Commercial law

Commercial work is wide ranging but is generally thought of as covering the many contracts and arrangements a company enters into as part of its day-to-day business. Some of this work can overlap with that of corporate lawyers and indeed some areas, such as joint ventures, may be dealt with by commercial or corporate lawyers, depending on their individual experience.

Graduate careers in commercial law

Commercial lawyers are typically involved in drafting and negotiating contracts such as companies’ standard conditions for the sale or supply of goods and services, or agency and distribution agreements. In addition to advising on the contracts themselves, commercial lawyers may be also asked to assist with the tendering or bid process before a contract is awarded.

Work such as this often also calls for a good working knowledge of specialised areas of law such as competition, procurement, consumer protection and employment law. Other types of work commonly undertaken by a commercial lawyer include advising on marketing and sponsorship agreements or IT contracts. There is often a crossover between the work of a commercial lawyer and the work undertaken by a non-contentious intellectual property lawyer.

Commercial lawyers generally work more regular hours than their corporate colleagues, but clients often require work to be done at short notice (perhaps to comply with a strict timetable imposed by a client’s own customer or potential customer) so deadlines can be tight. Commercial lawyers tend to work alone or in small teams, handling a number of different contracts at any one time. Most of their time will be spent in the office preparing and reviewing documents and liaising with clients and other lawyers on the phone and by e-mail. Depending on the firm’s clients, commercial lawyers may be asked to travel nationally or internationally on occasions.

Is commercial law recession-proof?

Commercial law is not totally recession-proof. The need for contracts is determined by the level of business activity and due to the credit crunch there are fewer private sector transactional projects that require significant capital investment. However, as the contracting process forms the bedrock for most commercial transactions (and in a downturn businesses tend to be more concerned about the terms upon which they contract), work levels and preospects have remained relatively stable.

What skills does a commercial lawyer need to do the job?

• Attention to detail.
• Commercial awareness: clients always appreciate an understanding of their business and the issues faced by it.
• Good negotiation and project management skills.

What's it like doing a trainee solicitor's job in commercial law? 

As a trainee in the commercial department, you will be expected to draft documents such as a company’s standard terms of business yourself. This can be highly satisfying: while you should be prepared for your initial attempts to be heavily amended by your supervisor, the sense of achievement in having produced the finished ‘product’ yourself will reward perseverance. The work will often involve plenty of research; for example, you could be asked to research how new legislation will affect a client’s business or how employment law applies to an outsourcing arrangement that a client wishes to enter into.

Types of law practised

• Company.
• Competition.
• Contract.
• Employment.
• Intellectual property.
• Procurement.
• Sales of goods/services.

About the author

PAUL MCGRATH is a partner at WITHERS LLP. He graduated from the University of Oxford with an MA in jurisprudence.