ltd.

The General Counsel, Ltd. (GCL) is a firm of experienced in-house attorneys providing “outsourced in-house counsel” services to business clients at affordable rates.
We’re not a traditional law firm, and don’t aspire to be.

We believe we have a much better way of serving our clients.

Most outside business lawyers are part of a traditional firm – complete with expensive offices in fancy towers, a confusing hierarchy of professionals, a constantly changing cast of attorneys, and of course, huge bills (complete with generous charges for photocopies and other sundries).Sometimes these firms can feel like the “department of business prevention” — more of an adversary than part of the team. While they may know the law, they don’t always know the clients or the business well, which makes it very difficult to provide great legal service.

While The General Counsel, Ltd. is a law firm, it takes a very different approach. We serve our business clients as outsourced in-house counsel, providing practical, quality, accessible and affordable legal advice. While our approach has been innovative, it’s also well-proven: we’ve been helping a great many companies – ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 – this way since 1985.
We differ from typical firms in very important ways:

* We don’t need the fancy office tower and the high overhead. We’d rather work at the client’s office, where we can be accessible, or at home with a strong virtual connection to our clients. We know that the real action is not in the ivory tower, but where the business people are grappling with real-world issues.
* We focus on “inside” law. Our attorneys have a practical, in-house orientation. All are deeply experienced, having served as in-house counsel for successful businesses. We make a point of really getting to know our clients and their business, so we can anticipate and further their business objectives. We understand the value of being part of the team, part of the solution, and part of what makes the business succeed.
* We maintain a personalized, focused presence. We know the importance of continuity and personal relationships, and how frustrating it can be for clients to have a constantly changing array of lawyers handling their matters. Our lawyers tend to be the “go-to” resource for a variety of legal issues, so clients know where to go for help with confidence that their attorney knows them and understands their business.
* We don’t train junior associates at client expense. Because everyone in our firm is experienced, we don’t have trainee attorneys. Although we constantly learn from our experiences, we bring knowledge and perspective earned over many, many years to bear on the issues faced by our clients.
* We keep our services affordable. Because we don’t carry the overhead of a traditional firm, we don’t need to charge like a traditional firm. Their overhead often runs 50% or more of revenues. Ours is much less – so we can afford to provide high quality at significantly lower rates.

We were providing “virtual” and “outsourced” services years before these became popular terms. In recent years we’ve been flattered by imitation — other firms around the country have started

Kent Larson founded The General Counsel Ltd. in 1985 to provide outsourced in-house counsel services to business enterprises. Since then, serving as outsourced general counsel and senior staff counsel, he has provided legal advice and counsel to many clients, ranging in size from start-ups to Fortune 100 corporations.

Over the years, Kent has provided GCL legal services to a wide variety of companies, including 3M; ADC Telecommunications; Ancor Communications (now QLogic); Boston Scientific Sci-Med; Ceridian; Digital Biometrics (now Identix); ev3; Graco; Graco Robotics; H.B. Fuller; Lifeworks Services; NetRegulus; Nott Company; Novartis; PCS Solutions; PLATO Learning, Prodigen; RTW, Inc.; Rocket Chips (now Xilinx); and Silicon Informatics.

Prior to starting the GCL, Kent was Senior Technology Attorney for Graco Inc., a Minneapolis manufacturer and marketer of fluid handling and spray finishing equipment. At Graco he had responsibility for numerous legal, technological and business matters and served as primary legal counsel to business units. He was involved in the formation and development of Graco Robotics, Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of state-of-the-art spray robots, and served as corporate Secretary for Graco Robotics.

In addition to practicing law and managing successful law practices, Kent has been a founder and principal in successful business enterprises dedicated to helping clients (1) develop strategic business relationships, particularly international alliances and (2) develop, manage and extract value from intellectual property portfolios.

Kent received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Minnesota. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering, granted with High Distinction and completed all coursework for a Master of Arts in International Management at the School of Public Affairs (now the Humphrey Institute) at the University of Minnesota.

Kent is licensed to practice in Minnesota and has been active in a number of professional organizations, including the Minnesota State Bar Association, Hennepin County Bar Association, Ramsey County Bar Association (Past Chair, Corporation, Banking and Business Law Section), Corporate Counsel Association of Minnesota; Licensing Executives Society, and Turnaround Management Association.
Areas of Specialty

With background in law, engineering and business, Kent has deep and broad experience in a wide variety of legal areas important to businesses. He is capable of handling most of the legal issues facing growing businesses, including:

* Commercial matters, including purchase and sale agreements, distribution agreements, marketing agreements, sales representative agreements, credit and collections matters and commercial real estate leases;
* Technology and intellectual property, including product development agreements, technology transfers, licensing arrangements, software licensing agreements, portfolio development and management, trade secrets and trademarks;
* Business organization and development, including multi-faceted strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures; business formations and corporate secretarial;
* International business, including trans-national agreements, offshore sourcing, sales and procurement matters, distributor agreements and sales representative relationships;
* Outside counsel coordination regarding products liability defense and international sales, distribution and employment law;
* Basic employment matters. He also has access to more specialized employment law expertise through other lawyers in the firm who focus their practice in this area.

My Philosophy

Kent loves to use his expertise to help companies grow. He helps foster growth in a number of ways:

* Protecting the engine for growth by managing legal risks. There’s nothing that can derail growth faster than litigation and liabilities. Successful businesses know how to detect risk exposures and actively manage them. Those that don’t sooner or later find themselves embroiled in litigation, negative publicity and liabilities that can put them at serious risk. Smaller companies often get by with a healthy dose of luck and a “reactive” approach to legal problems, but smart ones realize they need to pay attention and pro-actively managing legal issues and exposures. Kent proactively helps identify issues, provides guidance about avoiding and minimizing liability exposure, and helps find ways to manage the risks inherent in business.
* Helping make the company a better business partner. Key drivers of business growth are strong relationships with customers, vendors, sales reps and other business “partners.” Good business is built on professional, reasonable, and simple relationships. Successful companies make doing business with them easy, while retaining reasonable protections of their interests. Kent has significant experience helping companies develop appropriate documentation for purchases, sales, licenses, representatives, disclosures – documents that address and allocate risks in a reasonable way, all in plain English. He helps them develop fast-response processes for responding to documents proposed by business partners.
* Helping build win-win relationships with strategic partners. Unless you can fund growth internally, it will be important to identify strategic partners who can help you leverage your strengths and fill capability gaps. Kent can use his deep experience, both as a businessman and lawyer, to help identify needs, find partners and structure win-win deals.
* Seeking legal advantages that propel growth. The law can operate as a two-edged sword, not only providing pitfalls for the unwary, but also opportunities for the vigilant. Smart businesses seek to take advantage of these opportunities, which can help propel growth. Kent seeks advantages in legislation, legal doctrines, court decisions, regulations, and governmental incentive programs. He helps companies use the law, not only as a shield, but also for advantage in a competitive business environment.
* Leveraging best practices. Smaller companies tend to get insular, having some success with home-grown methods, but unaware of “best practices” elsewhere. His experience with a variety of companies and corporate cultures has put him in a great position to help clients identify and implement winning ideas and practices that have proven successful elsewhere.
* Providing peer-to-peer business counsel with the lawyer’s perspective. It can be “lonely at the top” for C-level business executives. As someone with executive and legal experience at companies ranging from entrepreneurial to Fortune 100, Kent can be a valuable advisor and confidant — not only in legal matters, but in business matters as well.