Do corporate attorneys get exposure to case law? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I hear a lot of people say that corporate practise is for people who don't enjoy law school. I've really enjoyed law school so far, especially my corporations class. I don't love legal research and writing, but I like learning the case rules. How much exposure do corporate attorneys get to case law?

[nealric]

I hear a lot of people say that corporate practise is for people who don't enjoy law school. I've really enjoyed law school so far, especially my corporations class. I don't love legal research and writing, but I like learning the case rules. How much exposure do corporate attorneys get to case law?

It depends somewhat on the specifics of your practice, but a corporate practice is generally going to be much less case law intensive than litigation. You may do the occasional research memo on a substantive point or research for a legal opinion, but you certainly won't be doing caselaw research or reading cases all day like you are used to in law school.

On the other hand, I actually did a decent amount of legal research as a junior tax associate. However, in a statute-heavy area like tax, a lot of it is administrative rulings rather than case law (although there is some case law). In any event, any case law you are likely going to be reading with a transactional focus is unlikely to be as factually colorful as what you read in law school. You probably aren't going to come across any lurid "hairy hand" type cases when researching Delaware corporate law.

[JiveTurkey]

In M&A, not really any day-to-day. You might follow or get updates on DE decisions, that’s about it.

[Anonymous User]

In M&A, not really any day-to-day. You might follow or get updates on DE decisions, that’s about it.

Not like formal memo style research, but I've definitely done a decent bit of "how does DE look at this" style research

[Anonymous User]

In M&A, a good way to distinguish oneself is constantly reading the relevant DE cases interpreting earn-outs, acquisition agreements and transaction process/special committee (Corwin etc.) type stuff. Bonus points if you can then write about them before others do. Glenn West has made a name for himself doing this. Gail Weinstein at FF has a team basically scan the relevant Del Ct Ch decision pages and immediately pens articles to Law360 summarizing them.

Here is a great article, emanating from a DE decision, that should impact every starting point in drafting an acquisition agreement: https://businesslawtoday.org/2024/10/fo ... tatements/

[Anonymous User]

In M&A, a good way to distinguish oneself is constantly reading the relevant DE cases interpreting earn-outs, acquisition agreements and transaction process/special committee (Corwin etc.) type stuff. Bonus points if you can then write about them before others do. Glenn West has made a name for himself doing this. Gail Weinstein at FF has a team basically scan the relevant Del Ct Ch decision pages and immediately pens articles to Law360 summarizing them.

Here is a great article, emanating from a DE decision, that should impact every starting point in drafting an acquisition agreement: https://businesslawtoday.org/2024/10/fo ... tatements/

Not to be annoying, but ABRY isn't new, non-reliance reps are completely market and that article kinda just regurgitates what everyone knows about how extra-contractual fraud works.

[Anonymous User]

No