CEO Law

Some fun for a Friday! Here are some legal terms, circa Medieval times!

- Trial by Ordeal: A legal process where guilt or innocence was determined by divine intervention.

Methods included:

* holding a hot iron
* plunging a hand into boiling water
* being thrown into water

If you healed quickly, through divine intervention, it was believed that God had judged you innocent.

- Deodand: If an object caused someone’s death, the object itself could be forfeited to the Crown and sold, with the monies given to a charity. Examples:

* a cart that ran someone over
* a falling tree
* a horse involved in a fatal accident

The object was treated like it had moral culpability.

- Frankpledge: A system where groups of men (12 years old and up) were collectively responsible for each other’s behavior. If one person committed a crime and disappeared, everyone else could be punished or fined.

- Wergild: A payment assigned to a person’s life or injury. Different social ranks had different monetary values.

What do you think of these? Do you have any to add?

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Apple Podcasts:
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Spotify:
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YouTube:
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Finance teams don’t lose money because they don’t track numbers.

They lose money because they don’t see legal risk early enough.

And by the time it shows up in a spreadsheet, it’s already expensive.

This is where fractional legal support changes outcomes.

Not by reviewing contracts faster.

By changing what finance can prevent.

Here’s what fractional legal helps finance teams catch earlier:

1. Revenue that isn’t collectible
Contracts with vague payment terms, weak remedies, or unclear deliverables create AR that looks good… until it doesn’t get paid.
2. Margin erosion hidden in “standard” clauses
Auto-renewals, escalation terms, liability exposure, refund obligations, and indemnities can quietly turn profitable deals into risky ones.
3. Discounting without protection
Sales gives pricing concessions. Finance approves to hit targets. But if the agreement doesn’t tighten scope, timelines, and change control, you’re funding overruns.
4. Vendor risk that turns into surprise cost
Poor termination clauses, unclear SLAs, and weak dispute language can lock you into bad vendor relationships longer than expected.
5. Compliance exposure that hits the balance sheet

Misclassification, improper terminations, privacy breaches, and employment issues don’t start as “legal problems.”

They start as unplanned financial liabilities.

The real value of fractional legal isn’t legal work.

It’s financial predictability.
It gives finance teams:
• Cleaner revenue forecasting
• Fewer surprise liabilities
• Stronger cash flow protection
• Better contract controls
• Better deal discipline across the organization

Fractional is a risk filter for everything that touches profit.

If you want legal support that works like part of the finance function, that’s what we do.

Free consult available.