Patricia Haywood Esq

General Counsel to Founders, CEOs & Senior Leaders

How can I help you?

I work with founders, CEOs and senior leaders who are growing or scaling their business and need a strategic legal partner to help them understand the risks and opportunities in every deal. I help them build governance structures and decision-making at scale.

I don’t work like a traditional lawyer. I don’t regurgitate laws, jargon and try to confuse you. I distil complex issues and legal nuances in plain English and map out the complexities, blind spots and provide alternative solutions.

My process is collaborative and structured. It requires trust on both our parts.

Who do I help?

I have 3 hard criteria:

  1. Your organisation must be experiencing real organisational consequence. Such as tension with external investors/grant funders, public/regulatory scrutiny or a formal board or board-equivalent.

  2. Your organisation must have a revenue or complexity threshold. It must be turning over 7 figures, with many clients turning over £3m or more. Alternatively, your business may be post Series A or at equivalent scale (team, contracts or stakeholders).

  3. Your organisation must be experiencing the tension between power and strain. There is a visible strain between speed, control and structure.

For organisations not meeting these 3 criteria, but would like a strategy session with me, I propose a 1:1 that can be booked here.

Process of Working

I start with The Decision & Governance Stress Test to understand where the organisation is exposed right now and whether a Fractional General Counsel is needed. It is a 2-3 week process that culminates in a written report, a live readout conversation and one of 3 verdicts:

  1. A Fractional General Counsel is warranted;

  2. Targeted Fixes only; or

  3. Not ready/wrong fit.

Whatever the verdict is, you will walk away with actionable steps to improve the governance, decisions-making and ultimately your business.

Get to know me before you work with me:

Women Who Don’t Apologise Podcast

Should I sign this contract? Podcast