Why is transactional law important and/or meaningful to society and the economy? Forum

[Outis Onoma]

Would love to hear more thoughts on these two questions. The below is a summary of things I've garnered from associates.



(1) Why is transactional law valuable and meaningful to society and the economy, especially vis-a-vis what bankers and corporate executives do? I'm particularly interested in corporate/M&A and industry-specific practices (like Real Estate, Banking, and Technology)

(2) How are the specific skills you get in drafting and reading documents transferable to entrepreneurship or social welfare?

WTF? You asked attorneys these questions?

[mirage1287]

All attorneys are "cost centers." While transactional attorneys may help do the paperwork for deals, there are only two line roles in business - the people who make the product(s) and the people who sell them. Every other function (including the transactional attorney) is overhead cost, even if they do generate "value."

by your own logic, the people who sell the products are also cost centers. only one group truly matters, and that is the group making the product. everyone else, INCLUDING SALES, is a transaction cost

No, it's not a "cost center." Sales/product is typically a "profit center."

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cost-center.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit_center

sorry, I don't think anyone cares about the definitions you dug up; the fact is that at the end of the day, the only truly indispensable unit in any business is the unit that creates the product. nobody builds a company from "sales" up. HTH

Lol, the definitions I "dug" up are pretty basic business concepts. You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. A product, no matter how good it is, means absolutely nothing if it can't be sold. Sure, sales isn't "indispensable," but it's the only other core role in business. What exactly do you think "business" is? SELLING goods and/or services.

Regardless, the point of my initial post was that transactional lawyers generate "value" but they don't drive deals in business. They do the paperwork for the deals, and that's why they're a support cost.

[juzam_djinn]

All attorneys are "cost centers." While transactional attorneys may help do the paperwork for deals, there are only two line roles in business - the people who make the product(s) and the people who sell them. Every other function (including the transactional attorney) is overhead cost, even if they do generate "value."

by your own logic, the people who sell the products are also cost centers. only one group truly matters, and that is the group making the product. everyone else, INCLUDING SALES, is a transaction cost

No, it's not a "cost center." Sales/product is typically a "profit center."

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cost-center.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit_center

sorry, I don't think anyone cares about the definitions you dug up; the fact is that at the end of the day, the only truly indispensable unit in any business is the unit that creates the product. nobody builds a company from "sales" up. HTH

Lol, the definitions I "dug" up are pretty basic business concepts. You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. A product, no matter how good it is, means absolutely nothing if it can't be sold. Sure, sales isn't "indispensable," but it's the only other core role in business. What exactly do you think "business" is? SELLING goods and/or services.

Regardless, the point of my initial post was that transactional lawyers generate "value" but they don't drive deals in business. They do the paperwork for the deals, and that's why they're a support cost.

if you're really just arguing technicalities (i.e. Distinction b/w "generating value" and "cost v. profit center") then that's fine, I agree w/ you. but it seems to me that's not your point. The topic of the thread is why trans law is important/meaningful to society. Your response suggests that only sales and product are critical, and I think it's ridiculous to conflate the importance of sales w/ the importance of product. Just b/c "business" is defined a certain way doesn't mean you get to rely on the definition to suggest that salespeople are in any way critical

[gp86]

Can't believe I missed this thread. As and M&A/capital markets associate, I can say that being a transactional lawyer is mostly papering stuff the business guys have already settled. There is absolutely room to add crucial value, in terms of risk advising and structuring. But once I learned that most of my job was learning how to do an IBD analysts's/PE associate's job so they weren't screwing it up, I got pretty pissed I didn't have more foresight in undergrad.

[seespotrun]

Suck a million dicks, dweeb.

[Anonymous User]

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[Danger Zone]

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