June 2, 2021

PLAY THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE: CAREER IN CORPORATE LAW

By shambhavibhushan LAW ARTICLES, LAW SCHOOL CORNER 0 Comments

This article is written by Robin Kumar Thakur of Chanakya National Law University, Patna.

INTRODUCTION

For a person outside the legal environment devil’s advocate may sound like a polemicist or sophist advocate but for a legal adept, it means a lawyer who is a connoisseur in circumvention of the law. Having the negative aura attached to it by the name itself and the largely negative opinions created by some movies like ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ and the ‘Liars liar’ a layman may address it as an unappealing occupation but for legal professionals, it is one of their wildest fantasies, and to cater to this fantasy there’s no place better than being in corporate law.

Corporate law usually deals with the various external interactions between the corporations in the form of financial transactions along with dealing with corporate governance internally. Corporate law is a relatively new field of law with ample opportunities. The boom in the corporate sector owing to the rapid industrialization of India has made corporate law one of the most lucrative careers. Corporate law keeps up to the hype created by Hollywood of a life full of wealth, power and prestige- not to forget the chances of playing the devil’s advocate.

WORK OF A CORPORATE LAWYER

The primary work of a corporate lawyer is to ensure legality in the commercial transactions of the corporate, representing corporations in legal matters and advising the corporation of its legal rights and duties. A corporate lawyer usually counsels clients, along with taking care of business transactions which include negotiations, drafting and review of contracts in cases of mergers, acquisitions and divestment. Corporate law is a huge amalgamation of various fields like tax laws, company laws, bankruptcy, employment law, labour law, intellectual property, zoning or securities. Usually smaller companies and firms hire single corporate lawyers, and they have to be knowledgeable of many fields to cater to all the demands of the company. Large firms and companies, on the other hand hire multiple corporate lawyers each specializing in their own field.

EDUCATION QUALIFICATION

To become a corporate lawyer one should be a law graduate either from the various 3 year LLB courses or 5 year integrated LLB courses such as BALLB. After completing the bachelors one can opt for specialization in corporate law by enrolling in specialized courses in corporate law like LLM corporate law.

Apart from these graduate and post-graduate programmes one can also opt for diploma courses like post-graduate diploma in business law and corporate law.

TOP INDIAN INSTITUTES FOR LAW

TIER-1

TIER-2

TIER-3

NLSIU Bangalore

Symbiosis Law School,

Pune

NUSRL, Ranchi

NALSAR Hyderabad

I ILS Pune

NLU Orissa

NUJS Kolkata

GLC Mumbai

NLUJA Assam

NLIU Bhopal

NUALS Kochi

TTNNLS Trichy

NLU Jodhpur

CNLU Patna

DSNLU

VISAKHAPATNAM

NLU Delhi

RMLNLU Lucknow

Army Institute of Law Mohali

MNLU Mumbai

RGNUL Patiala

KIIT Bhubaneswar

–

GNLU Gandhinagar

BVP Pune

HNLU, Raipur

Source: https://www.lawentrance.com/article/top-law-colleges-in-india.html

Top international colleges for degree in law:

Ranking

Law school

Country

HARVARD

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

UNITED KINGDOM

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

UNITED KINGDOM

YALE UNIVERSITY

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

UNITED KINGDOM

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Source; https://www.topuniversities.com/universities/london-school-economics-political-science-lse

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Corporate Litigation: For a practicing corporate advocate in court it is one of the most lucrative fields. Lawyers like Ajay Bahl, Harish Salve are one of the well known corporate lawyers of India. Though litigating as a corporate lawyer is not as pretty as it seems as it takes much time to settle unless one has contacts or practices under a senior lawyer.

Joining a Law Firm: Various law firms in India which specializes in corporate law employ lawyers as:

Legal Officer/Manager

Legal Advisor

Senior/Junior Associate (Legal)

In-House Counsel: The lawyer here acts as a internal advisor on various myriad businesses and legal issues, including labor and employment issues, intellectual property issues.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A CORPORATE LAWYER

Creating an organisational approach towards legal matters.

Protecting the organisations from legal risks.

Synchronizing and negotiating all the business transactions.

Research and advice on various legal topics involved in day to day running of an organisation.

Drafting and negotiating various agreements.

Representing the company in courts and various legal proceedings.

Dealing with various regulators and compliance issues.

Preparing and auditing legal reports and other supporting documents.

Maintaining confidentiality.

PREREQUISITE OF A CORPORATE LAWYER

In-depth knowledge of various corporate laws governing the state like tax laws, accounting, labour laws etc.

Excellent drafting and negotiating skills.

Having excellent managerial skills.

Multitasking and a good team player.

Excellent interpreting skills.

Excellent time management.

Critical thinker and pragmatic.

OPPORTUNITIES

The rapid industrialization in India has provided a boom for the corporate sector to flourish. With the Modi government’s ambition of becoming a 5 trillion economy by 2024-25 and the trade policies favouring foreign direct investments, the corporate market in India is flourishing and so is corporate law. The investments, mergers and acquisitions, foreign investments all call for corporate lawyers to ensure that they are not against the Indian laws and regulations.

INDUSTRIES TO EXPLORE

Financial Services Industry and Banking Sector

Banks: SBI, Punjab National Bank, Deutsche bank

Insurance companies: ICICI, LIC

Consulting Firms

McKinsey Company

The Boston Consulting Group

Law Advisory Firms

The top law advisory firms in India are:

Khaitan And Co.

S&R Associates.

Talwar Thakore and Associates.

Shardul Amarchand Mangal das And Co.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

J Sagar And Associates.

Trilegal.

AZB and Partners

PERKS OF BEING A CORPORATE LAWYER

Salary: Corporate lawyers are one of the best paid among all the different types of lawyers..

Prestige: Corporate lawyers are one of the most reputed jobs with a hint of glamour behind it. It comes with a sense of authority and entitlement.

Demand: One of the main perks of being a corporate lawyer is that one is always in demand. As long as companies flourish, corporate lawyers will flourish.

Corporate Incentives: corporate perks like promotions, bonus, etc. if a corporate lawyer is hard working enough he can climb the corporate ladder to the top positions

CONS OF BEING A CORPORATE LAWYER

Inflexible Work Hours: It is not a 9 to 5 work but a work with long working hours with a lot of stress.

Negligible Teamwork: Usually the corporate lawyers work in isolation as their work requires little or no interaction with others.

Dependency On The Company: The future of a corporate lawyer directly or indirectly depends upon the future of the company. If the company fails, the future of the lawyer is also at stake.

Less Demand: With much of the resourceful companies going for senior lawyers and very less jobs for corporate lawyers, there is cut-throat competition.

Corporate law in a whole is a very promising and lucrative career if one works with full determination and focus. It is the perfect career choice if one wants to tell their next generation their rags to riches stories or much of a muchness one’s story of from the streets to the apartments of trump towers.

REFERENCES:

Astha Jain, Career in Corporate law- All you need to know, iPleaders, (October 15, 2018), https://blog.ipleaders.in/career-corporate-law-need-know/

Madhavan Srivatsan,Advice on ‘Corporate Law as a Career’ from a Veteran with 18 Years of Experience, Lawctopus, (May 1, 2019), https://www.lawctopus.com/corporate-law-career-advice/

Edited by Shivanshika Samaddar of National Law University, Delhi.