If you’re looking for more information on commercial law – including how to become a commercial lawyer – you’ve come to the right place. Take a look at our free guide below for more information on this popular area of law.
What is Commercial Law?
Commercial law involves legal problems that can occur in the running of businesses and commercial transactions. Its predominant concerns are contract and tort law. Clients that come to commercial law firms include large businesses, governments, banks, insurance companies and more. Legal advice can be given to any part of the running of business, from offset (starting a business) all the way to dissolving a company.
It is the area of law that is always thriving since it has a strong association with the economy, thus affecting society as a whole. Therefore, commercial law is incredibly important as it affects how businesses are run and how they in turn work to help and grow society. Furthermore, it provides the rules for businesses and organisations so as to ensure legal conduct avoiding fraudulent activity.
What do Commercial Lawyers Do?
Solicitors: The clients of commercial solicitors are normally businesses. So, a typical day would involve, for example, reading contracts and amending them for the clients, drafting legal papers for businesses and reviewing business mergers. It may also require high levels of negotiating on behalf of the client for the terms of a contract, a licensing agreement. Hence, the work is rather varied depending in what area of practice you specialise.
However, there are many commercial solicitors who are known as in-house lawyers; this means that they essentially have one client, and are normally looking after the legal issues of the organisation they are working for. Being an in-house solicitor means that you are allowed to get more engaged with the commercial activities, rather than working for private practices (such as the ‘Magic Circle firms’ mentioned before) which are generally much more high-pressured jobs.
Barristers: Commercial barristers are faced largely with business disputes in the typical form of contract/tort claims. The role of commercial barristers is to guide solicitors to help their clients through litigation and help prepare them for what might appear from the opposition. Documentation is of high quantity in commercial cases due to the cases which are generally heavy in terms of the facts. A barrister would work with solicitors to make sure the documentation is managed properly. Under the commercial bar, there are numerous areas of specialisation as well including banking and finance, contract disputes, tax and a lot more.