Consultation
Focused initial assessment and oral guidance during an agreed session. Further work is separately scoped.
Consultation scopeExternal legal counsel
Counsel that knows
your business.
Defined recurring legal support, with a clear scope and capacity.
External Legal Counsel Plans
Recurring legal issues should not require starting from zero every time.
NLF gives Philippine businesses defined monthly legal capacity for recurring corporate, contract, employer, compliance, and management legal issues, with clear scope and separate treatment for major transactions, disputes, BIR matters, and regulatory work.
Fees for all counsel plans are subject to the firm’s quotation.
Professional fees are VAT-exclusive.
Billing, treatment of unused fees and other payment terms are governed by the written engagement. Unused monthly capacity does not automatically carry forward.
- Intended client
- Businesses with recurring routine legal needs; Core and Growth each cover one named entity through designated contacts.
- Initial deliverable
- Defined recurring legal capacity and Monthly Legal Matter Register; standard Core/Growth onboarding establishes the legal operating map.
- Principal scope
- Core: up to four routine matters/month. Growth: up to eight. Contract/draft sublimits apply within totals; Strategic capacity is agreed in writing.
- Material exclusions
- Major transactions, disputes, BIR audit defense and substantial projects are separately scoped. Additional work requires prior approval; there are no automatic overage charges. There is no unlimited access or guaranteed response time, and emergency representation requires separate confirmation.
Submitting an inquiry does not create an attorney-client relationship. Engagement is subject to conflict checking and written acceptance.
Choose the form of engagement
Different needs. Different scopes.
Defined project
A specified issue, document set and deliverable. A diagnostic does not include every corrective step or ongoing representation.
Business review scopeOngoing counsel
Recurring routine capacity for the named client, within plan limits. Substantial projects and disputes require separate scope.
Counsel scopeBusiness Legal Risk Review spans selected corporate, contractual, employer, tax-process and compliance risks. Corporate Compliance & Governance Review focuses more narrowly on corporate records, governance, authority, reportorial position and account custody. They are distinct engagements.
Illustrative monthly register
One place to see the next action.
Fictional example only. No client information or actual matter is shown. The register covers matters expressly disclosed to and accepted by NLF; it is not a complete corporate-compliance monitoring system.
- Matter and status
- Supplier agreement review: waiting for a missing schedule.
- NLF action
- Identify the missing attachment and note the issue for review.
- Client action and owner
- Designated business contact to obtain the schedule and confirm the intended version.
- Next date
- To be agreed after the document is supplied. No filing deadline or response-time promise is implied.
What management is really buying
A recurring engagement is built around continuity and managed capacity, not a general promise that every issue will fit. NLF remains independent external counsel. Management retains its own business decisions and promptly supplies the facts, documents, notices, and deadlines needed for an accepted matter.
Continuity
Counsel does not have to be introduced to the company from scratch for every routine request.
Defined Capacity
Management knows the recurring legal-service capacity included in the applicable plan.
Legal Matter Control
Accepted matters are triaged, worked, and recorded through a common process.
Escalation
Substantial projects are identified and separately scoped before they consume recurring capacity.
Three defined-scope counsel plans
The standard Core and Growth plans cover one specifically named Philippine legal entity. An affiliate or additional entity requires separate naming, conflict clearance, written inclusion, and pricing. The named entity is the client, not automatically its officers, shareholders, directors, employees, affiliates, or owners.
Core Counsel
Subject to the firm’s quotation
For businesses with moderate recurring legal needs.
- Up to 2 designated client representatives
- Up to 4 routine legal matters per billing month
- Up to 2 routine contract reviews within total matters, ordinarily up to 10 pages each and 20 pages total
- Up to 1 short-form routine draft within total matters, ordinarily up to 5 pages
- One management legal meeting per month, up to 60 minutes
- Monthly Legal Matter Register
Growth Counsel
Subject to the firm’s quotation
For a larger recurring flow of contracts and management legal issues.
- Up to 4 designated client representatives
- Up to 8 routine legal matters per billing month
- Up to 4 routine contract reviews within total matters, ordinarily up to 15 pages each and 60 pages total
- Up to 2 short-form routine drafts within total matters, ordinarily up to 8 pages each
- Two management legal meetings per month, up to 60 minutes each
- Monthly Legal Matter Register and recurring legal-priority review
Strategic Counsel
Subject to the firm’s quotation
Custom recurring legal capacity for materially greater volume, management touchpoints, or multiple business functions.
- Custom designated-contact structure
- Custom monthly legal capacity
- Custom managed contract queue and document-volume controls
- Custom routine drafting capacity
- Custom management cadence, potentially weekly where agreed
- Custom matter register and executive legal-priority workflow
On smaller screens, scroll the comparison sideways to view all plans.
| Feature | Core | Growth | Strategic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly professional fee | Subject to the firm’s quotation | Subject to the firm’s quotation | Subject to the firm’s quotation |
| Standard entity coverage | 1 named entity | 1 named entity | Custom by written scope |
| Designated contacts | Up to 2 | Up to 4 | Custom |
| Routine matters | Up to 4 | Up to 8 | Custom |
| Routine contract reviews | Up to 2 within total | Up to 4 within total | Custom |
| Short-form routine drafts | Up to 1 within total | Up to 2 within total | Custom |
| Management meetings | 1 × 60 minutes | 2 × 60 minutes | Custom |
| Monthly Legal Matter Register | Included | Included | Custom workflow |
| Major transactions, disputes, BIR audit defense | Separate scope | Separate scope | Separate unless expressly scoped |
The relationship starts by building the legal operating map.
Counsel Onboarding & Legal Operations Setup for standard Core and Growth engagements
Subject to the firm’s quotation
Client and entity identification
Designated contacts and decision-makers
High-level matter and disclosed-deadline inventory
Communication and escalation protocol
High-level conflict mapping
Initial Monthly Legal Matter Register setup
Onboarding does not include substantive cleanup of historical legal problems, a complete legal audit, corporate remediation, historical contract review, BIR audit review, litigation-file review, or employment-file review. Where legacy issues need deeper review, NLF will identify the appropriate separate scope before work begins.
A monthly legal control system
1Request
2Triage
3Matter Acceptance
4Legal Work
5Management Decision
6Matter Register
7Escalation if Needed
For matters expressly disclosed to and accepted by NLF, the Matter Register records status, NLF action, client action, next date, and responsible person. It is not a complete corporate-compliance monitoring system and does not transfer management responsibility for undisclosed deadlines.
What counts as a routine legal matter
One discrete request involving one principal legal issue and reasonably defined facts.
One initial legal review, advice, or draft plus one reasonable clarification or client-side revision on substantially the same facts.
A clear endpoint, such as a completed advice note, reviewed document, or short routine draft.
No extensive factual investigation, government appearance, material third-party negotiation, dispute work, or exceptionally compressed statutory deadline.
Materially changed facts, instructions, counterparty drafts, new legal issues, negotiations, disputes, government proceedings, or substantially more documents can create a new matter or require a separate scope. The firm determines whether a request fits the agreed routine-matter definition.
Illustrative Core month
A review of a supplier agreement, advice on director signing authority, review of an employment-contract provision, and a routine secretary's certificate may each be accepted as one matter. The monthly management legal meeting is separately included. Illustrative workload only. Actual matters depend on scope.
A healthy retainer needs boundaries.
These plans provide defined recurring legal capacity. Major transactions, litigation, regulatory proceedings, BIR audit defense, and other substantial projects are separately scoped so routine support remains managed and predictable. If a request exceeds scope, NLF identifies the issue and seeks approval before material additional work. It does not silently impose automatic hourly overages.
Special matters are routed deliberately
Live BIR notices or audit controversy are assessed through the BIR Notice Review & Response Plan. A broad unresolved legal position may need a Business Legal Risk Review. Corporate reconstruction or remediation may need a Corporate Compliance & Governance Review. A live employee disciplinary process may need an Employer Disciplinary Due Process Pack.
Scheduling, response, and urgent matters
Receipt and initial classification are distinct from a substantive legal response, which depends on complexity, documents, deadline, conflicts, and workload. A statutory deadline, hearing, government inquiry, data breach, or other legal emergency may receive initial triage, but emergency representation and full execution require separate confirmation. Matter and meeting capacity does not automatically roll forward. Billing and treatment of unused fees are governed by the written engagement.
A good fit for / May not fit the standard plans
A good fit for
- Businesses with recurring contract, corporate, employer, compliance, or management legal questions
- Management teams that can centralize requests through designated representatives
- Companies that want one firm familiar with recurring accepted matters
- Businesses that have outgrown purely ad hoc legal engagement without needing a full internal legal department
May not fit the standard plans
- A company seeking unrestricted drafting, calls, or access
- A company with extensive active litigation, government appearances, or BIR controversy as its dominant need
- A company seeking group-wide coverage for one fee
- A company needing intensive M&A, financing, or an embedded full-time lawyer
- A request for predetermined legal conclusions or management decisions
Questions management commonly asks
Does this cover our whole group?
No. The standard plan covers one named legal entity. Additional entities must be specifically named, conflict-cleared, included in writing, and reflected in pricing.
Can everyone in the company contact NLF?
No. Core and Growth plans use designated representatives. Additional contacts may be separately approved through the written engagement.
Do unused matters roll forward?
Monthly matter and meeting capacity does not automatically accumulate or carry forward, subject to the written engagement terms and applicable professional obligations.
Can NLF negotiate every contract for us?
Routine review includes defined review, risk comments, or limited markup where appropriate. Negotiation, multiple counterparty cycles, transaction management, and complex documents are separately assessed.
What does the named entity receive?
The representation is for the named company. Personal representation of officers, shareholders, directors, managers, or employees requires separate conflict analysis and engagement where appropriate.
Determine whether recurring external counsel fits your business.
The fit screen asks for high-level business information only. NLF will confirm the legal client entity, expected capacity, conflicts, onboarding needs, and whether a recurring counsel engagement is appropriate.
Please do not send passwords, OTPs, bulk records, or detailed confidential legal facts at this stage. Submitting an inquiry does not mean that Nopuente Law Firm has accepted the company as a client or agreed to handle any legal matter. Any engagement remains subject to conflict clearance, scope confirmation, and written acceptance by the firm.