Day to day

[llssspp]

What do corporate lawyers do? What skills are necessary? What should I like doing to be a corporate lawyer? (I know these are very basic simple questions but I wanted to ask them anyway) 

[Hayesy-B]

It’ll certainly depend a bit from person to person, firm to firm, and even based on the various subsets of corporate law, but I can offer my experience. 
 

Like any lawyer, what I do can’t really be summed up in a few sentences, but I’ll try. I’m junior, so I’m not actively negotiating terms of purchase agreements, but I review them and possibly prepare initial drafts of them. I’ll draft the ancillary documents/agreements as well. Outside of m&a, I’m also corporate counsel for a few clients who have commercial litigation proceedings ongoing. That’s more of a support role for the litigators to make sure everything they’re submitting or working on is accurate and won’t cause an issue on the corporate side of things. It’s also been quite useful to get a taste of litigation while not having to be an active participant.  Then you have all of the other random things that come up that aren’t really worth mentioning or going into detail about. 

in terms of the skills necessary, I think writing ability is very important. You have to be able to clearly and effectively get your client’s wants/needs/intentions/etc. on paper.  Sometimes you’ll have templates that you’ll just edit, but sometimes you’ll be writing entire sections (or even complete agreements, as I’ve had the displeasure of doing on a couple of occasions) from scratch. You also have to do this in the context of the other party having their own wants/needs, which don’t always align with those of your client.  Foresight is also important - being able to think years ahead and see how what you agree to now will affect your client in the future is very important in the context of an agreement that has non-competes, non-solicits, an earn-out, a holdback, etc. That might be getting too far into the details for this purpose, but it’s something to keep in mind. A skill I think that is less valuable in corporate law than in other areas, at least while you are still junior, is your ability to interact with clients, be social, be empathetic, etc. This changes when you’re the one managing the client relationship. 
 

As for what you should be doing, aside from getting the best grades you can in law school, taking classes related to corporate and commercial law, and possibly networking, there isn’t much else to do. You can always do some sort of clinic or volunteer work as well if it’s available, but don’t think that you need to be gearing your life towards being a corporate lawyer, or any kind of lawyer for that matter, before you already are one. 
 

I’m sure there’s a lot I missed, but hopefully this gives you some guidance. 

[llssspp]

8 hours ago, Hayesy-B said:

It’ll certainly depend a bit from person to person, firm to firm, and even based on the various subsets of corporate law, but I can offer my experience. 
 

Like any lawyer, what I do can’t really be summed up in a few sentences, but I’ll try. I’m junior, so I’m not actively negotiating terms of purchase agreements, but I review them and possibly prepare initial drafts of them. I’ll draft the ancillary documents/agreements as well. Outside of m&a, I’m also corporate counsel for a few clients who have commercial litigation proceedings ongoing. That’s more of a support role for the litigators to make sure everything they’re submitting or working on is accurate and won’t cause an issue on the corporate side of things. It’s also been quite useful to get a taste of litigation while not having to be an active participant.  Then you have all of the other random things that come up that aren’t really worth mentioning or going into detail about. 

in terms of the skills necessary, I think writing ability is very important. You have to be able to clearly and effectively get your client’s wants/needs/intentions/etc. on paper.  Sometimes you’ll have templates that you’ll just edit, but sometimes you’ll be writing entire sections (or even complete agreements, as I’ve had the displeasure of doing on a couple of occasions) from scratch. You also have to do this in the context of the other party having their own wants/needs, which don’t always align with those of your client.  Foresight is also important - being able to think years ahead and see how what you agree to now will affect your client in the future is very important in the context of an agreement that has non-competes, non-solicits, an earn-out, a holdback, etc. That might be getting too far into the details for this purpose, but it’s something to keep in mind. A skill I think that is less valuable in corporate law than in other areas, at least while you are still junior, is your ability to interact with clients, be social, be empathetic, etc. This changes when you’re the one managing the client relationship. 
 

As for what you should be doing, aside from getting the best grades you can in law school, taking classes related to corporate and commercial law, and possibly networking, there isn’t much else to do. You can always do some sort of clinic or volunteer work as well if it’s available, but don’t think that you need to be gearing your life towards being a corporate lawyer, or any kind of lawyer for that matter, before you already are one. 
 

I’m sure there’s a lot I missed, but hopefully this gives you some guidance. 

Hi! 

 

This is very helpful! I appreciate it and will keep this in mind moving forward. 

[llssspp]

On 1/29/2023 at 3:21 AM, Hayesy-B said:

It’ll certainly depend a bit from person to person, firm to firm, and even based on the various subsets of corporate law, but I can offer my experience. 
 

Like any lawyer, what I do can’t really be summed up in a few sentences, but I’ll try. I’m junior, so I’m not actively negotiating terms of purchase agreements, but I review them and possibly prepare initial drafts of them. I’ll draft the ancillary documents/agreements as well. Outside of m&a, I’m also corporate counsel for a few clients who have commercial litigation proceedings ongoing. That’s more of a support role for the litigators to make sure everything they’re submitting or working on is accurate and won’t cause an issue on the corporate side of things. It’s also been quite useful to get a taste of litigation while not having to be an active participant.  Then you have all of the other random things that come up that aren’t really worth mentioning or going into detail about. 

in terms of the skills necessary, I think writing ability is very important. You have to be able to clearly and effectively get your client’s wants/needs/intentions/etc. on paper.  Sometimes you’ll have templates that you’ll just edit, but sometimes you’ll be writing entire sections (or even complete agreements, as I’ve had the displeasure of doing on a couple of occasions) from scratch. You also have to do this in the context of the other party having their own wants/needs, which don’t always align with those of your client.  Foresight is also important - being able to think years ahead and see how what you agree to now will affect your client in the future is very important in the context of an agreement that has non-competes, non-solicits, an earn-out, a holdback, etc. That might be getting too far into the details for this purpose, but it’s something to keep in mind. A skill I think that is less valuable in corporate law than in other areas, at least while you are still junior, is your ability to interact with clients, be social, be empathetic, etc. This changes when you’re the one managing the client relationship. 
 

As for what you should be doing, aside from getting the best grades you can in law school, taking classes related to corporate and commercial law, and possibly networking, there isn’t much else to do. You can always do some sort of clinic or volunteer work as well if it’s available, but don’t think that you need to be gearing your life towards being a corporate lawyer, or any kind of lawyer for that matter, before you already are one. 
 

I’m sure there’s a lot I missed, but hopefully this gives you some guidance. 

Hi, do you think someone can learn how to (1) write clearly, (2) have foresight, and (3) be empathetic throughout law school?

 

[Hayesy-B]

On 2/14/2023 at 10:12 PM, llssspp said:

Hi, do you think someone can learn how to (1) write clearly, (2) have foresight, and (3) be empathetic throughout law school?

 

I think it’s possible to varying extents: 

1) I think this is the most possible of the three, as there is a fairly significant emphasis on writing in law school. However, in my opinion, law school teaches you legal writing techniques, and does not necessarily teach you how to write. That is, if you can already write well, you should be able to learn how to develop decent legal writing skills, but it doesn’t really teach you the general writing skills that make one a good writer. 
 

2) to a certain extent I think this is possible, but I’d say it’s limited to how the law you learn could apply in certain circumstances that may arise. Foresight is something I think you’ll mostly develop in practice, and I wouldn’t say it’s a skill students fresh out of law school are expected to have. 
 

3) unless reading case law with unfortunate/disturbing facts somehow develops empathy, I don’t think law school can do that. FWIW, I also don’t think that’s the job of a law school. 

[llssspp]

On 2/16/2023 at 12:50 AM, Hayesy-B said:

I think it’s possible to varying extents: 

1) I think this is the most possible of the three, as there is a fairly significant emphasis on writing in law school. However, in my opinion, law school teaches you legal writing techniques, and does not necessarily teach you how to write. That is, if you can already write well, you should be able to learn how to develop decent legal writing skills, but it doesn’t really teach you the general writing skills that make one a good writer. 
 

2) to a certain extent I think this is possible, but I’d say it’s limited to how the law you learn could apply in certain circumstances that may arise. Foresight is something I think you’ll mostly develop in practice, and I wouldn’t say it’s a skill students fresh out of law school are expected to have. 
 

3) unless reading case law with unfortunate/disturbing facts somehow develops empathy, I don’t think law school can do that. FWIW, I also don’t think that’s the job of a law school. 

Thank you for your response.