CORPORATE LAW: COURSE DETAILS, CAREER PROSPECTS, AND SALARY
Corporate law is a path that helps a lawyer to make more money in the shortest period in the field of law. A fascinating thing about corporate law is money, which a lawyer makes. There is bewilderment in most budding lawyers regarding whether they should go for litigation or corporate law because it’s believed that in litigation, it takes grey hair to earn good money, in corporate law, a student can make that money after 1–2 years of his\her law school.
Course details:
For being eligible to become a corporate lawyer, aspiring candidates should have a law degree. The available courses are:
- 3 years LL.B. degrees
- Five years integrated Law course.
Now the most significant confusion arises when it comes to the five-year integrated degree courses. Courses that are available in the category of five years integrated degree are B.A.LL.B., B.B.A. LL.B., B.Sc. LL.B., B.Com. LL.B. Now the confusion is for corporate law, which course will be best. You can practice corporate law through any of the courses; it won’t make any difference even if you pursue it through B.Sc. LL.B. because it is taught in all the degrees.
If a student has already made up his/her mind to practice corporate law, then he should go for a B.B.A. LL.B. degree. Apart from the law, when it comes to the knowledge of business understanding, this course strong-arms you to understand business and makes you more attractive for the firm to recruit you in comparison to others who are from different streams and have less understanding of business in comparison to you.
After a bachelor’s of law degree, candidates can do Masters for specialized qualification in corporate law. This will increase the chance of having a more successful career. As there are a variety of legal issues, including Corporate taxes, corporate structure items, merger and acquisition, employment law, and government reporting, which also needs specialization. Corporate firms will hire multiple lawyers, and one lawyer will be a specialist in one or two areas of corporate law. A corporate lawyer should be knowledgeable in a wide range of legal fields and should be able to handle a large number of issues.
Career prospect:
According to Varun Sharma, Chairman, M.V.N. University, after the globalization of trade and economy, the corporate law has become one among the first sort after career options for today’s youth, both in-house counsel and in law firms. Corporate Lawyer is in-demand across all domination, be it the company governance or business consulting firms. With foreign law firm’s occupation, the scope for Corporate Lawyers has increased many folds.
For getting into the top law firms, a candidate must have the experience, which makes him stand ahead from other candidates. Now the question is from where to learn this experience, so an internship is the best place to gain the expertise of the practical side of the law. Most of the students make a big mistake by applying for 1 tier firm in their initial college years internship.
There is a stereotype in the mind of the student that an internship certificate from the top-notch firm will help them to get a job at those top-notch firms in later years, so they apply their all contact and sources to get into those firms for an internship. But the reality is, allowing for an internship is far different from recruiting for the job. The reason being, that for a job, a firm pays the right amount from their profit, which no one will do for the sake of relations, for getting into those firm candidates must have good knowledge and experience which they will get from tier 2 and tier 3 firms.
The reason is tier 1 firm have more workload than tier 2 and 3 tier firms so, candidate applying for an internship in tier 1 firm doesn’t get the time of the Lawyer from whom he could learn instead, the candidate gets occupy into the non-productive or less productive activity, on the other hand, lawyers at tier 2 and 3 give their interns their time and work from which interns gain real experience.
At the time of the job interview, it’s not hard for the recruiter to identify which candidate has more experience and which one has only weight in their C.V. So, it’s essential to gain experience at law school by applying for an internship at the appropriate firm at which a lawyer could give their time.
Salary:
From a large private corporate house on an average of Rs1, 00,000 per month is expected as a salary. Remuneration in the corporate sector is very high in comparison to litigation. It takes years to make that money in litigation. In Corporate law, Remuneration is decided on the knowledge and skill-set you have. Still, an average student can make up to 6–9 lakh per annum salary in a corporate law firm in his/her initial stage.
Conclusion:
It’s a misconception in the mind of candidates that the corporate sector is all about making money and table work; on the other hand, litigation is very interesting, as shown in the movies. But in reality, it is not the case. People who have business-knowledge and curiosity for it are perfect for corporate law. It’s not just about making money, but it’s about where your interest lies.
Author
Shivin Agarwal (Student — Lloyd Law College)
