By Dario Kvasnicka, Barbara Nägeli · 22 September 2026
When a founder hires a lawyer, the first thing they usually want to know is whether the problem can be solved. The two questions right after: What does it cost, and how do you work?
You'll find our answers to both below.
We work exclusively in startup and VC law. Even our most junior team members join as hires with relevant experience.
Every engagement has a mandate lead who owns your case. On complex matters, our specialists and, if necessary, external network experts join in, always coordinated by the lead.
You know how we'll bill before we start each legal project: flat fee, project quote, hourly. If something comes up mid-engagement, we flag it.
Internal syncs and calls between us don't run on your timer. And if three of us are on a call with you, you pay for one.
We bill in real minutes, not in 6-minute or 15-minute blocks. A five-minute email costs you five minutes, not fifteen.
Because we focus on startup and VC law, we can handle recurring matters efficiently. Monthly invoices come with a category-level breakdown.
The first call is free and nothing is billed before it. We discuss the matter, answer your first questions and see whether we are the right fit.
You know how we'll bill before we start each legal project: flat fee, project quote, hourly. If something comes up mid-engagement, we flag it.
Every engagement has a mandate lead who owns your case. On complex matters, our specialists and, if necessary, external network experts join in.
Every monthly invoice shows your spend by topic, such as financing, employment or corporate. This gives you a clear picture of your legal run rate for future planning.
Specialists at every levelStartup and VC only, lateral hires.
No billing for internal callsYou only pay when we work for you.
Billed in minutes, not blocksNot in 6- or 15-min blocks.
No inflated invoicesSpecialization plus billing discipline.
Free intro call30 to 45 minutes, no obligation.
The first call (30 to 45 minutes) is free and nothing is billed before it. The goal is to understand where you stand and what legal issues are on the table. You walk away with concrete inputs and pointers, even if no engagement comes out of it.
We'll also use the call as a mutual fit check. If your matter doesn't match our profile, we say so and refer you on. We have a wide network and know the right people for almost any legal topic. We'd rather tell you it's not our field and point you to someone better suited than take on work we can't deliver at our usual quality.
We'll tell you what to expect expense-wise before we start. For new clients that usually comes as a written quote. Once we know each other, a quick call is often enough.
Which billing format we use depends on how precisely we can estimate the effort upfront:
A clearly scoped project like a data protection compliance check or a term sheet review. We estimate the effort (e.g. 5 h × CHF 400) and give you a range.
For products where we know exactly what the effort is, we quote a flat fee. Additionally, incorporation, VSOP, CLA and a handful of other classics live in our flat-fee catalog on the website.
For ongoing work, hourly is often the best option: you ask, we answer, no quoting round in between. We flag anything unexpected before we start on it.
When we bill by the hour, two rates apply:
No per-email minimums or additional expenses for copies or similar.
We invoice monthly and every invoice comes with a breakdown by area, e.g. financing or data protection. You can see which topics took the most budget and after a few months you have a run rate per area to build the next quarter.
Every engagement has one accountable mandate lead who pulls in the team as needed. Our team consists exclusively of advisors at home in startup and VC law with sub-specializations like IP, M&A, financing, etc.
If something comes in that we deliberately don't cover in-house (we're tightly specialized on purpose), we bring in people from our expert network. But you still have us as the point of contact. We handle communication and invoicing, and you deal with the same person throughout.
Standard employment law question or patent dispute in California, you drop the topic with us and we take care of it.
We charge for the work you asked for. That rules out a few things that commonly show up on legal invoices:
If your legal needs are steady and you want a fixed monthly cost, EMBARK.scale is a monthly flat fee subscription. We operate as your general counsel without you having to hire one full-time. We set volume and scope together and you can cancel at the end of any month.
Very early stage and on a tight budget? We regularly support early-stage startups with pro bono hours. We'd rather carry the first hours ourselves than price a seed-stage company out of the legal advice it actually needs. In exchange, we appreciate referrals to your founder network once we've proven ourselves.
Two things keep our costs down: billing discipline and specialization.
Our clients run tight ships and watch their burn, which puts internal pressure on us to stay efficient. You see that directly in the invoice.
Specialization is our whole strength: we pioneered as one of the first Swiss law firms entirely dedicated to the startup ecosystem.
Big firms often have a specialized startup desk. It usually sits inside the M&A or corporate group and works well for these matters. But everything else like employment, tax or compliance gets routed to other departments that serve a broader client base.
Firms without a dedicated desk face a different challenge: when startup deals are less frequent, more time tends to go into getting up to speed.
At EMBARK.LAW, you get startup specialization across the board, not just at a single corporate desk. The person handling your matter works with startup agreements and market standards every week, which keeps drafting efficient without internal handoffs.
Tell us about your plans. We'll get back to you asap with an initial assessment and a meeting proposal.
Email us