You have always known that you are cut out for a career in law. At the same time, you feel like your heart partially belongs to the business world. Don’t such thoughts leave you hanging in the balance? Fortunately, you have a solution that pairs the corporate world with law, and it’s a career in corporate law.
The good news is that corporate law departments are getting an increasing amount of work in contrast with law firms. The 2015 Chief Legal Office Survey based on 258 corporations found out that 51% of the respondents plan on increasing their law department’s internal budget. What’s more, 25% agreed to reducing in-house spending.
Now that you know that corporate lawyers are in demand, you are all set to becoming one. However, you need to hold your horses just there. There’s still a lot of digging to do before you set sail in the corporate law ship.
To this end, here are four things to know and research further before you choose a career in corporate law:
1. Start by understanding what corporate law is about
Corporate law revolves around looking after the external and legal affairs of a corporation. The work profile includes merger and acquisition, investigations, litigation, contract matters, compliance, and international trade issues to name a few.
A corporate lawyer is tasked with the work of negotiating business contracts, identifying legal risks in mergers, guiding compliance and regulatory matters, protecting business legality in commercial transactions, and so on.
Essentially, such lawyers represent companies, and their role is to focus on how companies and corporates interact externally and internally via commercial transactions and corporate governance, respectively.
2. Go on to research the employment trends
You need to look up the employment trends before you choose a law school to try to get into. This is what future planning is about, and it is important for being realistic for chalking out your future in the legal field.
Thus, start by looking at the employment trends to learn where fresh JDs get their jobs and what salaries they are getting. You also need to inspect the unemployment and underemployment rates at the top law schools.
You will want to get into a law school where the majority of the graduates get long-term, full-time jobs in their field within a short time of graduating. Lots of fresh graduates getting short-term or part-time jobs is a telltale sign of struggle in the job market. You don’t want to be choosing such a challenging future.
3. Estimate the return on investment (ROI)
Costs corresponding with higher education have been rocketing to a high. Law school is not an exception to that. Consequently, while planning to join a law educational institute, you need to add up the costs, the debt that you are willing to take, and the return on investment.
Improper planning can lead you down a path of high debt numbers and no job in sight for a long time. Start your research with Payscale. It provides data into the salaries that law school graduates get in various jobs.
This will help you to objectively think about how much you are willing to take on as debt. You need to think even more carefully if you don’t plan to practice law. For instance, you may be gunning for work in the policy and government sectors.
4. Other qualities that can help you in the corporate world
Two qualities that can significantly help a lawyer in a corporate world include business acumen and knowledge of information technology. Several corporate legal departments seek new members who also have relevant business experience.
Such legal professionals with keen business knowledge are held in high esteem for their ability to comprehend how decisions impact clients, various departments, and the company as a whole. At the same time, advanced technical skills are also crucial.
Altman Weil reveals that 71% of the top law firms use tech to help them with monitoring budget status and resource commitment. Tech also helps them keep track of matters. Undeniably, technology is increasingly assisting businesses in their everyday operations, data management, building their brands, and so on.
Technology also helps interact with customers, for instance, via a website such as that of AbdelHadi & Associates, P. C’s site. Thus, it is critical for corporate law attorneys to have technical know-how that extends support for businesses.
Closing thoughts
A career in corporate law is a good choice. However, that does not mean that you shouldn’t research your future. Don’t forget to dig into the scope, salary, and job availability. It is best to be prepared before you dive into your law studies.
