What Are the Best Parts About Being a Corporate Lawyer?

If you are a law student you might be wondering, which area of law am I going to specialise in? That’s a perfectly common and important question. While nothing is set in stone and you can always change which area you are working on, a lot of students tend to go to areas they like and find it easier to work with. Why work with employment law if you prefer corporate law, for example?

When you specialize in an area, you gain experience in that area and work becomes easier and easier with each passing day, as well as you feel more comfortable working more important jobs that require more experience and a broader network of professionals to make your case stronger.

So, you might be wondering, what are the benefits of being a corporate lawyer? You might enjoy corporate law, but how is the work environment and what exactly will the law firm and companies ask of you?

Hopefully in the next few topics we are able to elucidate a few questions you may have and make it easier for you to choose the career path you will enjoy the most.

What Does a Corporate Lawyer Do?

One of the first questions that may pop to mind is “what will I do on a day-to-day basis?”. We need to know what to expect and what most of our days will be like to properly assess if that’s what we want to do or not.

A corporate lawyer calgary can work both with litigation and with corporate practice. A litigation job will involve much more law research and writing case—every case is specific and unique, so a litigator will need to put their best performance to write a compelling case that will protect their clients while having in mind their best interests.

Corporate practice, on the other hand, is better defined as “office work” when compared to litigation. Most corporate lawyers will work in a law firm and most likely work with corporate practice. But what is corporate practice?

Corporate practice is what is done in the background. It is ensuring, in different ways, that companies are protected before there is a litigation case or a need to go to Court. A corporate lawyer may work with closing preparations, for example.

Closing preparations are the set of tasks done to ensure that a deal is set to be finalized in time. Be it M&A, or bank financing, the corporate lawyer needs to ensure that each necessary document is prepared, as well as who is drafting those documents. There may be an expressive amount of paperwork to keep track of, so you will need to be extremely well organized to make sure you are not missing anything. Every document must be presented and ready to be signed by all parties. It can be a very hectic job on the days prior to the closing, so you will also need a healthy amount of resilience and resistance to stress.

Due diligence includes making sure everything in those documents is in order so they can be signed. That is, every document and contract must be reviewed to ensure they are compliant with the company’s best interests and that they will not come back to give a headache later on. Due diligence can also include researching another company, for example in the case of a merger or an acquisition, to make sure your company is not acquiring a problem disguised as a good deal.

Drafting is making those documents. A lot of times it is your firm that will be drafting documents, especially if you are working for a big corporation. Those documents may be publicly available or only run inside the company, but you will need to ensure it is up to the company’s policies and best interests.

What Are the Advantages of Being a Corporate Lawyer?

Corporate Law can be a lot of work, and you may need to be well organized to make pull it through to ensure the company you are working for is being properly defended. But it comes with its perks.

Corporate lawyers can earn a lot of money. Sure, enjoying your work is pivotal and you will not get too far in your career if actively do not like what you do. But when it comes to employment, we also want to make sure we will be able to provide for ourselves and our families. Corporate lawyers earn on average, according to Glassdoor, an incredible $166,099 per year and chances are that with more experience, you will earn even more.

The experience you will get is priceless. Handling corporate law will ask a lot of you—from having a lot of organizing skills to attention to detail. This experience will come in handy regardless of where you work or which area you are currently working on. You may move to employment law later on and will always use this exact same set of skills to ensure your work is going on smoothly.

You will be an important part of the economy. Corporate lawyers ensure companies are compliant with the law and are running smoothly, this is pivotal for the economy to run without problems and for its development.

Corporate law is less arguing and fighting over what went wrong and who is at fault and more working towards a common goal. This is not to say that you will never need to argue, but it will be in a less combative environment, so to say. You may need to negotiate with another company when doing business together because both parties are looking for the best possible deal, and those negotiations can take time, but in the end, both parties also want the same thing: a deal which will be profitable, and you are the one who makes it possible.

A corporate lawyer's job is never dull, there will always be something to do. Regardless of the area of business you are working with, be it entertainment, manufacturing, or real estate, you will always have work. You may need to work with contract law, zoning laws, tax law, or bankruptcy. The set of skills you will learn is invaluable, all while you earn well to provide for your family and yourself and ensure that the economy is running smoothly.

If you think you have what it takes to be one, being a corporate lawyer definitely will not be a bad move.