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While we still have downtime, I wanted to do some reading to figure out what exactly a corporate lawyer really does. I worked in it as a summer, but most of my work was creating charts or researching a particular legal question. However, I don't really have a solid understanding of what it is we actually do or how the stock market really works. I'm hoping to develop a solid comprehension in the coming weeks so I can be a better associate. Thanks!

Read everything Matt Levine writes and the main articles on the Wall Street Journal. Your universe will be dictated by major corporate transactions, which are usually capital raising (capital markets, bank finance) and/or transformative (M&A), and are driven by current economic conditions.

Pick up Fifty Shades of Gray and find all the missing commas.

zot1 wrote:Pick up Fifty Shades of Gray and find all the missing commas.

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Relevant thread that I found useful from some time ago:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... e#p7334539

I am in corporate restructuring so my reading tends toward distressed situations and tales of
big/famous PE deals (which tend to fail).

Barbarians at the Gate is pretty much required reading. I really enjoyed Too Big to Fail as well for a decent overview of the most recent financial crisis. Others off the top of my head: When Genius Failed, King of Capital, Liar's Poker, The Big Short, Predator's Ball, Den of Thieves... There are others I can't remember right now. If you look up the aforementioned books on Amazon and look at the related books some good picks will come up. These aren't like corporate textbooks or anything but are far more entertaining and will help you to learn to speak the language.

Also reading the WSJ and dealbook plus other deal blogs is definitely credited.

Have a solid understanding of how tax works (basis, adjusted basis, gain etc). I ignored all of that stuff in school, and initially ran into some trouble when learning how much taxes dictate the way that deals work.