What you get
This page sets out what a Clemenza Law engagement actually includes — the access levels, how fast we respond, how onboarding runs, what the portal does, what you receive month to month, and, just as plainly, what is excluded.
Who you will be working with
Every engagement described on this page is handled by Anthony Clemenza, founding partner. There is no account manager in between, and no associate the file gets handed down to.
Replies within one business day — usually much sooner.
The four access levels
Essential Access
$1,499/monthFor early-stage companies, working creatives, and lean organizations that need consistent legal guidance.
- 5 hours of dedicated counsel monthly
- 48-hour response time
- Quarterly strategy sessions
- Contract review & negotiation
- Email & scheduled call access
- Monthly usage summary
Professional Access
$2,950/monthFor growing companies, established talent, and organizations with regular legal needs and strategic priorities.
- 10 hours of dedicated counsel monthly
- Same-day response for urgent matters
- Monthly strategy sessions
- Full contract lifecycle support
- Direct Slack/phone access
- Team member access included
Fractional General Counsel
$5,500/monthA working general counsel seat — for companies, talent enterprises, and nonprofits that need counsel in the room every week.
- 20 hours of dedicated counsel monthly
- Same-day response, priority line
- Weekly working sessions
- Board & investor materials, memos, and minutes
- Vendor, employment & commercial paperwork run end-to-end
- Direct Slack/phone for your leadership team
- Quarterly legal-operations review
Flagship General Counsel
$7,500/monthYour general counsel of record — named in the governance documents, in the room for the decisions. For funded startups, established talent with teams, and mid-sized nonprofits. Offered in limited seats.
- Named as your general counsel of record
- Set by the role, not an hour count
- Board meeting attendance
- M&A and financing support
- Crisis management protocols
- Full leadership team access
- Annual Legal Health Check refresh
What each level commits to
| Commitment | Essential Access | Professional Access | Fractional General Counsel | Flagship General Counsel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated counsel hours | 5 hours / month | 10 hours / month | 20 hours / month | Set by the role, not an hour count |
| Response time | Within 48 hours | Same-day for urgent matters | Same-day, priority line | Same-day, priority line |
| Strategy sessions | Quarterly | Monthly | Weekly working sessions | On demand |
| Communication channels | Email & scheduled calls | Direct Slack & phone | Direct Slack & phone | Direct line to your attorney |
| Who can reach us | Founder or principal | Your leadership team | Your leadership team | Full leadership team |
| Board & governance support | — | Board materials & governance guidance | Board materials, memos & minutes | Board meeting attendance |
| Onboarding Legal Health Check | Included | Included | Included, with quarterly reviews | Included, with annual refresh |
How onboarding runs
- 01
Complimentary consultation
A 15-minute call to understand your needs and confirm the program is the right fit.
- 02
Conflict check
We run a conflict check before any engagement — standard practice for every client we take on.
- 03
Engagement agreement
A plain-English written agreement defining your plan’s scope, response times, and terms.
- 04
Legal Health Check
An onboarding review of your key documents and obligations, with a prioritized 90-day roadmap.
- 05
Ongoing counsel
Your monthly cadence begins — dedicated hours, strategy sessions, and priority response.
The Legal Health Check
Before the monthly cadence begins, we review what you already have — entity documents, contracts in force, IP ownership, employment and contractor papers, privacy and data obligations — and return a prioritised 90-day roadmap.
What it produces
- A written inventory of what exists, what is missing, and what is out of date
- A risk ranking, so the first month is spent on what actually matters
- A 90-day roadmap with owners and dates
- A list of anything we think needs a specialist we are not
Where the work lives
- You always know where your matter stands
- A milestone rail for each matter, in plain language rather than docket shorthand, updated as the work moves.
- Your documents live in one place
- A private vault scoped to you. Not an email thread, and not a shared drive with a link that outlives the engagement.
- Signing is tamper-evident
- Documents are rendered and hashed on our server before they reach you, and the signing page shows that hash. If the text changed after it was sent, the system refuses the signature rather than recording it.
- Billing is never a surprise
- Invoices, what they cover, and what has been paid — visible before they are due.
- Messages stay privileged
- A direct channel to your attorney inside the portal, rather than email that fans out across devices and inboxes.
- Access is protected
- Row-level database isolation per client, and mandatory two-factor authentication on every firm-side account.
What you receive, and when
Usage summary
What we worked on, what it consumed against your hours, and what is open going into next month.
Strategy session
A working session on what is ahead rather than what has happened — fundraising, hiring, contracts coming up for renewal. Monthly on Professional and above.
Document refresh
Your templates, policies and standing agreements re-read against the law as it now is, not as it was when they were drafted.
Matter closing letter
Every matter ends in writing, stating what was done and what your file retention looks like. No matter simply goes quiet.
Against the New York benchmark
$426/hr
Average New York lawyer billing rate
$2,130
5 hours at that rate
$300/hr
Effective rate on Essential Access
Benchmark source: Clio Legal Trends Report, 2025. Comparison is against the published hourly average for New York lawyers and the included hours on Essential Access; it is not a promise of any particular outcome or total spend.
Every published fee, in one place
Most firms will tell you a number after the call. These are the numbers before it. Flat fees are flat; the indicative ranges say so, and say what moves them. Whatever you engage us for, the figure that binds is the one in your written engagement agreement.
Ongoing counsel, monthly
The full pageThe General Counsel Program. One fee, stated hours, and a response time you can hold us to.
Essential Access
$1,499/month
Professional Access
$2,950/month
Fractional General Counsel
$5,500/month
Flagship General Counsel
$7,500/month
Trademarks, flat fee
The full pageFederal practice. USPTO government fees are paid by you and are always separate.
Single-Class Trademark Application
$1,200
Office Action Response
$500–$2,000
Clearance Search & Opinion
$600 / $1,800
Maintenance & Renewal Filings
$450–$650 per class
Private foundations, flat fee
The full pageFormation through the IRS determination letter, as one defined engagement.
Foundation Launch Path
Half on signing, half on filing the Form 1023. IRS user fee separate.
$9,500
Founders & companies, indicative
The full pageDefined-scope matters. The figure in your engagement agreement is the one that binds.
Entity formation & founder agreements
State filing and publication fees additional.
Flat fee, typically $1,500–$3,500
Commercial contracts
Flat fee, typically $500–$1,500 per agreement
Trademark & brand protection
Government filing fees additional.
Flat fee, typically $950–$1,750 per mark
Financing & investment documents
Defined-scope engagements from $2,500
Ongoing counsel
See General Counsel plans for details.
Monthly retainer plans from $1,499
Talent & entertainment, indicative
The full pageDeals, rights, and petitions, scoped before the work starts.
O-1 / P artist visa petitions
Government filing fees additional.
Flat fee, typically $6,000–$10,000
Contract review & negotiation
Flat fee, typically $500–$1,500 per agreement
Trademark & brand protection
Government filing fees additional.
Flat fee, typically $950–$1,750 per mark
Royalty & rights matters
Defined-scope engagements from $1,500
Disputes & arbitration
Fee structure confirmed before any work begins.
Scoped after consultation
Nonprofits & foundations, indicative
The full pageFormation, governance, and the filings that keep an organization lawful.
501(c)(3) formation & exemption
Government filing fees additional.
Flat fee, typically $2,500–$5,000
Governance & policy packages
Flat fee, typically $1,500–$3,500
Compliance reviews
Defined-scope engagements from $1,000
Ongoing counsel
See General Counsel plans for details.
Monthly retainer plans from $1,499
Government filing fees — USPTO, USCIS, IRS, and state — are paid by you and are never included in a figure above. Published fees are honored for at least thirty days from the date they appear here.
Flat-fee ways in
Foundation Launch Path
$9,500End-to-end private foundation formation: entity, EIN, bylaws and governance, the Form 1023 exemption application, and state charities registration. Billed half on signing and half on filing the 1023.
Trademark application
$1,200Clearance, preparation and filing in one class, docketed through the first office action. USPTO fees are paid by you directly and are separate.
Clearance search & opinion
$600 / $1,800A risk read before you commit to a name. Credited against the application fee if you file with us within 90 days.
How your information is held
- Row-level security on every client-facing table — isolation enforced by the database, not by application code.
- Mandatory two-factor authentication on firm-side accounts, enforced server-side as well as in the browser.
- Private document storage scoped to the owning client; documents are not served from public URLs.
- An append-only audit log of privileged actions.
- Documents hashed at issuance, with the hash re-verified at signing before a signature is recorded.
- Encryption in transit and at rest, with a strict content-security policy and bot protection on public forms.
What is not included
Every retainer has edges. Ours are here rather than in a footnote, because the commonest source of a dispute is a client who believed the arrangement was something it was not.
Litigation
We do not appear in court. If a matter becomes contested we will help you find counsel who does, and stay involved on the transactional side.
Work outside New York state law
The firm is admitted in New York only. Federal work — trademarks, immigration petitions, IRS exemption filings — is not state-limited, but another state’s law needs counsel admitted there.
Tax advice and preparation
We handle the legal structure. Returns, elections and tax opinions belong to your accountant, and we will say so rather than guess.
Unlimited hours
Each plan includes a stated number of hours. They do not roll over. Additional hours are available at preferred member rates, always confirmed with you in writing before the work begins.
Work for your counterparty
We act for you. We cannot advise both sides of the same deal, and a conflict check runs before every engagement precisely to catch that.
Guaranteed outcomes
No lawyer can promise a result, and a lawyer who does is telling you something useful about themselves.
- Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
- Every plan begins with a conflict check and a written engagement agreement — no work starts before both are complete.
- Plans are month-to-month. Cancel anytime with 30 days’ written notice; fees are prorated through the effective date.
- Unused hours do not roll over. Additional hours are available at preferred member rates, confirmed with you before the work begins.