In Canada, commercial law and business law overlap in many areas so sometimes there is some confusion as to what commercial lawyers actually deal with on a day-to-day basis.
Commercial lawyers advise companies and/or governments on issues related to business. Some issues may include certain transactions and the sale and distribution of goods. Commercial lawyers tend to be either contentious lawyers or transactional lawyers.
Read on to learn more about commercial lawyers and commercial law.
1. Transactional vs Contentious
Transactional lawyers draw up and go over legal documents for the deals their clients are making. Contentious lawyers help their clients to resolve disputes with others. Some commercial practices have both transactional and contentious lawyers on staff.
2. Practice Areas in Commercial Law
Finance and Banking
Finance lawyers make sure their clients are legally protected during a financing deal. They go over or draft the legal documents needed for the transaction and verify all the steps required are taken for funding, confirming the borrower has fulfilled his or her conditions.
Banking lawyers can also give their clients advice when it comes to legal issues that arise in a financing arrangement that is already in effect.
Corporate
Companies have to follow their own constitutional documents and any laws that are applicable; corporate lawyers make sure their clients’ actions are legal.
Corporate lawyers also draft legal documents needed for corporate activities and the transactions undertaken by their clients.
Dispute Resolution
Lawyers who specialize in dispute resolution give advice to their clients in issues relating to disputes in which they’re involved and how best to handle the strategy surrounding that dispute resolution. In formal proceedings, dispute resolution lawyers will draft any necessary documents and help their client through trials and other legal hearings.
Dispute resolution lawyers sometimes also act as mediators or arbitrators. They might also give transactional lawyer colleagues advice on how to avoid or minimize future disputes in relation to deals that are in the works.
Lawyers in any commercial firm might also train lawyers in other departments on their area, and advise them of important changes. They might have their own clients and their own deals, which will look a lot like their colleagues have in finance, corporate, and dispute resolution.
3. Traits and Skills in a Good Commercial Lawyer
Commercial lawyers have to be good at forming and keeping business relationships. Each partner in a law firm is expected to win his or her own business, acting both as a salesperson for the firm and an expert in his or her area of law. All lawyers in a firm must be good at marketing themselves.
Commercial lawyers have to be good with words. Legal documents are complex, long, and detailed. Lawyers need to be able to keep their focus on these documents for long periods of time and make sure no mistakes are missed.
Commercial lawyers have to be competent when it come to business. They have to be able to apply their legal know-how to real-life business solutions. Any lawyer in the commercial area has to understand why businesses act how they do and what they want to achieve.
4. How to Become A Commercial Lawyer
Once you are certain you want to become a commercial lawyer, you will need to apply for training contracts while you’re in university. If you are already in law school, apply in your last year of university.
If you aren’t yet in law school, apply in your final year of your non-law degree. The benefit of a training contract is that most commercial firms will pay for the remainder of your legal education.
