The Differences Between Corporate and Commercial Law in Calgary

 While similar in nature, corporate law and commercial law are different subjects that often walk hand-in-hand. Lawyers in Calgary that specialize in those areas can and more often than not will take cases from them mutually.

While normally overlapping and working constantly with businesses, managers, or owners providing legal counsel on the company's activities, it is important to differentiate them and understand how each of those areas, individually, operates.

On the next short topics, we will look into a short summary of what each of those areas focuses on and their differences.

What is Corporate Law?

Companies are seen by the eyes of the law as an entity by itself - which includes their own set of rights and obligations. What that means is that corporate law has to look at companies as an entity rather than protecting the rights of their employees. The well-being of the company should be the first concern, and it involves a lot of business strategy, management, and administration.

Normally, companies do not have only one corporate lawyer in their team. Instead, they have a team of lawyers - normally hired from a law firm. Of course, smaller companies may not have the budget to have a team of lawyers at their disposal, but they can, and should consider, having legal counselling whenever a big move is going to be made.

When dealing with a company’s legal obligations, the team of lawyers need to make sure it is in conformity with every regulation. Furthermore, when a big company decides they want to merge with another or acquire them, there is a whole process involving background research such as the company’s finances, contracts, insurance, and more to ensure the business transaction can happen smoothly.

Corporate lawyers specialize in making sure the company is in good standing and advising if a move is going to be bad for it. Helping with the management and administration of the company when dealing with legal matters.

So, in short, a Corporate Lawyer Calgary - and by extension corporate law - deals with the company as a whole rather than the people working at it.

What is Commercial Law?

As previously mentioned, the nature of both professionals and areas of the law are similar, but with intrinsic differences and nuances. A commercial lawyer will support the daily activities of the company rather than look at the big picture and will be much more present for those moments. They are essential for the operations to run smoothly.

They will most likely work with drafting contracts for business operations and relationships, clearly laying out roles and responsibilities, as well as the nature of every transaction, relationship, or contract.

Paperwork related to buying or renting a property can also be made by a commercial lawyer as they specialize in the company’s day-to-day needs. Day-to-day needs also include the contracts for employees, both to hire or fire them.

Commercial transactions can make up a huge portion of a company’s operation, so commercial lawyers also provide support in dealing with banks, for example.

In short, a commercial lawyer will work more on the daily activities of the company and support its ongoing operation rather than look at the broader picture.

As a means of comparison to clearly state their difference, we can summarize that while both professionals work together, come from similar backgrounds, and the nature of the area of law is similar, one will look at the company as an entity and look at the bigger picture, while the other will look at the “inside” of the company and support the daily operations to run smoothly.

That is, if a business owner needs to solve something related to their daily operations, a commercial lawyer is the person you call. If you are dealing with something that will involve the company itself, then your best move is to call a corporate lawyer.

While they overlap and walk hand in hand it is important to know the difference to you can best use your resources to protect the rights of your employees, and of the company itself.