Avi Weiss

Founder (and I guess GC?)

I'm not going to talk about myself in third person because we all know I wrote this. Here's a bit about my background and what led me to start Counselwell.

I jumped in-house relatively early as a second year associate back in 2018 after a not-so-thrilling stint at two different law firms. I spent 5+ years in-house at two different fintechs in Toronto, and loved it. Spoiler alert: Both companies ended up firing me.

Anyways, while I was actually still employed, I enjoyed the type of work I got to do but felt frustrated about the lack of apparent resources available to in-house lawyers. I decided in the summer of 2020 to build the company I wish existed.

Counselwell started as a library of on-demand online courses tailored to the unique needs of the in-house lawyer. From there I introduced other resources, like a Slack group, a job board, webinars, and a vendor directory. It wasn’t until May of 2022 (after we ran our first Summit) that I realized what in-house lawyers actually craved was community. The chance to meet other in-house lawyers, bounce ideas off each other, learn about interesting solutions to common problems, and have the opportunity to elevate their legal careers.

I relaunched Counselwell in September of 2022 as a membership-based community. We're now a thriving group of growth-minded in-house lawyers at all stages and representing a wide variety of industries and backgrounds. Join us!