head of the legal department
Publishing and Consulting Center "Business and Service"
Scope of work
Increasingly in Lately heads of organizations, making a decision on the introduction to the staff of the organization lawyer, tend to designate the position of this specialist as “ corporate lawyer". The very name of the position is borrowed from foreign legal terminology, where a "corporation" means an association of persons (shareholders) registered in accordance with the procedure established by law and recognized as a legal entity. It must be said that although the name " corporate lawyer” is mentioned both in Russian legislation and in business literature, the use of this term is not entirely legitimate. The fact is that the concept of "corporation" in Russian law is most consistent only with a joint-stock company. Therefore, using a foreign job title, one should understand the fundamental difference between " corporate lawyer” and “lawyer of the organization” - it lies in the scope of the functions performed. Corporate lawyer, in addition to solving general legal issues of the organization, must have a perfect knowledge of corporate law: requirements for the creation joint-stock companies; types of shares, the procedure for their registration; rules for the formation of blocks of shares, transactions with shares; share accounting; essence dividend policy etc. If in Western countries work corporate lawyer is limited only to serving corporate interests, then Russian organizations strive to have universal lawyers who will also perform all other legal work in the organization. This article is devoted to such a “universal”.
Job Responsibilities
Corporate Lawyer:
- Carries out the development of constituent documents; provides registration legal entities, issues of valuable shares, amendments to constituent documents; coordinates the work on keeping registers of shareholders (by third parties); defines legal framework management bodies of the organization (develops provisions on the powers general meeting, about the board of directors, about the board, about audit commission, etc.); develops regulations on transactions related to the acquisition or alienation of property; coordinates transactions with shares of the organization; determines the legal framework for the dividend policy in the organization and coordinates it.
- Organizes work to provide the organization with laws, regulatory legal documents necessary for the implementation of the organization's activities; on accounting and maintaining bases of normative legal acts.
- Provides departments of the organization, individual specialists with regulatory legal acts necessary for the exercise of their functions and responsibilities.
- Checks compliance with the legislation of draft orders, instructions, regulations and other documents of a legal nature submitted for signature to the head of the organization; verification of compliance with the stages of approval of draft documents with responsible employees; approval of draft documents; issuance of instructions to responsible employees of the organization on the introduction of amendments or cancellation of acts due to changes in federal legislation.
- Conducts contractual work in the organization: determines the forms of contractual relations; develops draft contracts; checks compliance with the legislation of draft contracts submitted by contractors; takes measures to resolve disagreements on draft agreements; provides notarization and (or) state registration certain types contracts.
- Analyzes contractual work in the organization, develops programs for its revision and change, checks the status contract work V structural divisions organizations.
- Leads claim work in the organization: ensures the accounting of claims received from counterparties, their consideration; prepares responses to claims received and adopts draft decisions on satisfaction or refusal to satisfy claims received; prepares claims against counterparties, sends them to counterparties and monitors the satisfaction of claims submitted to counterparties.
- Conducts claims work: takes measures to comply with the pre-arbitration procedure for the settlement of contractual disputes; prepares statements of claim and materials and submits them to arbitration courts; studying copies statements of claim on claims against the organization; ensures the maintenance of a data bank on claim work; represents the interests of the organization in arbitration courts.
- Prepares applications, statements and other documents for obtaining licenses, permits necessary for the organization's activities.
- Participates in the development of documents related to the issues of ensuring the safety of the organization's property (contracts on liability; internal instructions establishing the procedure for receipt and acceptance material assets, accounting for their movement; release and issue accounting instructions finished products, etc.); checks and approves contracts on material liability of employees.
- Checks the legality of the dismissal and transfer of employees, the imposition of disciplinary sanctions on them.
- Represents the interests of the organization during inspections of the organization, carried out by state control and supervisory authorities for the purpose of legal control over compliance with procedural actions by the inspectors, the validity and correctness of the conclusions of the inspectors, the execution of the results of inspections and the preparation of procedural documents.
- Represents the interests of the organization in state bodies authorized to consider cases of administrative offenses identified in the activities of the organization; prepares and submits complaints against actions officials control and supervisory authorities, on unlawfully imposed administrative penalties on the organization.
- Provides written and oral advice to employees of the organization on various legal issues, provides legal assistance in drafting legal documents.
- Prepares progress reports in a timely manner.
- Performs other legal work in accordance with the specifics of the organization.
Requirements
Knowledge: regulatory and teaching materials regulating the production and economic activities of the organization; profile, specialization and features of the structure of the organization; civil, business, commercial, administrative, labor, financial, tax, other branches of legislation in accordance with the profile of the organization; arbitration procedural, civil procedural law, fundamentals of criminal procedural law; office work standards legal documents; structures government agencies, bodies local government, judiciary; order of systematization, accounting and maintenance of legal documentation using modern information technologies; basics of administration; ethics business communication; economics and organization of production, labor and management; rules and regulations of labor protection.
Seniority and work experience: a candidate for the position of a corporate lawyer must have at least 4 years of work experience as a legal adviser.
Personal characteristics: age - from 35 years; erudition, analytical mindset, punctuality, stress resistance.
Miscellaneous: A corporate lawyer may also be required to hold the status of a barrister.
Education
Higher legal education.
Legal and social guarantees
The corporate lawyer is subject only to the general guarantees provided for Labor Code RF. An employment contract can be concluded both for an indefinite period and for a fixed period (in the cases provided for in Article 59 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). The job description is drawn up in accordance with the local acts of the organization.
Basic legal document
The legal relationship between an organization and a corporate lawyer is based on employment contract And job description. An employment contract* is drawn up in accordance with the rules provided for by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. If the organization has approved a regulation on the legal department, then this document also defines the functions, duties and rights of a lawyer.
* A sample employment contract with a lawyer was published in KP No. 11, 2002.
Wage
Desired from 19200 to 64000 rubles (from $600 to 2000).
Proposed from 9600 to 38400 (from $300 to 1200).
Depends on the size and specifics of the activity, the level of organization, the amount of work performed.
The task of a corporate lawyer is not to say: "permitted" - "prohibited." He should help develop the business, make it within the law, efficiently, and make a profit. Evgeny Salygin, Dean of the HSE Faculty of Law, spoke about this in an interview with Ekaterina Rylko.
- Evgeny Nikolaevich, lawyer - very broad profession. There are legal advisers, corporate lawyers, lawyers… What are the differences between them as applied to business?
We can distinguish the following areas of specialization of lawyers working specifically with business. First, they are lawyers. They are members of the Bar Association. The lawyer status allows them to participate in criminal courts - this is its main advantage. Secondly, corporate lawyers. They are engaged in legal support of all activities of a commercial company or government agency.
Thirdly, there are lawyers working in the field of legal consulting. If corporate lawyers work in a company and serve exclusively its interests, then consulting lawyers are staff of specialized firms that are invited by the company to solve certain specialized or simply difficult questions. Those who work in legal consulting usually deal with a narrower area: customs legislation, construction, certain tax issues.
Finally, there are the so-called free, or freely practicing lawyers. They are not members of the Bar Association, they are not on the staff of organizations, but as individuals they provide legal services.
- What is the work of a corporate lawyer?
In my opinion, this is the most difficult legal specialization. We have to deal with the legal support of the most different types activities of the company in several directions. Corporate law - a wide range of issues related to securities, statutory documents holding meetings of shareholders. labor law- employment contracts, orders, instructions, analysis of all documents in the field of labor relations.
And a huge block of issues related to the conclusion of contracts. In addition, if a company is represented by a lawyer when initiating a criminal case, then in civil cases a corporate lawyer is engaged in representing the interests of the company in court. A corporate lawyer is involved in negotiations, especially with foreign partners. By the way, for this reason, lawyers who are fluent in English language, and better - still some European.
Finally, the corporate lawyer has a large share of responsibility for relations with the authorities state power, tax police, antimonopoly service, customs.
- What issues are more often resolved by the company's lawyers, and which - by outside specialists?
As a rule, the company has a legal department headed by an experienced manager who participates in negotiations, maintains relations with foreign partners and can represent the company in court. The department also employs several lawyers dealing with relatively simple issues. This corporate relations, contractual relationship. Sometimes one or two narrow specialist- depending on the size of the company, the specifics of its activities and turnover. But to resolve complex issues related to taxation, customs legislation, foreign law, firms usually turn to external consultants. And if there is a danger of initiating a criminal case, then to lawyers.
When a specialist is involved from outside, responsibilities are also diversified. What is relevant to current work, falls on a corporate lawyer, other tasks - on a lawyer or legal adviser.
- As usual, the career of a novice corporate lawyer develops - here is a person studying in the last year of a bachelor's degree or a master's degree ...
As a rule, senior lawyers are already looking for a job. They are entitled to mandatory practice, familiarization and production. In progress industrial practice they are already purposefully going where they want to work. If a company needs a lawyer, then they can already work there on a part-time basis. Students, as a rule, work as assistants to corporate lawyers, they are paid a salary of about 20-25 thousand rubles. Having received a diploma, they already become full-fledged lawyers in the company. After three to five years, a specialist can already apply for the position of head of the legal department. Depending on their own knowledge and on the size of the company - how many lawyers it can afford - it can be either the head of the legal department as a whole or, in a rarer case, the head of a specific area.
Another way is to work in legal consulting. Now in Russia legal consulting is done by both large international companies, such as Baker & McKenzie, White & Case, Allen & Overy, Salans, Goltsblat BL - their leading role is connected with proven technologies legal business and the global nature of legal services, as well as domestic companies with foreign offices - Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, Pepeliaev Group, ALRUD, etc.
Those who go into legal consulting first work as legal assistants, then they take an independent position and then they move up to practice leaders, heads of departments, heads of departments, managers, partners. A career in consulting has its advantages: in these firms, as a rule, a developed system of material incentives, a person, in principle, can advance quite quickly. In such companies, it is easier to get a narrow specialization.
- How does the training of a lawyer working with business go at the university? Does it make sense to pay attention to certain courses already at the undergraduate stage, which in the future may become the basis for obtaining a certain narrow profession?
Modern training of lawyers at the first stage higher education does not involve specialization. Bachelors receive the most general training, the standard of their education does not provide for any specializations. Bachelor's training includes basic legal knowledge in the field of theory and history of state and law, branch legal sciences: civil, criminal, constitutional, administrative, procedural law, which lay the foundation for legal thinking. Plus the skills and abilities of legal work, which are closely related to legal documents: the ability to understand the legal text, draw up contracts, draw up other legal actions and give legal qualifications is required, establishing links between the norms of laws, contracts and life events. A person can study laws for a long time, but not learn to connect reality and legislation, to see in events legal facts If so, he's not a lawyer.
Lawyers working with business receive a narrower specialization at the second level of higher education - in the magistracy. The most important thing here is not memorizing codes that you can read on your own. Life cycle we now have very few laws, five years pass, and the legislation in the area in which a person specializes can completely change. The received theoretical and applied training allows the lawyer to always be aware of the case and perform the assigned tasks.
In the training of masters, it is much more important to study the intricacies, details, the practice of implementing the law, which is given at master classes, including by invited experts, to get an idea of how the norms of laws are applied in judicial practice. However, the lawyer receives the final polishing only in the process of work. In an environment of rapidly changing norms and constant change judicial practice only experience and continuous professional development can teach how to apply knowledge in practice.
- Which business lawyers are most in demand in the labor market? You talked about lawyers specializing in taxation, customs, corporate law...
Yes. Customs law, taxation issues, as well as corporate law are extremely demanding and complex areas. Customs and international economic law in general, they change quite quickly. Russia's entry into Customs Union, the Eurasian Economic Community, for example, is significant change legislation. Lots of new things in legal regulation awaits us in connection with the entry into the WTO. Here you need to constantly track information on duties and taxes so that the company does not have to pay more.
Very important profession- tax consultant. Taxation is constantly changing, and a lawyer must understand that the execution of each contract, each transaction in a certain way carries certain risks for the company. tax costs sometimes very significant. For example, the provision of premises for rent to foreign citizens or organizations accredited in Russian Federation may be subject to taxation or exempt from it. Everything will depend on whether the legislation of the relevant foreign state or an international treaty provides for a similar procedure in relation to citizens of the Russian Federation and Russian organizations. At the same time, the list of such foreign states is determined by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.
There is a high demand for specialists representing companies in courts - arbitration courts, courts of general jurisdiction. This requires additional qualifications. Here you need to have a very good knowledge of civil, civil procedural and arbitration procedural law.
Everything related to real estate is in demand now. There are few such specialists, and they can claim very high wages. Here, in addition to the general rules civil law you need to be very well versed in a huge array of administrative-legal, technical and sanitary norms, in land, construction law, and in the regulatory documents of the local administration. And you need to understand how it all relates to each other. Such specialists are very rare people who have systems thinking, the ability to connect seemingly unrelated things.
There are other narrow and in-demand specializations: in the field of legal support intellectual property, energy, environmental management, medical services, sports activities. The problems of these areas are taught very little in universities, and the legislation in these areas is extremely confusing. These are technical standards, and sanitary standards, and international law. People who understand this are highly valued. For a lawyer working with business, it is very important after studying at a university to find a good place jobs where you can learn a lot from more experienced professionals.
- How will the legal profession change over the next five to seven years?
Most likely, over the next few years we will face serious organizational changes. For more than a year, our Ministry of Justice and the legal community have been talking about the need for reform in the provision of legal services. This reform has already begun. A law on free legal aid has already been passed, expanding the opportunities for citizens to receive it. The next step, more important for the legal community, is the introduction of corporate lawyers and those involved in legal consulting into the bar. It's about that in the future, apparently, legal services will not be able to be provided by lawyers who are not members of the bar. According to the Ministry of Justice, the lawyer's status imposes a lot of additional duties on lawyers. These are the norms of lawyer ethics, these are clear formal relations in lawyer associations, this is the obligation to periodically provide free legal assistance. Corporate lawyers and those who work in legal consulting, according to our state, have practically no duties and are involved in dubious transactions - concealment of income, tax evasion. So in the near future, our corporate lawyers will have to become lawyers.
- What will change for corporate lawyers with the new status?
I think they, as before, will be able to provide assistance to organizations. However, the prices for their services will increase due to the increase in the costs of the profession. The barriers to entry into the legal profession will become higher and more serious, as it will be necessary to separately obtain the status of a lawyer. To do this, you need to work as an assistant lawyer for at least a year or at least two years in a legal specialty, pass a qualifying exam, join the bar, and only after that engage in legal activities. Accordingly, the market will shrink, the cost of training will increase, which means that services may increase in price. But in general, of course, companies will continue to use lawyers both in legal consulting and in their own staff, just relationships will become more transparent and formalized.
However, in essence, the work of business-related lawyers will remain the same. After all, the task of a corporate lawyer is not to say: "permitted" - "prohibited." He should help develop the business, make it within the law, efficiently, and make a profit.
Where to order the services of a remote lawyer in corporate law? What are the responsibilities of a corporate litigation lawyer? Who offers quality legal services for the company?
You have a whole legal department at your firm, but it's not enough? It seems that all lawyers are excellent guys with rich work experience, but when it comes to financial or economic issues, you have to attract additional resources - people with the appropriate education.
This state of affairs is unacceptable. Not only do you have to support several lawyers, but also other specialists have to be paid for their services. The result is low management efficiency and inflated staff costs.
A corporate lawyer will help solve the problem. What kind of specialist is this and why is he able to replace a whole department of useless "office plankton", I, Valery Chemakin, a legal consultant, will tell you.
In addition, you will learn about the features of the selection of such a valuable "frame" for work on a permanent basis. If you only need to solve periodic tasks, then check out the overview of companies that provide corporate lawyer services in the business field.
1. Who is a corporate lawyer
Modern business requires constant legal support. After all, starting from the creation of an enterprise and ending with daily routine work, the manager faces complex problems. Solving them requires knowledge in several areas at once, not only in law, but also in economics, management, as well as an understanding of business processes.
Of no small importance for business success is the ability to negotiate with partners and representatives of regulatory agencies and authorities. Hardly a lawyer general practice capable of that. This is where a corporate lawyer is needed, who must know and be able to do everything that I have listed above.
What does a corporate lawyer do?
- prepares the constituent documents of the enterprise;
- keeps records of shareholders;
- develops local legal acts;
- optimizes business processes thanks to knowledge in the economy;
- organizes the protection of business from hostile takeovers;
- your company.
Economics for a corporate lawyer is as important as jurisprudence, therefore, in order to obtain the appropriate knowledge, an existing specialist must undergo advanced training.
Many law schools today are already preparing bachelors and masters in corporate law, in the curriculum of which economics occupies a large volume.
2. What services does a corporate lawyer provide - TOP-5 main services
Today, no self-respecting firm can do without the services of a corporate lawyer, official duties which is not limited to the preparation of treaties. If earlier a lawyer at a firm was a small clerk performing the task of the boss, today he is a full-fledged manager belonging to the highest level.
Let's see what a corporate lawyer does in a modern company.
Service 1. Development of a decision-making procedure
Corporate legal work is an activity associated with the development and adoption management decisions which are aimed at achieving the best result in business. Therefore, the lawyer, along with the management of the company, is responsible for its stable functioning.
He develops a decision-making procedure based on the existing economic, commercial and legal risks. Top managers listen to his opinion. The services of a corporate lawyer are especially in demand during periods of instability or increased risks of business takeover by third parties.
Service 2. Legal support for new projects
When developing new commercial projects, it is important not only their economic, but also their legal justification. After all, even a very profitable business that carries increased legal risks cannot be implemented until its security is established at an acceptable level. This is also the task of a corporate lawyer.
He accompanies the entire project implementation process from start to finish. Only this approach will lead the company to success. Indeed, often new undertakings already in the course of implementation bring problems. The task of a lawyer is to predict them and competently bypass them.
Example
Agroholding "Yubileiny" is engaged in beef cattle breeding and field crops, and also has its own sausage shop. At some point, the company decided to start a new business for itself, namely, dairy production.
It would seem that everything was taken into account: there are fields, a room for livestock, necessary equipment and resources. Quite rightly, the management hired a corporate lawyer to calculate all the legal risks involved. It turned out that the available fields are not able to feed the planned number of cows.
We need pastures. This is where the problem arises that only a lawyer could find. To expand farmland, it is necessary to use a large share of federal lands, the status of which is almost impossible to change.
However, it turned out that there is another option - to transfer the lands of several abandoned villages to agricultural status. This is what the corporate lawyer did. As a result, the ambitious project was successfully implemented.
Service 3. Monitoring the implementation of laws
Modern legislation is so confusing and complex that the company's management is not able to keep in mind all the nuances. After all, the prosecutor's office and other supervisory authorities are ready to "cling" to even the slightest violation in order to "cut down their own jackdaw." As a result, prohibitive fines and other sanctions.
A corporate lawyer constantly monitors the implementation of laws and monitors their changes. Its maintenance costs the company disproportionately cheaper than paying multimillion-dollar fines.
Service 4. Development of asset protection schemes
It's no secret that modern business subject to constant risk of loss. The factors contributing to this are different. These are the claims of state bodies, and the activities of competitors, and even a banal raider takeover with all the attendant attributes.
The task of a corporate lawyer is to minimize these risks by developing an effective asset protection scheme. This is where knowledge in the field of economics and banking will come in handy.
Service 5. Debugging business processes
In economics, there is such a thing as kpi - this is key indicators efficiency, in the achievement of which the corporate lawyer takes the most active part. Proper establishment of business processes allows you to organize the scheme of work of the enterprise so that it will not fail at the slightest turmoil.
Thus, the presence of a corporate lawyer on the staff of the enterprise allows:
- reduce the cost of maintaining unnecessary specialists;
- reduce the risk of business takeover;
- develop the most effective business schemes;
- protect yourself from excessive attention of regulatory authorities;
- always have an excellent lawyer-adviser on .
Where can I find a lawyer who would be fully responsible professional standard corporate? If you want an answer, read on.
3. How to choose a corporate lawyer - 5 easy steps
If you have a large company, it makes sense to include a corporate lawyer in its staff, as there is always a need for his services.
For small firms, it is more cost-effective to get such a service from an independent specialist or from an employee of a law office. Some even provide it remotely via the Internet.
Consider the algorithm for selecting a corporate lawyer
Step 1. We select several candidates and conduct a comparison
If you live in major city, then a considerable number of lawyers will apply for your vacancy. Explore their websites, do some research, and pick a few candidates that inspire the most confidence. Pay attention to education, work experience and the scope of the last activity.
Step 2. Studying the portfolio of lawyers
Study the portfolio carefully. If it's missing, move on. Pay attention not only to the number of lawsuits won, but (even in the first place) to the number of cases allowed in pre-trial procedure disputes.
See which companies the specialist has collaborated with and do not be too lazy to inquire about them. If this successful firms, then all is well.
Step 3. We pay attention to how the lawyer understands the field of corporate law
Prepare some corporate law questions and ask them to the candidate. If they cause difficulties, it is unlikely that you have a good specialist in front of you - look for another. You can even prepare a whole test if you want to hire a person for a permanent job.
Step 4. Choose one candidate
Of all the lawyers that have passed your competitive selection, choose the one that you like the most as a person. After all, you work with him, and communication and interaction should be comfortable for both parties. Just make sure that emotions do not prevail over reason, otherwise there is a risk of becoming a victim of a scammer.
Step 5. We conclude an agreement
If you hire a full-time corporate lawyer, enter into a standard employment contract with him with the possibility of paying bonuses for successfully completed tasks. This will encourage him to self-improvement. When choosing a corporate lawyer on an outsourcing basis, carefully read the contract, discuss all the nuances and sign it.
Now you can take a break and watch a thematic video.
4. Where to order the services of a corporate lawyer - an overview of the TOP-3 law firms
Today, many famous and not so law firms provide business support services. After all small firms they cannot afford to maintain a full-time highly paid specialist on a permanent basis, and they are quite capable of hiring him to perform certain tasks.
Here is an overview of several companies that provide one-time services or even outsource legal business support.
But before we get to them, here is the contact of an excellent professional lawyer:
Igor Noskov, a lawyer in corporate disputes, will help residents of Moscow to resolve issues related to corporate disputes.
Property, personal, organizational corporate disputes - any of these situations requires the participation of a professional with extensive experience and an extensive portfolio of successful cases, able to understand the situation and advise any of the parties.
You can sign up for a consultation with Igor Yuryevich by filling out a simple form on the website. After sending the application, you will be contacted within 15 minutes.
If you want to get advice or a more serious service from a corporate lawyer online, then you are definitely here. This company specializes in providing legal assistance via the Internet. unites more than 18 thousand independent lawyers.
At least several hundred of them have extensive corporate law experience. To just consult, go to the site and ask your question in the chat or call the multi-channel phone. Based on the topic, the most suitable free specialist will contact you.
After a small payment, you will become the owner of valuable knowledge that will help solve the problem. If you need to examine any documents, no problem. The corporate lawyer will run it through scanned copies, which you will send to him by e-mail.
You will receive the result through the same communication channel. This scheme of work is convenient for those who live in small towns or countryside where it is impossible to find a "live" corporate lawyer. In addition, by agreement, the lawyer of the Lawyer will work with you “offline”, for example, as a representative in court.
2) Legal Support Center
This company is engaged in solving any legal problems, including in the field of corporate law. The center's lawyers will help you resolve disputes with partners or contractors, deal with tax and labor conflicts, and protect yourself during inspections by regulatory authorities.
In addition, they:
- create, reorganize or liquidate an enterprise;
- establish or redistribute shares in the authorized capital;
- solve complex management issues;
- systematize the register of securities.
All this with just one call or contact via chat on the site.
The website of this company openly posted prices for services. They are quite affordable. Moreover, the solution of corporate problems is the most developed direction of the company's activity, and therefore it is carried out with the highest quality.
Here are some services and explanations for them:
№ Service type Description 1 Challenging Judicial and out-of-court resolution of disputes on transactions and decisions of general meetings 2 Constituent activity Creation, reorganization, liquidation and bankruptcy of enterprises with full documentary support 3 financial security Withdrawal of assets and their protection, countering attempts to capture the business 4 Personnel issues Dismissal and withdrawal senior management, resolution of disputes between founders or shareholders 5. What to look for when choosing a corporate lawyer - 3 simple rules
From right choice corporate lawyer depends not only on the financial well-being of the company, but also its reputation, and sometimes even the freedom of management. Therefore, you need to choose a specialist with special care.
Here are a few rules to follow in this process.
Rule 1
Before hiring a corporate litigation lawyer, take a good look at their reputation. Read forums on serious business portals, make inquiries among your friends.
He must be not only a good specialist, but also a decent person. Ethics for a corporate lawyer should be above all. After all, he will know all your secrets.
Rule 2
A good specialist in corporate law is expensive. Do not expect to get the desired result from yesterday's bachelor's student who does not have work experience, but does it for a penny. You should not save on such serious things as business security and its strategic development.
I want to dedicate this article to my colleagues, young lawyers. At the beginning of a career young lawyers many questions arise. Category budding lawyer can apply to both student and people who are just about to become lawyers. About that, read a separate article.
For reference, I note that a lawyer is a qualification. Therefore, a university graduate without work experience is a lawyer, and a prosecutor, a judge, and an unemployed person can also be a lawyer.
All the questions they ask me young lawyers touch several blocks. These are questions about how to start learning to become a good lawyer, how to become a good lawyer, how to get started as a lawyer what steps need to be taken to self-education.
Let's look at these questions for convenience in blocks.
How to start learning to become a good lawyer or how to become a good lawyer?
Initially, you need to understand, but is it necessary? After all, there are many lawyers, there are also many educational institutions. And maybe you should choose another profession. I know that technical specialties and specialists are valued. If your intention is to become lawyer everything is great and after weighing all the pros and cons, you have established your intention, then start with education.
You can get a quality education only in a quality university. Unfortunately, I have to note that the level of education is falling every year. Therefore, your diploma will need to be attached and self-education and first legal experience.
to the learning process in educational institution must be approached with full responsibility and diligence. I often hear from representatives of non-legal professions that in practice they have to hear the phrase: “forget everything that you were taught…”. This phrase is absolutely not applicable to legal professions. You will have to put into practice exactly what you have been taught. One of my teachers on this occasion put it in the sense that a lawyer is engaged in science in his student years, then he practices at work, and then returns to science in the process of work. And this is extremely true and just. Therefore, education must be taken seriously.
In good universities, teachers, as a rule, are engaged in practice in addition to science, so they can always teach you something. Take advantage of these opportunities. Read legal literature, not just laws. Understand laws, read comments, legal articles.
It will be very useful to participate in the social life of the faculty. This is also part of the learning process. After all, a lawyer is a person who often communicates with people a lot. Therefore, it will not be superfluous to develop communication skills with people.
How to get started as a lawyer?
It is desirable to start a career as a lawyer in your student years. I would advise you to worry about this possibility from the third or fourth year of study. For practice it is better to choose commercial structure with high qualifications and diverse interests. Of course, this should not be done at the expense of the learning process. Legal practice will open before lawyers with no experience new horizons of understanding of legal science and will give impetus to learning. I would not hesitate to work even for free, because the experience will be invaluable and will dramatically increase your level of competence. work for voluntary in some state or municipal authority will also be extremely useful.
I'll tell you about my case. In my time, they studied for a lawyer for five years. Then there was the specialty system. As a fourth-year student, I started volunteering labor activity with cooperation with one major consulting firm. Despite the fact that I worked with this firm for about a year, I still have the warmest memories of that period. It was during this year that I made a significant leap in the level of competence. This was largely due to a very talented and competent head of the legal department, from whom I learned a lot. Studying at the faculty somehow became easier after I started to practice.
Therefore, dear colleagues, start dealing with practical issues as early as possible. If your mentor will be engaged and interested various areas legal knowledge, you can learn a lot. Working, for example, with some lawyer and doing small assignments, you will gain significant experience. Without this experience, your training will not be complete.
Self-education of a lawyer
To get started, you can subscribe to the Lawyer's Portfolio channel.
A few words about self-education. “Study and study again” is the motto of all good lawyers. Take my word for it, ordinary knowledge of the rules of the Russian language and a general outlook are highly valued. Therefore, by increasing the overall cultural and educational level, you will undoubtedly become a more successful and competent lawyer. My advice - read classical literature, love math and logic, train your brain. Sometimes, in order to navigate some “legal issue”, it is enough to know the rules of the Russian language and elementary logic. Therefore, pump your brain in the "general civil" sense. It would be enough. But that's my personal opinion. In addition, it will be useful to begin consideration of any legal case with judicial practice. I do this in order to quickly understand the features legal qualifications and evaluate the range of applicable legislation. First of all, this is relevant for arbitration practice, which is located in public access. Judges qualification level arbitration courts, as a rule, is high and it is very pleasant and useful to read decisions on arbitration cases.
If there are any questions, write. I will answer everyone as soon as possible.
