Corporate Attorney (General) | BCGSearch.com

Corporate Attorney (General)

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Summary: Learn more about what it is like to be a Corporate attorney in this article.

What Does a Corporate Attorney Do?
 
  • This practice area focuses on general corporate work. Corporate law includes entity formation and corporate governance.
  • Corporate work includes the creation of different kinds of entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships, as well as helping companies comply with ongoing governance and regulatory issues.
  • Corporate generalists typically deal with multiple different types of corporate-related work.
  • On the West Coast (particularly Silicon Valley), corporate attorneys tend to work more with private companies; they counsel technology companies, do venture work, securities, and IPOs.
  • On the East Coast, there tends to be more public company-related work and the practice area tends to be much more specialized.
  • Many generalists serve as outside general counsel to companies.

Why Do Corporate Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs?
 
  • Attorneys enjoy being generalists because the work tends to be quite collaborative.
  • There is a lot to learn to be a corporate attorney (it can take several years), and this creates a high barrier to entry in the field.
  • This is a good practice area for people who like business, money and working directly with companies.
  • Corporate attorneys are the most likely to be able to get in-house positions.

What Are the Difficulties of Being a Corporate Attorney?
 
  • The work that corporate attorneys do is often referred to as "glorified clerical work" because the work is often quite clerical in nature.
  • The best corporate attorneys excel at finding the things that can go wrong in transactions, contracts, and other deals.
  • Because they are trained to see the negative, they are often viewed as hindrances to getting things done.

How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Corporate Attorney?
 
  • When the economy is good, corporate attorneys are often in strong demand.
  • Regarding the ability to lateral between states, cities and even countries, corporate is probably the best practice area to be in.
  • This is also a good practice area for attorneys interested in business and making a lot of money.
  • When the economy is slow, it can become more difficult for corporate attorneys to move laterally and there are a lot of layoffs.
  • This is a very difficult practice area to start a career in because attorneys can get laid off and lose their jobs early in their careers and never get the training needed to become seasoned attorneys.
  • This is the best practice area for attorneys interested in building a book of business.
  • Because corporate attorneys tend to advise their clients on an ongoing basis about a variety of issues, they typically can get spin-off work (litigation, real estate, tax and so forth) that they can send to other attorneys in their firm.
 
See the current Corporate job openings we are recruiting for here:
 
Corporate Attorney Jobs
 
Learn more about the corporate practice area in the following articles:
 
  • BCG Attorney Search's Guide to Corporate and Finance Practice Areas
  • What Is It Like Being a Corporate Lawyer: What Do Corporate Lawyers Do?
  • What Does It Take to Become a Successful Corporate Attorney?
 
Data Privacy Attorney
 
What Does a Data Privacy Attorney Do?
 
  • This practice area focuses on the storage and management of information within computer networks and cyberspace.
  • Data privacy lawyers focus on complex and evolving laws and regulations that govern everything that happens in connection with data transmitted and stored on computers, including consumer protection laws, privacy laws, and e-discovery issues.
  • Attorneys who practice in this area provide legal advice on issues such as cyber security, online privacy, data mining, data breach protocols, and the law as it relates to web technologies, mobile platforms, emerging technologies, information technology, e-commerce, e-business, mobile payments, competitive intelligence, and trade secrets.
 
Why Do Data Privacy Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs?
 
  • Attorneys who enjoy this practice area tend to enjoy technology and working with technology-related topics.
  • They enjoy understanding and seeing how the law applies to emerging technologies and working with evolving areas of law.
  • Attorneys in this practice area often attend conferences and work collaboratively with attorneys in other firms sharing information about the evolving nature of this law.
  • Because the work is quite specialized, it is often easier for attorneys to lateral in this practice area than other practice areas.
 
What Are the Difficulties of Being a Data Privacy Attorney?
 
  • People that are not interested in technology tend to be somewhat repelled by this practice area.
  • The work in this practice area tends to be somewhat sporadic, and many attorneys have a difficult time staying consistently busy.
  • For that reason, there is often not enough work to justify paying senior associates and making attorneys a partner in larger law firms.
 
How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Data Privacy Attorney?
 
  • This is a good practice area for attorneys to lateral in if they have strong qualifications (schools and their prior firm).
  • This practice area tends to go in fits and starts and is busiest when the economy is expanding and then slows down (often to a complete standstill) when the economy slows down.
  • Although this practice area is developing, it is a fairly risky practice area for attorneys because there are not a lot of partnership opportunities and there is not a high barrier to entry and learning the work.
  • The projects for clients also tend to be smaller, and this means that it is difficult for law firms to scale up the practice area (with several attorneys) for various matters and generate large bills.
  • This practice area is limited and a difficult one for attorneys to make names for themselves, or become very successful financially doing.
 
See the current Data Privacy job openings we are recruiting for here:

31 Reviews| Average: 4.3 out of 5

What do you think about this article? Rate it using the stars above and let us know what you think in the comments below.
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