My career advice to lawyers seeking to go into corporate finance law practice. Thanks @leoandrevic for asking me to do this.

Corporate finance = M&A, capital markets, finance, private equity & VC, project finance.

/1

You must be genuinely interested in the practice areas. Corporate finance is slightly complex so to excel you must have some level of interest. This will give you the much needed push when you do very complex work. Without genuine interest you will burnout easily.

/2

You need to work on deals to gain experience and build capacity. The practice area is 30% book knowledge and 70% transaction experience. Even with an LLM from the best schools abroad, you still need to work on deals to learn the work.

/3

You will build more capacity if you work in large/mid-sized firms with steady deal flow. Tied to the point in 3 above. No matter how much you read about the practice area, you need to work in a firm with deals to learn the work. Doesn’t have to be a law firm tho.

/4

Late nights. Erratic work hours. Crazy deadlines. Corporate finance law practice tracks the work practices in the broader finance/investment banking world. Clients always want the work done yesterday. You must be available to do the work outside normal work hours.

/5

Precedents are very important. There’s a strong likelihood that whatever you are doing, whether it’s drafting agreements, structure opinions etc, it’s been done before. Look for templates and unless it’s absolutely necessary, avoid drafting from scratch.

/6

Think like a finance person. To excel, you need to approach the work as a business/finance professional. There’s an interplay between corporate finance law and corporate finance proper. You’ll understand your work better if you approach it as a finance person.

/7

Network with your colleagues in finance and consulting. You’ll need them when you need clarity on issues that extend beyond law. You’ll also return the favor when they have legal-related issues. Mutually beneficial.

/8