Dedication to clients is the key. You need to have the mindset that what you do is not just a 9-to-5 job: It is your career and it defines you professionally. It’s relationships with clients – the way clients feel about you and how you feel about them – that really matters. In my view, [...]

Another aspect of being a good business lawyer is knowing when and how to match two clients, or one client with a third-party, in a way that results in something good for them, even if there’s nothing foreseeable in it for me. That happens all the time. I have a company that’s looking for money, [...]

Being a successful corporate lawyer is more than being a capable legal technician or someone who documents a company’s transactions. It’s more than understanding a set of laws and regulations that govern a client’s business. In my experience, being a successful corporate attorney must be far more collaborative than that. Although my involvement with clients [...]

The practice of corporate law can be a stimulating, satisfying experience. However, certain developments in the practice of corporate law may change the nature of the traditional experience of a corporate lawyer. For example, it would be desirable for the lawyer to maintain a more traditional relationship with the client instead of having to serve [...]

It is important that the lawyer be fully informed of new developments to provide services that may be required due to changes in the law and the businesses of clients or in the manner in which legal services are provided. Being aware of law firm mergers, services provided in-house or by alternative service providers, and [...]

A key element to the success of the great corporate lawyer is the ability to distinguish the importance of issues, identify the client’s priorities and develop creative, effective solutions to problems and issues. In any matter or transaction, it is extremely important to distinguish between issues that have significant financial and other consequences and are [...]

Understanding a client’s business is essential to providing outstanding legal services. Therefore, extensive research and investigation of the client’s business should be done when the lawyer is retained and it should be continually updated. To fully understand a client’s business, a primary source should be written materials relating specifically to the client’s business and more [...]

The lawyer-client relationship can vary considerably, depending upon the business and needs of the client. It can also depend upon the client’s reasons for retaining the lawyer. In the case of general corporate clients, the work may include a full range of services such as contracts, real estate, human resources, marketing, and transactional matters involving [...]

The role of a corporate lawyer may be extremely varied depending upon the needs of the client, the purpose or purposes for which the corporate lawyer is retained, the applicable circumstances, the expectations and needs of a client and the corporate lawyer’s personal views of the role and responsibility of the lawyer both as a [...]