Life as a private practice corporate lawyer

I don’t know if there is an average day in corporate law.

I say this because I made a deal last week and it suddenly became a priority and everything else had to be put aside.

I’m trying to plan my day. If I know I have some drafting to do on a deal, I try to take the time, but it depends on what comes up.

Many people, even other lawyers, do not understand what corporate law is. Unfortunately it is not Suit.

Corporate mainly involves acquisitions (buying and selling companies).

But there is also corporate governance; Ensuring your company’s files are kept up to date.

When working on agreements, there will be a senior lawyer managing the deal and a junior lawyer assisting.

I have two and a half years of PQE (post qualification experience) so I usually get involved from the start with due diligence.

Specific tasks depend on whether you are working for the seller or the buyer. If you are acting on behalf of a merchant:

• checking documents
• ensuring things are uploaded to the data room (a secure online space where documents are kept)
• help answer questions
• assisting in the preparation of supporting documents

The senior person will work on things like negotiating the share purchase agreement (SPA) and larger documents.

We normally get customers through redirection, so once we do a good job for them they come back.

As a junior lawyer, there isn’t a lot of pressure to bring in clients, but you should be active in networking.

The more senior you are, the more clients you will be expected to bring in.

I wasn’t always focused on being a lawyer.

I really enjoyed history at A level so I thought about doing it at university. Then I thought I could become a teacher or a nutritionist.

But I went to some open days for law and my dad encouraged me to apply. It reminded me that you don’t have to study law after graduation, but it’s a good degree.

After graduating, I took a year off and volunteered at Citizens Advice, which is how I got my first paralegal job in personal injury law.

I always had my eye on corporate; Prior to my educational affiliation, I worked as a corporate paralegal for 18 months.

While studying, I chose subjects related to corporate matters such as commercial property.

At one point I took a wildcard and did some family law work.

It made me a little dizzy, but I eventually went back to the company because you’re less emotionally involved in people’s affairs. I know it’s important, but I felt like family law wasn’t for me.

Institutionalism is a happy discipline; Either you sell someone’s company and they jump into retirement, or you buy something for someone and they turn over a whole new leaf.

I think you naturally gravitate towards a field that suits your skills and what you enjoy.

I love closing a deal; I enjoy working until the early hours. It’s not for everyone, but I think once you get into it, you just have to put your head down and get the job done.

I know it sounds weird but you’re all in the trenches and I hope it’s the same on the other side.

More and more candidate lawyers care about the culture of the firm they will work for.

This is a big reason why I chose to work for a regional firm. I know you can get paid more in London, but there are higher expectations from you in this regard.

This doesn’t mean the work is of lower quality at regional firms, but you do benefit from having a greater work-life balance.

When you have important work to do, you have to stay late and get the job done, but that’s when it’s really necessary; You won’t be expected to stay up until 2 a.m. every day.

The values ​​at my firm are around community, work-life balance and wellbeing, which are really important to me. They follow this: this is not for show.

If you are early in your legal career, go out and network.

I love networking, but I wasn’t challenged when I first started, so I did it off my own back.

I had just moved south from where I grew up and wanted to meet other junior lawyers, especially for peer support.

I began networking with the local paralegals chapter, later joining the committee and helping plan events.

I love coming up with ideas and learning about what’s happening at the coalface. I did that for three and a half years and eventually became president.

There are so many different things you can get involved in: business lunches, breakfast networking, young professional groups and more.

It can be frustrating, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.

The next steps in my career are about gaining as much experience and knowledge as I can.

I think I’d like to move up the ladder; It’s all about being transparent about your goals.

When I was a paralegal I just wanted a training contract, but if you don’t tell people how are they supposed to know? They think he’s happy being a paralegal.

Evaluating with a partner can be scary, but they understand: They’ve been in your shoes. Talk to them on a human level and they will be honest.

They may say “not now” or suggest what you need to do to get there. This at least gives you something to work with.

If I were to go back and do it over again, I would say be more confident, believe in yourself and take advantage of every opportunity.

Apply for everything because you don’t know where something will lead.

It may be completely unrelated to law, but it will still give you the skills you need to get where you want to be.

I got my first paralegal job because I volunteered; Everything is a step.