Fractional In-House Counsel
In the GCC, Africa & UK
What is Fractional In-House Counsel?
Your legal position takes shape every day: in the contracts you agree, the instructions your team gives, the records it keeps and the way it responds when a project changes. By the time an issue becomes a formal dispute, many of the decisions that matter have already been made. Fractional in-house counsel brings experienced legal judgement into those commercial decisions early, with a fixed monthly fee for the time your business needs.
C&IDS places experienced construction counsel within your business on a part-time, retained basis, working alongside your management, commercial and project teams. You gain someone who understands the context, questions assumptions and helps you decide what deserves attention while useful options remain.
It is one role, seen at four moments in a project: before you sign, while you build, when things change and when positions harden. Each is described on its own page, linked below.
Legal Risk Exists Before It Becomes Legal Work
The value of early involvement is the opportunity to influence what happens next: preserve a position, resolve a disagreement, prepare a worthwhile claim or decide that a different course makes better business sense. That calls for a specialist: FIDIC, NEC, JCT and IChemE forms of contract, delay and disruption claims, extensions of time and arbitration procedure all benefit from years of sector-specific experience.
How the Placement Works
You enter a direct in-house lawyer agreement governing the lawyer’s role within your business, including scope, reporting lines, availability, conflicts of interest and confidentiality. C&IDS handles the placement and payment arrangements under a separate placement agreement. A weekly task sheet sets the agreed priorities and target dates, and a weekly timesheet shows the hours used and the work done.
C&IDS is not a law firm and does not itself provide legal advice or direct the lawyer’s legal work. It sees only what it needs for placement and invoicing: your records and your lawyer’s work product remain confidential to you.
Clients
C&IDS places fractional in-house counsel with every tier of the construction industry, including:
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Main contractors operating under construction, design and build, EPC contracts or other forms of project delivery
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Specialist subcontractors — MEP, piling, façades, fit-out, roads and utilities — managing onerous subcontract terms and payment disputes
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Developers and investors structuring contracts and managing contractor performance across development programmes
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Energy and infrastructure businesses delivering power, water, transport and industrial projects, including FIDIC Silver Book and BOT concessions
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International contractors entering new markets who need embedded, locally informed legal expertise without law firm overhead
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FM and O&M operators managing performance regimes, KPI disputes and long-term operational contracts
Whatever the business, the role is the same: experienced construction counsel inside it, with the scope, availability and monthly hours agreed around its projects and priorities.
Use Technology to Give Judgement More Time
Technology supports labour-intensive tasks such as organising documents, building chronologies and identifying inconsistencies. Your lawyer checks the output against the underlying records and applies experience to what it means. The aim is to use the agreed time more productively, with greater attention to assessment, strategy and action. Remote working and technology also help keep the model lean and the pricing competitive.
A first conversation can establish where legal judgement would be most useful, how the lawyer would work with your team and the monthly commitment that makes sense for you. The first steps carry no charge and no obligation.
Contract Drafting & Negotiation
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FIDIC (full suite), NEC4, JCT, IChemE and bespoke contracts
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Subcontract and consultancy agreements
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JV and partnering agreements
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Procurement strategy and contract framework development
Live Project Legal Advice
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Embedded advice during project delivery
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Contract administration guidance for commercial teams
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Variation and change management strategy
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Extension of Time (EOT) claim structuring and notices
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Early-warning legal risk identification
Claims Administration
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Claims administration procedures and registers
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Drafting and reviewing claims notices and submissions
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Final account strategy and preparation
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Payment recovery and withholding dispute management
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Advising on and supporting the engagement of programming, quantum and other technical expert services
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Training for commercial and contract administration teams
Dispute Strategy & Resolution
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Early-stage dispute strategy and structured settlement
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Adjudication, expert determination and mediation support
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Arbitration management — DIAC, ICC, ad hoc
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Instructing and managing external counsel and experts
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Post-dispute process improvement
HOW C&IDS CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS
Key Advantages Of Embedded In-House Construction Counsel:
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Fixed monthly fee for the agreed hours, with no markup on rates and no billing surprises
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Embedded experienced construction counsel working alongside your management, commercial and project teams
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Prepared for negotiation, adjudication or arbitration, with one lawyer holding the file from day one
