Fractional CFO - Law Firm (Litigation Funding Experience)

Vessel Advisors; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Vessel Advisors seeks an experienced Fractional CFO to lead the financial function for a multi-office law firm client transitioning to a fractional operating model.

This partner-level role focuses on cash flow forecasting around litigation funding, and building foundational financial infrastructure from scratch while managing relations with equity and non-equity partners.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of CFO experience in professional services or similar environments.
• Direct experience in a law firm environment is required.
• Proven ability to build cash flow forecasting around litigation-funding-driven revenue.
• Experience educating partners on financial performance and firm economics.
• Demonstrated ability to establish foundational financial infrastructure from scratch.

Responsibilities

• Serve as strategic financial partner to firm leadership.
• Build and own a cash flow forecast separating ordinary billing from litigation-funding draws.
• Manage relationships with litigation funding counterparties.
• Develop partner-facing financial reporting and educate partners on firm economics.
• Formalize month-end close, AR/AP, and financial controls.

Skills

CFO experience

Law firm exposure

Cash flow forecasting

Partner education

Finance function build-from-scratch

Job description

Vessel Advisors is seeking an experienced Fractional CFO to serve as financial leadership partner for a multi-office law firm client transitioning its entire finance function to a fractional operating model. This is a partner-level seat: the firm's leadership needs a CFO who can build cash flow forecasting around litigation-funding-driven revenue (which behaves very differently from ordinary hourly billing), work directly with litigation funding partners, and build real relationships with equity and non-equity partners — including educating them on firm economics in terms they'll act on. The firm currently has no internal finance leadership team, so this person will be building foundational financial infrastructure, not inheriting an existing one.

Responsibilities

Serve as a strategic financial partner to firm leadership; build and own a cash flow forecast that separates ordinary billing from litigation-funding draws; manage the relationship with the firm's litigation funding counterparties; develop partner-facing financial reporting and lead the education of partners on firm economics; formalize month-end close, AR/AP, and financial controls; partner with an incoming Controller to stand up the finance function; operate with the discretion and judgment a professional-services partnership requires.

Requirements

• 10+ years of CFO experience required.
• Genuine professional-services company experience is required — a firm that sells expertise in increments of time (law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or similar); this is a floor, not a preference.
• At least some direct experience inside a law firm environment specifically is required, given the complexity of the litigation-funding agreements this seat will manage.
• Demonstrated experience building relationships with, and educating, partners or equity owners on financial performance.
• Strong cash flow forecasting and liquidity management experience, ideally involving contingency or alternative-revenue-timing considerations.
• Comfortable building financial infrastructure from scratch rather than inheriting an established one