General Counsel
Protecting Your Business From All Sides. So You Can Focus On Growing It.
Serving San Diego County businesses from Rancho Bernardo
Rainey Law P.C. is a boutique law firm that provides business, transactional, and outside general counsel services to startups, emerging companies, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits throughout California, New York, and Washington D.C. Rainey Law P.C. partners with clients from the outset to manage legal risk from a business-oriented perspective.
The firm provides legal services in the areas of business formation, corporate governance, compliance, risk management, board strategy and advice, litigation strategy and management, contract drafting and review, employment issues, intellectual property portfolio management, and privacy and data security compliance. We also provide legal services to nonprofit organizations in the areas of formation, tax-exempt status, governance, and legal compliance.
Our fundamental premise is built on knowing clients’ businesses and industries and serving as a problem-solver, advisor, and business and legal strategist. Clients receive the benefits of an in-house counsel without incurring the costs of a full-time employee or large law firm rates. Because we work with a carefully vetted group of specialists, clients receive close and careful attention from one lawyer but also have the benefit of a breadth and depth of knowledge typical of a larger law firm.
Our core values are to be efficient and cost-effective, to cultivate an environment of creativity and innovation, and to use sophisticated technology and systems to provide high-quality legal services at affordable and predictable rates.
When to call a lawyer
If any of these describe your situation, an early conversation is usually cheaper than the alternative.
- You are signing contracts you have not had reviewed in over a year
- Headcount just crossed 5, 15, 25, or 50 employees
- You are opening a second location or hiring outside California
- Legal questions are piling up because outside counsel feels expensive to call
- Investors, lenders, or an acquirer have asked for your corporate records
Outside general counsel for San Diego companies
Our office at 16870 West Bernardo Drive sits in the Rancho Bernardo corridor, minutes from the technology, life sciences, defense, and professional services employers that make up San Diego County's business base. That proximity matters for a general counsel engagement, where the value comes from being reachable for the ten-minute question before it becomes a dispute.
San Diego companies operate under a specific stack of obligations: California employment and wage-and-hour law, City of San Diego minimum wage and earned sick leave requirements, county and municipal permitting, and — for defense and biotech clients — federal contracting and export controls layered on top. We build the compliance calendar around the jurisdictions a client actually touches.
- Startups and funded companies in Sorrento Valley, Torrey Pines, and UTC
- Manufacturers and distributors in Poway, Vista, and San Marcos
- Professional services and franchise groups across North County
- Nonprofits and associations headquartered in San Diego
San Diego questions we hear most
- Do you meet with San Diego clients in person?
- Yes. Our office is in Rancho Bernardo at 16870 West Bernardo Drive, Suite 400, and we meet clients on site across San Diego County when the matter calls for it.
- How is outside general counsel priced?
- Most San Diego clients use a monthly flat fee scoped to expected volume, which keeps legal spend predictable and removes the hesitation to call.
Serving Rancho Bernardo, Carmel Valley, Sorrento Valley, Del Mar, Poway, Escondido, Carlsbad, Encinitas, and communities throughout San Diego County from our office at 16870 West Bernardo Drive, Suite 400, San Diego, CA 92127.
Related reading
Plain-English guides from our Insights library on the issues that come up most in these matters.
- Seven Contract Clauses That Cause Most Business DisputesCommercial disputes rarely turn on the parts of the contract people negotiate hardest. They turn on seven clauses most companies skim.
- The California Employee Handbook: Required Policies and Costly GapsA handbook is evidence. In a California wage or discrimination case it is usually the first document requested — and the first place a defense falls apart.
- Independent Contractor or Employee? The California ABC TestProng B of the ABC test defeats most classifications quietly: if the contractor does what your business does, the label on the invoice does not matter.
Where we serve
General Counsel counsel for businesses and employees throughout San Diego County.
We fight for you.
Schedule a confidential consultation to discuss your business or employment matter.