What is the role of a corporate lawyer?
A corporate attorney's role is to advise clients of their rights, responsibilities and duties under the law. When a corporate attorney is hired by a corporation, the attorney represents the corporate entity, not its shareholders or employees.
This can be a confusing concept until you learn that a corporation is treated like a person under the law. A corporation is a legal entity created under state law, usually for the purpose of conducting business. A corporation is considered a single entity or "person" within the meaning of the Act, separate from its owners or shareholders. Corporate law encompasses all legal issues surrounding a corporation, which are many because corporations are subject to complex state and federal regulations. Most states require companies to hold regular meetings, such as annual shareholder meetings, along with other requirements. Corporate lawyers ensure that companies comply with these rules, while doing other types of work. What kind of work do corporate lawyers do? Contrary to popular belief, most corporate lawyers rarely set foot in a courtroom.
Instead, most of the work they do is considered "transactional" in nature. This means that they spend most of their time helping a company avoid lawsuits. More specifically, corporate attorneys may spend their time on: Contracts: Reviewing, drafting and negotiating legally binding contracts on behalf of companies, ranging from lease agreements to multi-billion dollar acquisitions Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A): Conducting due diligence, negotiating, drafting and general “deal "Oversight" involves the "merger" of one company with another company or the "acquisition" (purchase) of another company. About the rights and responsibilities of the company's directors and officers and other policies used to govern the company. Venture Capital: Helping startups or existing companies find capital to build or expand businesses, which may involve public or private funding. Securities: Advising clients on securities law compliance, involving complex regulations aimed at preventing fraud, insider trading and market manipulation as well as promoting transparency among publicly traded companies. In many cases, corporate lawyers work in large or medium-sized law firms that have corporate law departments. Many corporate lawyers have specialties or areas of corporate law that they focus on, such as mergers and acquisitions, venture capital or securities. Some corporate lawyers work in-house, and most large corporations have their own in-house legal departments. In-house corporate attorneys typically handle a wide variety of issues. What does one need to do to become a corporate lawyer? The path to becoming a corporate lawyer is not very different from the path to practicing any other area of law. To become a corporate lawyer, you must attend law school to obtain a law degree (JD) and be licensed to practice law in your state. Often, corporate attorneys have prior work experience in the business world, but this is not usually required. What skills do corporate lawyers need? Corporate lawyers should have excellent writing, communication and negotiation skills as these skills are used extensively in day-to-day corporate law work. Since corporate law is a diverse area of practice that touches on various transnational, regulatory and commercial issues, it is important that a corporate lawyer has a desire to learn about different areas of law, unless they want to specialize in one subject. Niche areas such as securities law. Additionally, many corporate lawyers have multiple clients in different industries, which means they must be willing to learn the ins and outs of those unique industries. Finally, corporate lawyers need the expertise and reach of other lawyers when they approach a particular subject matter they don't have experience in, such as tax, ERISA, employment or real estate. When might an individual or business need the help of a corporate attorney? A corporate attorney advises companies on how to comply with regulations and laws, but that's just the beginning. In fact, anyone starting a business venture can benefit from a corporate attorney. Why? Because a corporate lawyer can
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