How To Become a Corporate Lawyer

When you think of a corporate lawyer, you probably imagine a person who works in a skyscraper, wearing a tailored suit and sitting at an impressive desk with leather chairs. That’s because corporate lawyers are known for working in high-rise buildings and have offices filled with expensive furniture. But what is it that makes these lawyers so special?

What Is a Corporate Lawyer?

A corporate lawyer is someone who specializes in the laws governing corporations. These lawyers help companies form legally binding contracts and make sure those contracts are enforced. A typical day for a corporate lawyer might include reviewing documents that have been signed by clients, making sure they meet the standards set by law, and filing them with the appropriate authorities when needed.

How To Become a Corporate Lawyer

If you want to become a corporate lawyer, there are several things you can do to prepare yourself for this career path:

Take classes in business law or economics—these classes will give you an understanding of how businesses work and how they interact with each other on both large and small scales; this knowledge will help prepare you for working as an attorney later on down the line! Take classes that cover topics such as accounting principles (how money gets spent within companies), investing principles

How To Become Corporate Lawyer

There are many fields of law that an aspiring attorney can get into. One is corporate law, which is the area of law concerned with businesses and the activities that go into operating, maintaining and managing an organization. As with other types of law, to secure a position in corporate law requires that you follow certain steps to become qualified and have the knowledge you need to succeed as a corporate lawyer.

In this article, we describe what a corporate lawyer is and what responsibilities they may have, explain how to become a corporate attorney, share the average salary for this position and provide a list of skills that many corporate lawyers possess.

Related: FAQ: How Do I Know If I Want to Be a Lawyer?

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What is a corporate lawyer?

A corporate lawyer is an attorney who represents the company they work for. It’s common for a larger business, and small companies too, to hire corporate attorneys to make sure it’s in compliance for its industry and following all rules and regulations.

Some responsibilities of corporate lawyers include:

• Reviewing and approving contracts with business partners, employees, vendors and suppliers
• Advising company owners and executive leadership of regulations and laws pertaining to the organization’s industry
• Writing agreements between various parties and facilitating their completion
• Developing employee handbooks
• Representing the company they work for in court, during regulation meetings and to administrative boards
• Handling company mergers and acquisitions
• Restructuring companies to meet the needs of owners and investors
• Appraising the organization to share its value with potential buyers and investors
• Mediating between higher-level employees of the organization during a conflict
• Helping develop company strategies with board members and company shareholders
• Facilitating training sessions and workshops
• Managing a team of employees, including junior associates, compliance officers, legal assistants and paralegals

How to be a corporate lawyer

Follow these steps to become a corporate attorney:

1. Earn a bachelor’s degree

One of the first steps to becoming a corporate attorney is to earn your bachelor’s degree in a related discipline, which can include business, finance, political science, legal studies, government and economics, from an accredited college or university. While you’re in school, think about ways you can become involved in groups and extracurricular activities that’ll help support your career path.

Consider signing up for student government or a debate club or volunteering at a law firm. You can also build your relationships with your advisors, as they can later write letters of recommendation for you when you’re applying for law school or a job post-graduation.

2. Complete an internship

Explore your internship opportunities at local law firms, government offices or legal clinics. An internship will give you the chance to learn first-hand what you can expect from a career as an attorney. You can also meet professionals who’ll be able to answer your questions, guide you on your career path, encourage you, be a part of your network and give you a referral to a position later on.

During an internship, you may do things like file paperwork, assist attorneys with drafting legal documents, help prepare the firm for a courtroom appearance and perform legal research to support a partner’s case.

Related: How to Ask for an Internship: Steps and Tips

3. Apply for law school

The next step in becoming a corporate lawyer is to apply for attendance at an American Bar Association-accredited law school. Each law school’s requirements are different regarding the grade point average (GPA) you’ll need and the supporting documents, like letters of recommendation and graduate statement of purpose, the college will want to see from applicants. It’s best to see what individual schools require so you can best prepare and submit a strong application for the admissions committee to review.

Most law schools require that you take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), a standardized test that measures how likely it is that you’ll be successful in law school. The LSAT tests your critical thinking and reasoning abilities and how able you are to read and comprehend logical statements and other written information.

4. Earn your juris doctor degree

Law school prepares you to earn your juris doctor (J.D.) degree, the degree you must hold to become an attorney. You’ll take courses in topics such as:

• Legal procedures
• Administrative law
• Torts
• Legal communications
• Intellectual property
• Civil and criminal law
• Legal advocacy
• Taxation

Explore the elective courses available to you that are specific to your area of concentration, like contracts, antitrust law and corporate transactions. While you’re in school, attend career fairs your college hosts. You’ll have the opportunity to meet with attorneys at various companies and firms and speak with them about your career ambitions and the skills you’ve already learned while in school. You can ask these professionals if you can schedule an informational meeting with them off-campus to learn more about their firm.

5. Pass the bar exam

Even if you do well in law school, you’ll still need to pass the American Bar Association’s (ABA) bar exam. The exam covers these topics:

• Contracts and sales
• Criminal law and procedure
• Constitutional law
• Real property
• Evidence
• Torts

It’s also designed to measure how knowledgeable you are about general and more specific legal matters that you may encounter when working in the field. States may vary in their requirements of who qualifies to take the bar exam, so check with your state’s board to make sure you’ve met the requirements before you’re scheduled to appear for the exam.

6. Get licensure in your state

Upon passing the bar exam, you can apply for licensing in your state. This usually includes paying a fee, getting fingerprinted, completing a background check and turning in an application to your state’s board.

7. Meet with professionals in the field

When searching for a position as a corporate lawyer, you may find more success if you’ve taken the time to connect with current professionals in the field. Explore the different professional networks that are available to you, so you can gain access to networking events, news in the industry and trainings that can help build your knowledge of corporate law. Those you meet can provide you with insight to the industry, give you guidance in securing a position and make recommendations for continuing education courses to take or employers to look into when applying for positions.

8. Develop your resume

A strong resume can convince a hiring manager that you’re the best candidate for the open position, or at least that they should interview with you to learn more about you and what unique attributes and experience you can bring to the company. Write a strong resume objective and include any relevant work experience, volunteering you’ve done and the skills that set you apart from your peers. If you’re a new graduate, consider sharing some of the most relevant courses you’ve completed.

Related: 10 Tips for Writing Your Lawyer Resume

Corporate lawyer salary

The national average salary for a corporate lawyer in the United States is $130,857 per year, although your years of experience, education, skill set and geographical location can affect your salary. For example, the average salary for corporate lawyers in New York, New York is $186,861 per year, while the average salary for the same position in Montgomery, Texas is $111,973 per year.

Corporate attorneys can also benefit from:

• Health, vision, dental and life insurance
• Retirement account options
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Cell phone reimbursement
• Company perks

Skills for a corporate lawyer

Here are some skills that corporate attorneys possess that help them find success in their career:

• Knowledge of corporate law: It’s important to have a solid foundation of corporate law topics like civil procedures, contracts, torts and constitutional law.
• Ambition: Becoming and working as an attorney is a lot of hard work, and ambition is key to a successful career.
• Communication: A large part of your responsibilities as an attorney will be communicating with others, both verbally and through written communication. You’ll draft legal documents and other written reports and need to form strong relationships with corporate stakeholders, other attorneys and members of the court.
• Negotiating: Negotiation skills are good to have so you can help resolve conflicts, talk through the different parts of contracts and other legal documents and come to a mutual agreement with other parties that are involved in the operations of the business.
• Research: Laws update, and it’s imperative that you have research skills that can help you discover and learn more about the field of law. Many practicing attorneys continue to take continuing education courses and attend trainings that help grow their knowledge in a particular subject so they can best serve the organization they work for.
• Analytical: It’s necessary that corporate lawyers be able to form reasonable conclusions from the limited amount of information that’s at their disposal. Your analytical skills can help you form sound arguments and develop stances and negotiations on behalf of the business.
• Critical reading: Along with writing, there is a lot of reading involved with being an attorney. You’ll likely need to read through contracts, statutes, reports, court filings and more to fully understand the document you’re assessing.