There are very few jobs more exciting than a career in commercial law. You’ll deal with many different subjects on a day to day basis and come into contact with some pretty inspiring people – from CEOs of companies to fellow lawyers. To be any sort of lawyer you need to be qualified in Law which usually takes around four years. You’ll then need to pass the bar exam, in order to get your license to practice law.

Once you are fully qualified you can look to apply for jobs within law firms or businesses. If you want to follow the commercial lawyer career path, here is how to do it:

Get a Job as a Junior Corporate Associate

The best way to learn your trade is by accepting a junior position where you can learn from lawyers far more experienced than you. You may have a lot of not-so-exciting jobs to do (you’ll be expected to carry out a lot of administration such as photocopying, proofreading, organising meetings etc) but it’ll be worth the graft. If you prove yourself as a hard worker you’ll rise very quickly through the ranks. You’ll have more involved jobs to do too for example preparing filings and drafting contracts so there will be plenty of meaty tasks to get your teeth into too.

Be prepared to put a lot of work in – most corporate lawyers work around 60 hours a week and they will be expecting you to do the same. You will eventually get promoted once you impress the right people so keep your head down and concentrate on doing the best possible job.

What Does the Corporate Lawyer do?

Once you’ve gained enough experience it’s time to start going for jobs. Corporate lawyers generally work within the legal department of businesses, as opposed to in law firms. They are responsible for the company adhering to legal requirements and heading up any court cases. They will oversee mergers, acquisitions, tax issues and HR policies to make sure the business is operating within the confines of the law. No two corporate lawyers’ roles will ever be the same, as the type of business you work for directs the job description. You may be asked for your input on matters such as company structure and personnel policy – and your answer will be heeded and valued.

Every large company needs daily access to their very own corporate lawyer because of the sheer range of issues that come up on a day to day basis.

If you think you have the energy, enthusiasm, knowledge and graft in you to be a good corporate lawyer then you will find it is a very rewarding job. You will be instrumental in the company’s success and failure so a lot of responsibility will fall on your shoulders. You can guarantee that there will always be work available for you as no company should ever be without legal advice. You should expect a high wage to reward you for this work, and you’ll also get oodles of job satisfaction thrown in with the deal!

Attached Images:

• License: Creative Commons image source

Jason Walker, the author of this post, is a commercial lawyer for a top law firm. He is passionate about his work and counsels students who are looking forward to build a career in corporate law.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 20th, 2013 at 9:19 am and is filed under Career, Career Coaching, Education, Specialization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.