Would Corporate Law Be A Good Fit for Me (Long Post But Please Help)?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Recently, I've been looking at maybe pursuing a legal career because I've gotten quite a few remarks that I would be a good attorney. Now, I know that being an attorney isn't about going into a court room or being a good "arguer" and mainly the job is about researching various issues, drafting agreements, meeting with clients to determine legality of corporate actions, etc. but I was wondering if, based on my goals, corporate law (sorry for being so broad) would be something I should seriously consider.</p>

<p>So here are my goals from any career:
-Basically, I want to learn as much as I possibly can about businesses and how they operate. During my spare time, I enjoy reading about business, business strategy, how corporations grow, etc. So any career that allows me to learn what makes corporations go would great for me. Thus, I think that getting a legal education and learning the legality of various business transactions would give me new insight about businesses and some of the strategies they use to avoid or take advantage of such laws.
-I want to work on deals without necessarily being the deal maker. I feel like being a banker is more about schmoozing your clients and being a salesperson, and while this probably exists to some extent as an attorney/partner, I'd guess that it is less important since the lawyers are forced to mediate both parties as opposed to working for their own commission.
-Even though I am good with numbers, I find that I enjoy the qualitative side of things more and more. For example, I'd rather research a political topic and then write about my findings/thoughts than do a statistical/scientific experiment, crunch numbers and then write a discussion based on the numbers.</p>

<p>So based on this, do you think I should consider a career in law/I would enjoy it? If my thoughts above won't really help you make a decision, what kind of person, in your eyes would truly enjoy a corporate law job (and not just those who like money)?</p>

<p>Finally, I was wondering how different legal careers are in other countries? I know for sure that if I pursue law, I will absolutely not pursue it in the US since its such a broken system, but would you say that the job responsibilities will basically be the same across the world, or can being a lawyer be fundamentally different between the US and, for example, China? I know that the laws will be different and I'll have to get a degree in the country I want to practice in, but will typical day to day activity vary significantly?</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post, but I'd really, really appreciate your help</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

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<p>Yes, it sounds like you might enjoy corporate law. You should be prepared to work long, often unpredictable hours (your supervisors and clients will want to be able to reach you at all hours) and to have clients who sometimes ignore your advice and expect to be lifted out of the holes they’ve dug for themselves. </p>

<p>There are some people with American law degrees who work on corporate law from outside the US, often through foreign offices of large firms. This generally requires a high level of language and cultural fluency. However, most of their work focuses on American law–for example, contract negotiations if a Chinese manufacturer wants to sell to an American retailer. If you feel like the US legal system is “broken” and don’t want any part of it, getting a US law degree and moving overseas won’t help. Of course, getting a law degree abroad has its own challenges, such as the fact that you might not have the right immigration status to work there after graduation.</p>