Not until long ago, the only perception ofspecialisation for a Lawyer and guaranteed area of practise was either Civil or Criminal law. Contrary to this belief, the corporateandbusiness sector, was booming in India opening alterative career avenues for lawyers. With the spurt of businesses in India, Corporate Laws and Corporate Lawyers have substantially grown in number and evolved with time. With globalization and India giving a free hand to allow foreign funds (FDI) to flow into the country, the complexities of businesses increased increasing the demand for Corporate Lawyers, making it a lucrative career avenue.

 

Corporate Law in itself has such wide scope of practice that it was divided into various specializations like the contract drafting and management including the shareholders agreement or share purchase agreement, Intellectual Property Rights, Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Restructuring, FEMA, Taxation etc.

 

A Corporate Lawyer

• Typically helps the Corporates in handling business operations or entering into transactions within the bounds of law or legal limits.

• Makes sure that the Corporates do not violate any law applicable to the industry in which they are functioning.
•   Also helps corporate to handle legal charges, if any, with regards to the business activities of the Company.
• Helps the business firms to streamline employee related issues if any, tax complications, employment laws etc.

 

Industries in which a Corporate Lawyer can further excel in are

• Banking and Insurance

•  Knowledge sharing and Consulting firms/Offices

• Manufacturing, retail stores, biotechnology Companies

• Foreign Investments and allied Financial Industries etc.

 

The advantage of being a Corporate Lawyer is that, corporate legal work mostly deals with prospective or probable problems before they even arise and turn into a costly affair for corporate like litigation, strikes or any contract disputes.Unlike in other fields of Law a Corporate lawyer prevents the problems while others deal with them in litigation. None the less corporate lawyers also deal corporate litigation.

 

The skill set precisely required for a Corporate Lawyer is -

• Awareness of Commercial aspects

• Good Communication skills

• Ability to grasp and capture every detail

• Time management

• Research, oratory and analytical skills

• Self Confidence and being audacious.

• Core Competency

• Good Drafting and negotiation skills

 

Quality of Life for a person who chooses Corporate Litigation:

 

• New Associates

In the beginning of the career new associates spend a lot of time in reviewing documents and doing legal research.They en-masse information on the various statutes applicable to clients transactions to ensure it is within the bounds of law and the documentation is perfect. A new associate has to put in long working hours to set a stage and prove himself.

 

• Five to ten Years of experience

Lawyers at this stage are into negotiation and drafting of major operative documents for the transactions. At this juncture they have increased responsibility and need to sharpen their skill-set. They also train the new associates and strive to get into partnership with the firms they work in.

 

• Ten years and beyond

At this juncture corporate lawyers will be structuring transactions and developing strategies, as they tend to develop a sound sense of judgement by this stage. They might become a partner which increases responsibilities double fold growing in management functionalities also. Their work also includes recruitment and training new associates, management of work flow, invest time in building client relations and selling business.

 

Nature of assignments a Corporate lawyer gets:-

• Mergers and amalgamations, demerger and restructurings.
• Documentation of Term sheets in case of Loans or such other financial transactions.
• Developing business and legal strategies to run the Company in the form of Legal advices.
• Legal Opinions.
• Investment and Compliance related to it, eg-FDI.
• Review and close major contracts.
• 7Representation of Clients in lawsuits

 

The demand for skilled Corporate Lawyers will definitely see an upward trend as long as business exists as a Corporate Lawyer is a key professional right from its inception to its winding up.