Create an issue channel
Establish a practical path for leaders to surface concerns early, provide the necessary context, and distinguish privileged legal analysis from ordinary business communication.
Outside general counsel
Legal judgment is most useful before the decision becomes a dispute.
Growing organizations need practical counsel who can understand operations, distinguish urgent risk from background noise, and help leadership make decisions that can be carried out.
A comfortable place to begin
Let’s talk about what you need.
You don’t need to have it all figured out. A general idea of what’s happening is enough to start a conversation.
Request a free consultation
Joshua R. KotterFounder & managing partner · JD, MBAMeet the attorney
- Is the first consultation free?
- Yes. Your initial consultation is free, with no obligation to hire the firm.
- Who will get back to me?
- A firm attorney generally responds first, so you can begin with someone who understands legal questions.
- How soon should I hear back?
- Usually the same business day, during our office hours: Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Mountain Time. Response times can vary.
- Can we speak by phone or Zoom?
- Yes. Telephone and Zoom consultations are available, so you can speak with us without coming to the office.
- When will I know the legal fees?
- We explain legal fees before you hire our firm, so you can make an informed decision.
- What should I have ready?
- Just a brief overview and any urgent dates you know about. You don’t need a polished explanation. Save detailed sensitive information for your conversation with an attorney.
The complete problem
Outside General Counsel
Not every organization needs a full-time legal department, but legal questions rarely arrive one at a time. A contract issue can expose a governance problem. A personnel decision can affect a transaction. A complaint can require insurance notice, evidence preservation, public communication, and operational change before anyone files a lawsuit.
Joshua R. Kotter’s background includes service as general counsel to hospitals, healthcare organizations, and other enterprises, as well as chief-executive experience. Mountain State Attorneys uses that combined legal and operating perspective to help leaders identify the decision, obtain the right information, coordinate specialized resources when needed, and choose a course that fits the business.
This page provides general information, not advice about a particular matter. The facts, law, deadlines, and available options must be evaluated individually.
A sharper first review
Counsel should be integrated without becoming another layer of delay
The first useful conversation separates what is known, what is assumed, what must be preserved, and what decision comes next.
- 01
Which matters require immediate legal review, and which can be handled through a repeatable business process?
- 02
Who has authority, who needs to know, and what record should document the decision?
- 03
What contract, governance, regulatory, insurance, employment, privacy, or dispute issues intersect?
- 04
When is specialized counsel, an accountant, an investigator, or another professional needed?
- 05
How will the recommendation affect operations, relationships, cost, timing, and implementation?
How the work develops
A strategy built for the actual record.
Build repeatable controls
Develop contracting, approval, governance, recordkeeping, escalation, preservation, and outside-counsel processes appropriate to the organization.
Support consequential decisions
Bring focused legal and operating analysis to transactions, conflicts, leadership questions, unusual risk, and matters that fall outside routine playbooks.
Before the next decision
Questions worth asking early.
How is outside general counsel different from project counsel?
Project counsel handles a defined matter. Outside general counsel can provide continuity across issues, understand the organization’s decision structure, identify connections, and coordinate additional specialists when the scope requires them.
Does every question need a formal legal memorandum?
No. The form of advice should fit the issue. Some decisions need concise real-time guidance; others require written analysis, board materials, a formal investigation, or specialist review.
Can outside counsel help manage other law firms?
Yes. Depending on the engagement, outside general counsel can help define scope, select and coordinate specialists, integrate advice, manage information flow, and keep the organization’s objective at the center.
What should a company prepare before the first meeting?
A useful starting point includes the ownership and governance structure, principal contracts, current disputes or deadlines, insurance information, key decision-makers, and the business priorities that legal support should advance.
Authority and maintenance
Reviewed, sourced, and kept current.
This page provides general information. The authorities that control a particular matter depend on its facts, date, forum, and jurisdiction.
- Written by
- Joshua R. Kotter
- Attorney review
- Joshua R. Kotter
- Last reviewed
- September 4, 2026
- Next scheduled review
- March 4, 2027, or sooner if controlling law changes
- Jurisdictional scope
- Utah and applicable federal law
Start with a clear next step
Let’s identify what needs attention now.
Tell us where the matter stands, what is at risk, and what deadline or decision comes next.