Corporate law

Corporate lawyers are primarily transactional lawyers who advise on and implement mergers and acquisitions (M&A) or investments. They advise companies on the purchase or sale of other businesses, and help them raise funds. As a result of globalisation, there is often also a cross border element to the work.

Corporate solicitors juggle three or four deals at a time

On average a corporate lawyer will have three or four transactions on the go at once, but the time spent on each will vary; usually, one or two transactions will dominate at any one time. Transactions can take anything from two weeks and upwards to complete depending on their complexity. A typical deal will take about three months to sign.

Once a deal has been identified and a buyer and seller have been matched up, a transaction will typically begin with the signing of a letter of intent and confidentiality agreement. Then comes a due diligence phase, where a buyer will investigate assumptions about the business and its financial situation. Usually at the same time, a negotiation of the substantive agreements under which the sale will occur takes place. Documents are signed after the completion of these phases. The stages might vary if an auction is involved and multiple parties are interested in an asset; the process is then often dictated more strictly by a seller and competitive tensions can change the average process quite significantly.

Trainee solicitors experience working in teams of 300 global lawyers

Team size can vary from around 4 members for a small transaction to 300 or more for a global transaction. Clients are not limited by industry – any corporate entity or financial institution that wants to buy or sell a business can call on our services, and corporate lawyers might be asked to work on either the buy or sell side of a transaction – so things are kept interesting.

A solicitor's working hours tend to increase near a deal’s completion

Corporate lawyers spend a lot of their time in the office, but there are some meetings with clients or counterparties that occur elsewhere. The average corporate lawyer works for around eight or nine hours a day; this varies significantly depending on the transaction you’re working on and the stage at which it’s at. The workload increases as you get closer to signing and completing a transaction, so overnight or weekend working might be required. Contrary to popular belief, this is not consistently a requirement.

Opportunities to travel do come up if a transaction requires it. Corporate lawyers are also required to spend time building relationships with clients, especially as they take on more senior positions at the firm. Building and maintaining client relationships is still important at the junior level, though.

Ups and downs

The best part of being a corporate lawyer is the sort of work you get involved in – each transaction is coloured by the participants and their aims, so every deal is different. There’s a great sense of achievement in completing a deal and you often get to witness the fruits of your labour. The worst part of the job is the lack of control over your time when a transaction reaches its critical point – you have to respond to demands as they arise, and things are often hard to predict.

Has this area been recession-proof?

During a recession, the type of transaction a corporate lawyer works on will change; for example, you might sell distressed assets out of necessity or in order to restructure a business rather than because a company is seeking to make a large profit from the sale. General M&A activity slows down and deals are more fragile because buyers and sellers are more cautious. Economic cycles often dictate the nature of transactions, but this keeps things exciting, because you have to be responsive to the demands of the market.

Early responsibility for trainees?

A corporate trainee will be involved in all aspects of a deal – typically he or she will have most involvement with the due diligence, research and preparation for signing and completion. You’ll be part of a wider team, which will include specialists and possibly local counsel, and will be involved in drafting some of the less complex documents and attending meetings with senior team members. Trainees usually have ample opportunity for early responsibility, both on the project management and legal side.

Types of law practised

• Contract.
• Company.
• Tort.
• Securities.

Good corporate solicitors have…

• The ability to multitask.
• Commercial awareness.
• People skills – teamwork and client management skills are core.
• A sound understanding and practical application of the law.
• Good drafting skills.
• Project management skills.

Karen Guch is a partner in the corporate department at Baker & McKenzie LLP. She graduated with a degree in law from King’s College London in 1995.