About Us

Threshold Counsel.  Legal services, not so far outside.

Our Team

Christopher Gatewood – Virginia startup and intellectual property attorney

Christopher Gatewood
p: 804.677.0947
e: chris[at]threshold.cc

Christopher Gatewood is the founder of  Threshold Counsel, where he works with clients in intellectual property matters, startup legal needs, venture capital transactions, and technology law.  He also serves as outside, fractional general counsel for businesses with or without an inhouse legal department.  His clients at Threshold include international consumer brands and solo founders of startups.

Chris has a broad range of experience in commercial law, including copyright, trademarks, licensing, technology and internet law, private equity and exempt securities, and social media issues.  He is a board member of Lighthouse Labs, Richmond’s startup accelerator, and a board member of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.

Read his full bio

Justin Laughter - Business, intellectual property, and entertainment attorney

Justin Laughter

Justin Laughter
p: 804.921.0434
justin[at]threshold.cc

Justin Laughter is a business, intellectual property, and entertainment attorney. His experience representing clients is wide-ranging, including business and non-profit structuring and operations, copyright and trademark protection, licensing and enforcement, music/film/literary/theater law, internet law, and private securities offerings. He regularly counsels startups, artists, labels, publishers, breweries, restaurants, makers, and other creative entrepreneurs.

Justin has been honored as a Virginia Super Lawyers-Rising Star in IP (2013-2020), part of Virginia Business Magazine’s Legal Elite (2011, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020) and as one of Richmond’s Top 40 under 40 by Style Weekly Magazine (2008). He is a 2003 graduate of the University of Virginia (Phi Beta Kappa) and a 2006 graduate of William and Mary Law School (Order of the Coif).

Read his full bio

Fractional General Counsel

We provide fractional general counsel and project-based legal services for companies with or without a general counsel’s office.  We are primarily startup and intellectual property lawyers.

Wide Ranging Client List

Our clients range from part-time app development companies to large multi-national corporations.  We like it that way.

Identify and Protect

We help identify and protect intellectual property assets, handle corporate formation and transitions, and provide other transactional services, including helping company founders take on outside funding.

Fixed Fees, Open Ears

We prefer fixed fees to the billable hour.  And on most subjects, we’d rather listen than talk.

About-Spot

We can be your legal department:

For growing businesses, we provide outside general counsel services, giving you budgetable services, consistent advice, thorough analysis, and legal triage.

We can help your legal department:

For businesses with inhouse legal staff, we provide attorney augmentation and load balancing, with a focus on intellectual property and contract management.

Counsel That Is Not So Far Outside

We offer budgetable legal solutions for growing businesses, and fractional general counsel assistance for mid-sized and large companies. Want to know more?