<p>If I would like to be a corporate lawyer, would economics be a good major? Also, what EXACTLY does a corporate lawyer do?</p>
<p>As I've said before, any major that you will get top grades in is a good major. To be a corporate lawyer, you first got to get admitted to law school , and to get into law school, you gotta get top grades. So if economics is extremely easy to you such that you will get good grades, and/or economics at your school is graded extremely easily so that you will get good grades without having to work very hard, then I would say that, yes, economics would be a good major.</p>
<p>The phrase "corporate lawyer" usually refers to lawyers working as employees of a large corporation. Another phrase is "business lawyer" and a business lawyer works as an employee (hopefully owner) of a law firm and handles issues similar to those of a corporate lawyer but handles those issues for more than one business. Duties of a corporate lawyer are determined by the corporation. Sometimes these duties include defending the corporation when it is sued, preparing securities filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission or the numerous other regulatory bodies, giving legal opinions to employees regarding what actions they can take and remain compliant with the law, researching taxation issues in order to minimize corporate tax liability, and other duties based on the needs of the corporation. </p>
<p>Economics is a fine major for becoming a corporate lawyer as long as you also take courses requiring you to write a lot of papers, especially papers requiring you to display cricial analysis. I would also suggest you take at least some basic accounting courses. Accounting is the language of business even though it is extremely boring and requires a lot of memorization.</p>
<p>I would suggest you take a long-term view. Instead of focusing on just getting into law school, do those things necessary to make sure you graduate high in your law school class. Your law school class rank will determine the number and quality of job offers you may get. This means take the hardest classes you can as an undergraduate and get very high grades. If you cannot get high grades in the hardest classes, this may mean you will not do well in law school. Knowing before hand that you may not do well in law school could make all the difference in world when it comes to deciding what to do with your life.</p>
<p>I would also add that like many areas of law, the scope of "corporate" is broad. As has been suggested, you could find a niche in the corporate world in real estate acquistion, for SEC filings, or tax, or product liability. In short, you need to narrow the interest down, and the best way to do that -- as has already been suggested -- is to get a good clerking position either at a law firm does has a business practice, or in the legal dept of a good size corporation.</p>
<p>Your clerking experience should help you decide where your interests are.</p>
<p>Thinkingoutloud, while I would say that it in a perfect world, it would be good to prepare yourself to do well in law school, the fact is, we don't live in a perfect world. You can do all kinds of things to make sure you do well in law school, but if you can't even get admitted, what does it matter? I agree with you that your law school class rank will determine the kind of job you will get upon graduation. If you do poorly, you will not get the best job. But hey, you're still far better off than the guy who never got admitted in the first place. Nobody ever became a lawyer who didn't get into law school.</p>
<p>"But hey, you're still far better off than the guy who never got admitted in the first place."</p>
<p>I absolutely disagree with you on that one, sakky. Although it is often difficult to do so, someone in college should not be looking solely at the goal of getting into law school as if getting into law school will cure all of life's problems. The real objective is to find and pursue a successful career where what is success is in the eye of the beholder. Most people can find success in more than one career. The guy graduating last in his class has not done himself any favors. He will have a great deal of difficulty finding a job with a law firm. He probably will be viewed as a loser by his classmates and others in the profession who know his class rank. If he tries to open his own law practice, he will probably starve for several years. A guy who will do poorly in law school is far better off knowing that before he has created all of the expectations associated with entering law school. He is far better off pursuing some other career for which he is more capable. A primary purpose of law school is to foster incredible competition and to create winners and losers because that is what law is like in the real world. Our society will certainly not suffer if a particular college student decides to forego law school.</p>
<p>"Nobody ever became a lawyer who didn't get into law school." Acutually, many became lawyers by apprenticing way back when, and some states still allow for sitting for the bar exam under certain circumstances that do not include have graduated from law school.</p>
<p>SUMMARY OF EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS TO TAKE THE CALIFORNIA BAR EXAMINATION</p>
<p>This is an unofficial summary of the educational requirements to take the California Bar Examination established by Section 6060 of the California Business and Professions Code and repeated in the Rules Regulating Admission to Practice Law in California.</p>
<p>Persons contemplating applying to take the California Bar Examination should review the Rules to determine if they satisfy the educational requirements to take the examination.</p>
<p>Eligibility questions should be referred to the Office of Admissions, The State Bar of California, 1149 South Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015-2299. To be eligible to take the California Bar Examination, one must have completed at least two years of college before beginning the study of law or must have passed certain specified College Level Equivalency Program examinations before beginning law study and must have graduated from a law school approved by the American Bar Association or accredited by the Committee of Bar Examiners of The State Bar of California or have completed four years of law study at an unaccredited or correspondence law school registered with the Committee or studied law in a law office or judge's chambers in accordance with the Rules Regulating Admission to Practice Law in California.</p>
<p>Those studying law who did not successfully complete their first year of law study at a school approved by the American Bar Association or accredited by the Committee must take the First-Year Law Students' Examination upon completion of their first year of law study. They must pass the examination within three administrations of first becoming eligible to take it in order to receive credit for law study accomplished up to the time of passage. If they pass the examination on their fourth or more attempt, they will receive credit for only one year of law study.</p>
<p>Additional Sources: Rules of Court, Rules 957 and 983.2; Education Code 94361; and State Bar Act 6060 and 6061.</p>
<p>Arcane, yes, impractical yes, but still possible.</p>
<p>That's a good point concerneddad. Barriers to entry in the legal profession are not as high as people think. I would take your comment further to make a separate point - lawyers are horrible at protecting their turf. Many non-lawyers practice law. Tax accountants interpret tax law all the time. Real estate settlement agents give legal advice regarding terms of mortgages and deeds. Patent agents perform many of the duties of patent lawyers. Despite an obvious glut of lawyers, lawyers have done little to ensure that business is available for them.</p>
<p>point well-taken, thingingoutloud</p>
<p>If I am allowed to interpret law as a tax accountant, would getting a law degree be a waste of time? I was thinking of becoming a tax accountant but acting as a corporate lawyer when necessary.</p>
<p>If you wish to act as a corporate lawyer some times then you should be licensed to practice law. That means law school and then pass the bar.</p>
<p>If you love taxation and wish to eat, sleep and drink taxation, I would recommend you major in accounting as an undergraduate, take and pass the CPA exam, go to law school and take as many taxation courses you can take. Then pass the bar exam. With these degrees you can practice tax law for a CPA firm or a law firm or a major corporation. You are in the driver's seat.</p>
<p>If you are not interested in going to law school but love taxation, you could major in accounting and take a lot of tax courses. Another option would be to get a masters in taxation. It is usually a one year program. You don't have to be an accounting major to be admitted to most masters in taxation, but the accounting degree with the masters in taxation will get you in the door of most employers.</p>
<p>Being a tax lawyer or tax accountant is not a bad career because you are often perceived as a hero by your clients because nobody likes paying taxes. You can also earn a decent living. The downside is that tax law and regulations change more frequently than in other areas of the law. It can drive a normal person crazy. On the other hand, that may be what makes it fun for a lot of people.</p>
<p>reading the tax code= fun? Shaking my head and wondering if pounding it against a brick wall would be fun too! LOL.</p>
<p>To each their own.</p>
<p>Thinkingoutloud, I think you misinterpreted my statement.</p>
<p>I never said that everybody should go into college trying to figure out a way to get into law school. Obviously if there is some other talent that will take you to another career path that you will be highly successful in, then you should go down that road. Law school is definitely not something that will cure all your problems.</p>
<p>However, look at the situation this way. You must agree that there are lots of people right now in dead-end jobs, doing something that they absolutely hate, stuck in careers that they loathe. Just look around you and you will see a lot of people who don't like what they do for a living. They don't like it, and they're stuck. I think you must agree that these people would love to get admitted to, say, Yale Law, even if they were to graduate last. It's not great to graduate last - but hey, at least that's better than what they're doing now. </p>
<p>Hence, I disagree that a guy who graduates last from law-school hasn't done himself any favors. You have to compare that situation to the situation he would have had if he hadn't gone to law school. Is it better? Is it worse? That depends on the person. It also fundamentally depends on the law school that you're talking about. Again, I would reckon that 99% of all working adults would like to have graduated last from Yale Law. It's not great to graduate last from Yale, but it's a whole lot better than what they have right now. </p>
<p>Finally, I disagree about the assertion that law schools primary purpose is to foster incredible competition or all that stuff about class rank. Again, that depends on what law school you're talking about. Some law schools are indeed shark-tanks. Others are not. Again, let's use the example of Yale Law. Yale does not track class rank. Editor positions for the Yale Law Journal are not based on class rank. Yale Law takes pains to reduce the level of competition and foster a highly collegial atmosphere.</p>
<p>I have to say that if Yale Law were to (magically) give me an offer of admission, I certainly wouldn't think twice about it, even if thought that I was going to graduate last. Hey, that's still a lot better than what I have now. And I know plenty of people who would do the same. After all, we're not talking about some scrub law school here. We're talking about Yale Law. Who cares if you never work as a lawyer after you graduate? The contacts alone would be worth it. (It's the same reason why a lot of people go to top-flight business schools like Stanford - in many cases, it's not to actually learn anything, it's just to make contacts). By going to a school like that, you'd be connecting yourself with what is arguably the most elite law-school class in the country - people who will be major lawyers, corporate officers, or potentially major political figures in the future. But none of that is going to happen if you don't get in. </p>
<p>I think perhaps the real problem is something that you hit upon, thinkingoutloud, is the expectations that a law education can create. A guy who goes to a law school, even if he graduates last, may have developed high expectations over what kind of job he will take. That person may simply think that certain jobs are simply "too good" for him, or "beneath" him. For example, a guy who graduates from Yale Law, even if he graduates last, may think that because he's from Yale, only high-prestige positions like a major corporate firm or bigtime judicial clerkships are good enough. Hence, the guy's pride and ego has been raised too high. If that guy is humble enough to take some low-end position at some no-name firm, then he will be fine - and in fact, will almost certainly be better off than if he had never gone to Yale at all. But a lot of those Yale guys aren't willing to do that, because they would feel ashamed. Yet that's really an internal psychological problem of those guys. They're simply too proud to take what they can get. So the real problem is not really graduating last, it's the level of expectations that a person has about the kind of jobs he 'deserves' upon graduation.</p>
<p>Corporate!</p>
<p>I'm still interested in being a corporate lawyer...in a numbered system what should I do in order to become one. i.e. 1. Pick a major, and receive a BA in it</p>
<p>just focus on getting into law school and then look for a job with a firm that has corporate clients. Law school does not actually focus on turning out corporate lawyers, or criminal defense lawyers, or real estate lawyers. It is in the practice of law that you form beging to specialize in a given area.</p>
<p>I am General Counsel for a corporation. I consider myself an "in-house" lawyer. In fact, I HATE corporate practice, which I consider to be SEC, corporate governance and maybe mergers and acquisitions. I handle employment issues, litigation, contracts, and whatever else comes up. I think an in-house lawyer is the "country doctor" of the legal world. You have to know enough about every area of law to know when to call in the specialists.
I was a business (marketing) major with a minor in economics. I went to a large state university undergrad and a top 3 law school. Everything I needed to know to do my job- and I have always worked in-house- I managed to pick up somewhere along the way!
Karen</p>
<p>This is a question to Karen...so is it hard to get/find a job in being a corporate lawyer?</p>
<p>There are a number of in-house positions available most of the time. Seems like a lot of the ads want 3-5 years experience. I have been practicing a long time, but my advice to a new law grad would be to get two or three years experience in a law firm and then go in-house. That is NOT what I did. I went in-house right out of law school, which was very unusual "back in the day". Check out monster.com to get some idea of what law-jobs are out there. In-house jobs don't pay as much, by the way (unless you are General Counsel of IBM or something). Karen</p>
<p>Thanks Karen for all your advise. Another question if you may...So does a corporate lawyer have a permanent job?</p>