Business Law without background in Business? Forum

[scalawag]

Is Business Law unfeasible for someone who hasn't studied business and sucks at math?

I really dug a micro class I took that's why I'm wondering.

[scalawag]

I guess what I'm asking is what all does it entail - I didn't minor in economics because of the math classes.

But I can crunch numbers and did well in the class.

I don't want to consider studying something unless I can be really good at it.

[joeyc328]

You will be fine. The best major for business is the easiest one that allows you to get the highest GPA to get into the best law school.

[Clemenceau]

Absolutely don't need it. Tons of corporate lawyers were like english or history majors.

[scalawag]

Awesome thanks for the replies.

[favabeansoup]

I just looked and maybe 10-20% of our corporate lawyers had a business background. Most others are some kind of history,English, etc. Everything you need to know about corporate law you can learn on the job.

[Johann]

"business law" has little or nothing to do with actual business so youre fine with your major. but you should probably figure out what business law is since you want to practice it.

[scalawag]

"business law" has little or nothing to do with actual business so youre fine with your major. but you should probably figure out what business law is since you want to practice it.

I have a vague idea from Wikipedia. I just have no idea what actual business entails except they take Calculus.

[Johann]

"business law" has little or nothing to do with actual business so youre fine with your major. but you should probably figure out what business law is since you want to practice it.

I have a vague idea from Wikipedia. I just have no idea what actual business entails except they take Calculus.

read threads here. wikipedia seems to be wrong.

[scalawag]

"business law" has little or nothing to do with actual business so youre fine with your major. but you should probably figure out what business law is since you want to practice it.

I have a vague idea from Wikipedia. I just have no idea what actual business entails except they take Calculus.

read threads here. wikipedia seems to be wrong.

Will do.

[proteinshake]

Absolutely don't need it. Tons of corporate lawyers were like english or history majors.

how important is it to have some sort of work experience in something business related like consulting, finance, sales, etc?

[Clemenceau]

Absolutely don't need it. Tons of corporate lawyers were like english or history majors.

how important is it to have some sort of work experience in something business related like consulting, finance, sales, etc?

Helps a bit probably, but is by no means a prerequisite to get into corporate law.

[timbs4339]

Absolutely don't need it. Tons of corporate lawyers were like english or history majors.

how important is it to have some sort of work experience in something business related like consulting, finance, sales, etc?

Assuming by business law you mean biglaw, it helps at the margins (but rather large margins) if you are already in the firm's orbit based on school and grades. Most firms have a range of GPA's they accept and will dip to the lower end of that range for someone who was an IB analyst or worked at McKinsey. So it might get someone who is median at UVa a look at a NYC V10 they wouldn't otherwise have a decent shot at. But it is not going to overcome a lower ranked school + not stellar grades combo.

[star fox]

"business law" has little or nothing to do with actual business so youre fine with your major. but you should probably figure out what business law is since you want to practice it.

I have a vague idea from Wikipedia. I just have no idea what actual business entails except they take Calculus.

read threads here. wikipedia seems to be wrong.

Will do.

Corporate or transactional attorneys draft corporate documents like a purchase agreement and negotiate key legal terms with each other. Knowing business stuff will be useful but the lawyers aren't really dealing with that. The business terms of a deal (e.g., price) are being negotiated by the actual business people.

[scalawag]

"business law" has little or nothing to do with actual business so youre fine with your major. but you should probably figure out what business law is since you want to practice it.

I have a vague idea from Wikipedia. I just have no idea what actual business entails except they take Calculus.

read threads here. wikipedia seems to be wrong.

Will do.

Corporate or transactional attorneys draft corporate documents like a purchase agreement and negotiate key legal terms with each other. Knowing business stuff will be useful but the lawyers aren't really dealing with that. The business terms of a deal (e.g., price) are being negotiated by the actual business people.

How much work is there out there?

One of the reasons I thought this would be a good area of practice is because business is doing so well.

I don't know enough about economics to know how an eventual interest rate increase will affect business in the economy.

Would I be getting into this late if I enter in Fall 2018?

[lymenheimer]

How much work is there out there?

One of the reasons I thought this would be a good area of practice is because business is doing so well.

I don't know enough about economics to know how an eventual interest rate increase will affect business in the economy.

Would I be getting into this late if I enter in Fall 2018?

...cant tell if serious...

[zeglo]

.

[scalawag]

How much work is there out there?

One of the reasons I thought this would be a good area of practice is because business is doing so well.

I don't know enough about economics to know how an eventual interest rate increase will affect business in the economy.

Would I be getting into this late if I enter in Fall 2018?

...cant tell if serious...

I think business performed really well if you look at the S & P. And wasn't sure if this would affect jobs.

But I understand how that looks like a troll post. I used to troll and I did a double take when I read it again.

[favabeansoup]

How much work is there out there?

One of the reasons I thought this would be a good area of practice is because business is doing so well.

I don't know enough about economics to know how an eventual interest rate increase will affect business in the economy.

Would I be getting into this late if I enter in Fall 2018?

...cant tell if serious...

I think business performed really well if you look at the S & P. And wasn't sure if this would affect jobs.

But I understand how that looks like a troll post. I used to troll and I did a double take when I read it again.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt. First, most people describe "business" law as a corporate or transactional practice because you are either drafting certain corporate documents revolving around corporate transactions. Second, "business performed really well" is a broad generalization. Over the past few years, some businesses did really well, others, like oil and gas, did terribly. Corporate lawyers can be generalists that have clients in a lot of industries, or they can be more specialist that only have clients in a specific industry. Likewise, some corporate law firm practices have done very well, others have not done as well.

Do not choose a practice area because you think it is doing well right now. The economy goes up and down. Corporate work goes up and down. It was really low in 2008, it was really high in the few years after, it's slowing down a bit now. Choose a practice area because it is work you would like doing for a career, if you are lucky enough to have options. Corporate work involves a lot of mind numbing intricacies and due diligence (i.e. reading through 1000s of pages to make sure everything in a deal is ok, making sure all the different section references over 50-60 pages are accurate).

You do not need calculus, you don't do math, don't know where you read that. I still like it even though it has lots of downsides, but it is not for everyone.

Corporate work is different than litigation work also because it is very dominant in a big law firm setting compared to other firms. Many or most of the smaller to midsize law firms out there probably focus on litigation (some are speciality corporate, but not a lot compared to the numerous litigation boutiques). Thus if you *really* want to do significant corporate/"business" law, you need to go to biglaw, which means going to a top school and getting good grades.

Read these posts to help give you an idea:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5#p7651355
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=205718

[Voyager]

Corporate law? Requires zero business background.

Business decisions are made by guys like me. Don't worry, I have data and have done the forecasts, ROI and evaluation of business risk. I don't need lawyers to help with that. You guys aren't qualified.

I need lawyers to make sure: (a) my crazy schemes don't get us sued/arrested and (b) to make sure I can hold other parties accountable in a contract.

I am interested in your advice as it pertains to the above. I have zero interest in your evaluation of my business judgment.

I happen to know quite a few classmates who ended up doing this for a living and are now on partnership tracks at major firms. My observations:

Expect to crank out a ton of contracts.

As a junior associate, expect to (a) conduct lots of research for the more senior attorneys on various contractual points of law and (b) proofread a ton. Junior associates are getting their marching orders from senior associates.

As a senior associate, expect to have clients ask you to write contracts on topics/issues new to you and get it right (not just copying and pasting previous versions). Senior associates at fun firms may actually get their marching orders from the client! Yay! Which leads to business development and *maybe*, with luck, partnership at some point.

favabeansoup can certainly provide more detail than what I wrote on the day to day, I'm sure. Looks painful as hell to me, but then I decided law wasn't for me in 3L....

[Voyager]

I'd like to add one thing: I have only threatened to use calculus twice in my entire career... and I started out at McKinsey post law school.

Algebra, statistics... about all you really need... you will stand out as an executive in most companies what those alone.

[scalawag]

How much work is there out there?

One of the reasons I thought this would be a good area of practice is because business is doing so well.

I don't know enough about economics to know how an eventual interest rate increase will affect business in the economy.

Would I be getting into this late if I enter in Fall 2018?

...cant tell if serious...

I think business performed really well if you look at the S & P. And wasn't sure if this would affect jobs.

But I understand how that looks like a troll post. I used to troll and I did a double take when I read it again.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt. First, most people describe "business" law as a corporate or transactional practice because you are either drafting certain corporate documents revolving around corporate transactions. Second, "business performed really well" is a broad generalization. Over the past few years, some businesses did really well, others, like oil and gas, did terribly. Corporate lawyers can be generalists that have clients in a lot of industries, or they can be more specialist that only have clients in a specific industry. Likewise, some corporate law firm practices have done very well, others have not done as well.

Do not choose a practice area because you think it is doing well right now. The economy goes up and down. Corporate work goes up and down. It was really low in 2008, it was really high in the few years after, it's slowing down a bit now. Choose a practice area because it is work you would like doing for a career, if you are lucky enough to have options. Corporate work involves a lot of mind numbing intricacies and due diligence (i.e. reading through 1000s of pages to make sure everything in a deal is ok, making sure all the different section references over 50-60 pages are accurate).

You do not need calculus, you don't do math, don't know where you read that. I still like it even though it has lots of downsides, but it is not for everyone.

Corporate work is different than litigation work also because it is very dominant in a big law firm setting compared to other firms. Many or most of the smaller to midsize law firms out there probably focus on litigation (some are speciality corporate, but not a lot compared to the numerous litigation boutiques). Thus if you *really* want to do significant corporate/"business" law, you need to go to biglaw, which means going to a top school and getting good grades.

Read these posts to help give you an idea:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5#p7651355
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=205718

Your post was really helpful. The first link was fascinating.

If you're trying to do biglaw what's the strategy? Do you seek out internships after your first year.

[star fox]

How much work is there out there?

One of the reasons I thought this would be a good area of practice is because business is doing so well.

I don't know enough about economics to know how an eventual interest rate increase will affect business in the economy.

Would I be getting into this late if I enter in Fall 2018?

...cant tell if serious...

I think business performed really well if you look at the S & P. And wasn't sure if this would affect jobs.

But I understand how that looks like a troll post. I used to troll and I did a double take when I read it again.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt. First, most people describe "business" law as a corporate or transactional practice because you are either drafting certain corporate documents revolving around corporate transactions. Second, "business performed really well" is a broad generalization. Over the past few years, some businesses did really well, others, like oil and gas, did terribly. Corporate lawyers can be generalists that have clients in a lot of industries, or they can be more specialist that only have clients in a specific industry. Likewise, some corporate law firm practices have done very well, others have not done as well.

Do not choose a practice area because you think it is doing well right now. The economy goes up and down. Corporate work goes up and down. It was really low in 2008, it was really high in the few years after, it's slowing down a bit now. Choose a practice area because it is work you would like doing for a career, if you are lucky enough to have options. Corporate work involves a lot of mind numbing intricacies and due diligence (i.e. reading through 1000s of pages to make sure everything in a deal is ok, making sure all the different section references over 50-60 pages are accurate).

You do not need calculus, you don't do math, don't know where you read that. I still like it even though it has lots of downsides, but it is not for everyone.

Corporate work is different than litigation work also because it is very dominant in a big law firm setting compared to other firms. Many or most of the smaller to midsize law firms out there probably focus on litigation (some are speciality corporate, but not a lot compared to the numerous litigation boutiques). Thus if you *really* want to do significant corporate/"business" law, you need to go to biglaw, which means going to a top school and getting good grades.

Read these posts to help give you an idea:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5#p7651355
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=205718

Your post was really helpful. The first link was fascinating.

If you're trying to do biglaw what's the strategy? Do you seek out internships after your first year.

Go to a good law school. T14 ideally. Get good grades your first year, internship doesn't matter too much. Then before your second year you interview with law firms at OCI for Summer Associate positions. Land one of those and spend your summer between your second and third year with a law firm as a summer associate. Once you're there, you will likely receive an offer to come back full time as a first year associate after graduating law school.

[scalawag]

I'm not sure if T14 will be possible.

Gotta take the LSAT, taking in December and again in the Fall. I'm sure I'll hit my max score one of those two times, you can't fuck that thing up twice.

Problem is I'm stuck with a 3.19 GPA in a shitty liberal arts degree. I've got like 7 classes left to bring it up.

A significant portion of my college career was in a pretty demanding/technical music performance degree. So I'll play the admissions game and try to put some lipstick on this pig.

Now with the LSAT I'm finally starting to have responsibilities that require some attention, I did live it up in liberal arts there for a while.

It's starting to be like being a Jazz Studies major again but not as bad. If all goes as planned with the exception of a few short breaks I'll begin to be really busy soon, which is good. I need work and goals to do to keep me happy.

Anyways thank you gentlemen, I may send some PMs when it's time for me to apply or make a decision.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I'm not sure if T14 will be possible.

Gotta take the LSAT, taking in December and again in the Fall. I'm sure I'll hit my max score one of those two times, you can't fuck that thing up twice.

Famous last words...