Outside General Counsel
Embedded, day-to-day legal leadership across the company lifecycle, from formation and founder matters through acquisition or IPO, sized to your needs and budget.
Fractional General Counsel
Senior legal leadership for emerging companies, without the full-time hire.
Carin Cutler brings more than twenty-five years of corporate and securities experience, as a general counsel and as a partner at leading law firms, to founders, management teams, and investors navigating financings, commercial transactions, M&A, and the legal demands of scaling a company.
Boulder, Colorado
About
A general counsel's judgment, available fractionally.
Carin Cutler is a corporate and securities attorney who has spent her career advising companies and investors on a full range of legal issues emerging companies face throughout their lifecycle, always taking a practical, business-oriented approach. She most recently served as Vice President and General Counsel of ION Clean Energy, where she owned the full legal function of a growth-stage company, from financings and commercial contracts to governance and day-to-day risk.
Before stepping in-house, she was a partner at Ballard Spahr and, earlier, at Hogan Lovells and the boutique corporate practice Gross Cutler Seiler Dupont. Across those roles she has represented companies and investors in equity and debt financings by venture capital, private equity, and strategic investors; mergers, acquisitions, and recapitalizations; and the full lifecycle of an emerging company, from formation through acquisition or IPO.
She now offers that experience on a fractional basis: embedded legal leadership for portfolio companies and funds that need seasoned counsel at the table, scaled to what the business actually requires.
- 25+ years in corporate & securities law
- In-house GC and Big Law partner experience
- Industries: clean tech, life sciences, medical device, software, aviation
Focus Areas
Where a fractional GC moves the needle.
Engagements are shaped around your stage and your investors, whether that means owning the legal function outright, backstopping an existing team, or leading or supporting a specific transaction to close.
Financings
Equity and debt financings led by venture capital, private equity, and strategic investors, from seed and angel rounds through growth rounds and later-stage recapitalizations.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Buy-side and sell-side M&A, joint ventures, and strategic transactions, from letter of intent and diligence through negotiation and close.
Corporate Governance & Board Matters
Board and governance support, founder and equity issues, stock issuances, and option plans that hold up as the company scales and takes on institutional capital.
Securities & Public Company Counsel
Equity offerings, disclosure and reporting obligations, and ongoing securities matters for pre-public companies.
Portfolio Company Support
A trusted, on-call resource for PE and venture firms, providing consistent, senior legal counsel across portfolio companies without adding headcount.
Experience
A career built on high-stakes corporate work.
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Vice President, General Counsel
ION Clean EnergyOwned the legal function of a growth-stage clean-technology company, covering financings, commercial contracts, governance, and enterprise risk.
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Partner
Ballard Spahr LLPRepresented companies and investors in financings, M&A, and public company reporting and securities matters across a national corporate practice.
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Partner
Gross Cutler Seiler Dupont LLCPartner at a boutique corporate and securities practice advising emerging companies and their investors.
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Partner
Hogan LovellsMore than a decade at a leading international law firm, practicing corporate and securities law.
Education
- University of Colorado, J.D.
- University of Michigan, B.A. in History
Top skills: Mergers & Acquisitions · Equity & Debt Financings · Corporate Governance · Intellectual Property · Commercial Contracts
Contact
Let's talk about where you're headed.
Whether you're raising, buying, selling, or simply need a senior legal partner on call, reach out to start the conversation.
Boulder, Colorado