What do you see when you think of a corporate lawyer? Do you imagine a business lawyer dressed in a nice suit, carrying a briefcase, and fighting in the courtroom for their clients?
If so, then your guess isn’t too far off. Corporate lawyers provide legal services for businesses and offer corporate legal advice. Corporate lawyers have much different jobs than criminal defense attorneys and public defenders.
Naturally, their responsibilities and clients are unique to the nature of corporate law. Therefore, if you’re considering hiring a corporate lawyer, there are many different factors to take note of.
In this article, you’ll learn what is a corporate lawyer and the true nature of their work.
What is a Corporate Lawyer?
A corporate lawyer is an attorney that serves on the behalf of a corporation or organization. Corporate lawyers are responsible for advising their clients of their legal rights, pursuing litigation on the behalf of their interests, and defending their clients against civil lawsuits.
It’s important to realize that the only client of a corporate lawyer is the organization they work for. Corporate lawyers don’t represent chief stakeholders, individual employees, or even the CEO.
Under the law, a corporation is perceived to be an entity, much like a legal person. This means people are able to sue a corporate and collect damages in civil litigation.
Corporate lawyers are tasked with protecting their clients, making sure their corporations are in legal compliance and know the law concerning businesses in the United States.
What Type of Work Does a Corporate Lawyer Do?
Believe it or not, corporate lawyers do most of their work outside a courtroom. In fact, their goal is to help their clients avoid litigation. Many corporate lawyers don’t step into a courtroom until it’s completely necessary.
With that said, here are the tasks that corporate lawyers typically work on:
Contracts:
Corporate lawyers oversee the drafting, reviewing, and negotiation of all incoming and outgoing contracts. These contracts could include multi-million dollar acquisition deals and lease agreements.
Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A):
Corporate lawyers play a great role in directing all research and transactions that involve one company merging or buying another business.
Corporate Compliance:
Many states require corporations to hold regular meetings, draft bylaws, and create articles of incorporation. Corporate lawyers make sure their clients are fully compliant with these standards.
Venture Capital:
Corporate lawyers can head up operations for their companies to raise money and scale. This includes both private and public funding rounds.
Securities:
Corporate lawyers help their clients manage issues relating to fraud, market manipulation, insider trading, and more activities that could cause financial scrutiny.
Should You Hire a Business Lawyer?
If you run a corporation, there’s no question that you’ll need to hire a corporate lawyer. You can’t afford to do the work yourself or hope that your business doesn’t run into any problems.
Hiring a corporate is your best option for running a profitable and compliant corporation.
Need Help Selecting a Business Lawyer?
Now that you know what is a corporate lawyer, you may be wondering some ways to start finding the right lawyer. To speak to a member of our law team, contact us today to schedule an initial consultation.