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Monthly Legal Retainer & Outsourced GC
Day-to-day legal support for foreign-owned SMEs, startups, and BOI companies — priced predictably per month.
Quick Answer
We act as your outsourced General Counsel — unlimited email/LINE consultation, 5–20 hours/month of legal work, quarterly compliance review, and specialist escalation. Startup package from THB 25,000/month; all-in bundles (legal + accounting + WP) from THB 55,000/month.
Included every month
- ✓ Unlimited email / LINE consult
- ✓ Contract review & drafting
- ✓ HR & employment law advice
- ✓ Regulatory compliance updates
- ✓ Corporate secretarial (DBD filings)
- ✓ Quarterly legal-health check
- ✓ Priority response (24 hr SLA)
- ✓ Discounted rates on litigation
- ✓ Discounted specialist referrals (IP, tax)
- ✓ Annual policy refresh
FAQ
- What's included in a monthly retainer?
- Unlimited email/LINE consultation (business hours), 5–20 hours/month of legal work (contract review, drafting, HR advice, compliance), quarterly compliance review, priority response, and access to specialist partners at preferential rates.
- Which industries do you retain?
- Foreign-owned SMEs, startups, tech/SaaS, e-commerce, F&B, hospitality, manufacturing, real estate, international schools, and BOI-promoted companies. Tailored packages for medical clinics and law-adjacent professionals.
- How much does it cost?
- Startup (5 hr/mo): THB 25,000/month. Growth SME (10 hr/mo): THB 45,000/month. Enterprise (20 hr/mo): THB 85,000/month. All-in-one (retainer + accounting + WP): THB 55,000+/month. Annual contracts with 1-month exit notice.
- Can you serve as our outsourced GC?
- Yes. For companies without an in-house General Counsel, we act as your day-to-day legal team, escalating specialist matters (litigation, IP, tax) to our partners. Common for foreign SMEs with 10–100 employees.
Contact: 083-249-4999 · LINE @NYC168 · contact@ilc.ltd
Knowledge bases behind every service
7 knowledge bases, 4,882 keywords and 3,057 answered questions written by our lawyers and translators. Free to read, no sign-up.
- Master Service Hub — every service we file
The cross-service index: certified translation, interpreting, visa/work permit/BOI, tax-legal-estate, cross-border M&A, aviation & maritime, and holding-company structuring.
Scoped quote after a free consultation by phone, LINE or email
1,000 keywords · 649 questions · 10 clusters
- Certified translation — every language
Certified translation across civil, academic, corporate, contractual, financial, medical, technical and IP documents — with the Notary → MFA → embassy legalization chain handled end to end.
Thai–English THB 500–1,200/page · other languages THB 800–2,500/page
1,000 keywords · 500 questions · 16 clusters
- Thai MFA consular legalization
Thai MFA legalization workflow: fees, turnaround, inbound foreign documents, and how the chain connects to destination-country apostille requirements.
THB 200/stamp (3 working days) · express THB 400/stamp
882 keywords · 500 questions · 16 clusters
Official sources — legal services
The information on this page follows the official sources below. Always check the latest version before you file.
- สำนักงานศาลยุติธรรม— Office of the Judiciary
- กระทรวงยุติธรรม— Ministry of Justice
- สภาทนายความในพระบรมราชูปถัมภ์ — ทนายความผู้ทำคำรับรองลายมือชื่อและเอกสาร— Lawyers Council of Thailand
- สำนักงานคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกา — ฐานข้อมูลกฎหมายไทย— Office of the Council of State
- ราชกิจจานุเบกษา — ประกาศและกฎหมายที่มีผลบังคับ— Royal Thai Government Gazette
Related services
Most document work runs across several steps — jump straight to the next one you need.
For an exact quote and turnaround, call, LINE or email our team on any business day.
Expert reviewed: This page is written and checked by practitioners with 15+ years of hands-on filing experience, sourced from the responsible authorities and signed off by a second reviewer before publication — meet the team · editorial policy
Not sure which service you need? Read the guides
Each guide answers first, then explains: decision criteria, comparison tables, the real process and the mistakes we see most often.
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- Choosing the right visa and work permit
Compare visa categories and the documents each one needs translated
- Translation by language
English, Chinese, Japanese, European, Arabic, Russian and embassy rules
- Specialized translation
Contracts, financial statements, MSDS, ISO and BOI filings
Talk to us first: 083-249-4999 · LINE @NYC168 · contact@ilc.ltd
What a retainer buys, and what it does not
A retainer is a standing relationship with a Thai law office rather than a prepayment for unspecified work. Its value is availability and accumulated context: the lawyer who reviews your supplier contract in March already knows the shareholder structure, the BOI conditions and the lease terms, so the March review costs less and is more accurate than the same review commissioned cold.
A retainer does not convert litigation into a fixed cost, and any provider suggesting otherwise is mispricing risk. Contentious work, court appearances and regulatory investigations sit outside the scope and are quoted separately. Being explicit about that boundary at the start is what keeps the relationship functional when a dispute actually arrives.
Typical scope for a foreign-owned SME in Thailand
- Contract review and drafting in Thai and English — supply, distribution, employment, NDA, lease and service agreements.
- Corporate secretarial support: board and shareholder resolutions, DBD filings, director changes and registered address changes.
- Employment advice under the Labour Protection Act, including termination procedure and severance calculation before a decision is announced.
- Immigration and work permit coordination for the management team, aligned with payroll and tax filings.
- PDPA compliance maintenance under the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562: privacy notices, processor agreements and breach procedure.
- First-response triage on demand letters and regulatory correspondence, with a written recommendation within an agreed response time.
How Thai practice regulation shapes the engagement
Legal practice in Thailand is regulated under the Lawyers Act B.E. 2528 and the Lawyers Council's ethical rules. Court representation is reserved to licensed Thai lawyers, and notarial certification is performed only by attorneys registered as Notarial Services Attorneys. Foreign advisers may advise on foreign law and coordinate, but the Thai-law opinions and court work in your file must carry a Thai licensed lawyer's responsibility.
This matters when comparing quotations. A quote from a consultancy without licensed lawyers looks cheaper because it excludes the work that only a licensed practitioner can perform, and that work reappears later as a subcontracted line item at a worse price. We state on the engagement letter which named lawyer holds the file and under which licence.
Structuring the retainer sensibly
- Baseline audit: One-off review of constitutional documents, material contracts, employment templates and compliance posture, producing a prioritised remediation list.
- Agree the hour band: A monthly band matched to the remediation list, with unused hours handled by an agreed rule rather than silently lapsing.
- Define response times: Different clocks for routine review, urgent commercial questions and demand letters, written into the engagement.
- Name the team: A responsible licensed lawyer and a named backup, so absence does not stall the file.
- Set the escalation boundary: The point at which a matter leaves the retainer and is quoted as contentious work, agreed in advance and in writing.
- Quarterly review: Usage against band, open items, and any regulatory change affecting the business, with the band re-set if the pattern has shifted.
Common mistakes and how we avoid them
More questions we are asked
- Can the retainer cover our group companies?
- Yes, with each entity named in the engagement and conflicts checked, since group members can develop divergent interests.
- Do you work in English?
- Advice is delivered in English or Thai as required. Documents filed with Thai authorities are prepared in Thai, with an English version for the board.
- What happens if a dispute starts?
- The retainer covers triage and initial strategy. Litigation is scoped and quoted separately, with the retainer continuing for business-as-usual work.
- Is there a minimum term?
- We prefer an initial period long enough to complete the baseline remediation, after which the band is reviewed against actual usage.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a foreigner own 100% of a Thai company?
- Generally no for activities listed in the Foreign Business Act, where majority foreign ownership requires a Foreign Business Licence, a BOI promotion, or treaty rights such as the US–Thailand Treaty of Amity. Manufacturing and certain export activities are largely open, and BOI-promoted activities can permit full foreign ownership together with land-holding and visa privileges, so the right structure depends on the specific activity.
- What is the minimum registered capital for a Thai company?
- There is no general statutory minimum for a Thai-majority company, but practical thresholds apply: THB 2 million of paid-up registered capital per foreign work permit, or THB 1 million if the foreigner is married to a Thai national, and THB 3 million per foreign shareholder for a Foreign Business Licence. Capital should therefore be planned around the visa and work-permit outcome you need, not the incorporation minimum.
- How long does company registration take?
- Registration at the Department of Business Development can be completed within one to three working days once the name reservation, shareholder documents and company objectives are ready, and the VAT registration and social security registration follow afterwards. The realistic end-to-end timeline including bank account opening is two to six weeks, with the bank account usually being the slowest step for foreign directors.
- What ongoing accounting obligations does a Thai company have?
- Every Thai company must keep statutory accounts, file monthly withholding tax (PND 1, 3, 53) and VAT (PP 30) returns by the middle of the following month, file the half-year corporate income tax return (PND 51) and the annual return (PND 50), and have its financial statements audited by a Thai CPA and filed with the DBD each year. Dormant companies are not exempt — nil returns and an audited statement are still required.