Summary: Learn more about what it is like to be a Corporate attorney in this article.
What Does a Corporate Attorney Do?
Why Do Corporate Attorneys Enjoy Their Jobs?
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What Are the Difficulties of Being a Corporate Attorney?
How Easy Is It to Move Laterally as a Corporate Attorney?
See the current Corporate job openings we are recruiting for here: Corporate Attorney Jobs
Corporate Case Studies
- 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
Corporate Case Studies
- Junior BigLaw Corporate Associate Moves to a Smaller Firm for a Better Life
- Experienced Attorneys Should Consider Unconventional Firms if They Hit a Dead End on the Partnership Track
- Candidate lands big law position despite COVID lay off
- Strong Mid-Level Corporate Associate Moves Home and Secures Position with Strong Firm
- Cap Markets Specialist Moves to a Broad Based Corporate Position
- Junior Corporate/ Transactional Attorney Finds New Opportunity with Highly-Regarded Regional Firm
- Senior Sophisticated Corporate/ Transactional Candidate Makes Move from In-House Back to Private Practice
- Senior Corporate Attorney Looking for a Role Back at a Firm
- Big Law California Associate Moves to Regional Market
- Mid-Level Tax and Corporate Candidate Finds New Opportunity Upon Geographic Move for Family
- Delaware Corporate Associate Placed at Top Am Law 100 Firm in Silicon Valley
- Senior Corporate Attorney Makes Move to Big Law With Class Year Flexibility
- Placement of Junior Corporate Associate Relocating Home to Boston from California with Arent Fox
- Start-up Former Big Law Attorney Returns to Top Big Law Firm
- Placement of a Junior Corporate Associate in Kentucky with a Boutique Firm in NYC
- Unemployed Attorney With Strong Background Moves to Am Law Top 200
- Placement of Senior Solo Practitioner with $100k Portable Book with Prestigious Regional Firm
- Elite Mid-Level Corporate Associate Finds New Opportunity Upon Move Back to Midwest
- Mid-Level Corporate Candidate From Regional Southeast Firm Moves to Vault Law 100 Firm in Colorado
- Elite Corporate Candidate (Class of 2016) Finds Opportunity upon Relocating to Home in Midwest
- Strong Corporate Candidate in Missouri Secures Data Privacy Role at Top Am Law 100 Firm in San Francisco
- Class of 2017 Business Litigation Associate Candidate Placed in Corporate/Transactional Associate Role at National Law Firm
- Corporate LLM Candidate Placed at a Top Am Law 100 Firm in Silicon Valley
- Corporate Attorney From Texas Placed in San Diego
- Attorney Goes to Business School After Losing their Job and Wants to Return to a Large Law Firm in New York City
- Junior Corporate Associate in Los Angeles Interested in a Larger Law Firm
- Niche Area Corporate Attorney in Washington, DC Interested in Relocating to New York
- Candidate in Europe Wants to Relocate Home to the US
- Attorney Moves From The Bay Area To The Pacific Northwest
