06 September 2024 - Commercial Lawyer Information

What is commercial law? You may be wondering what is commercial law? Business law is an umbrella term for a variety of legal services designed to help businesses make money from products and services. For example, intellectual property rights (IP) are crucial for creative industries and manufacturers to profit from inventions, sales on a national and international basis require contracts, and agency or distribution contracts may be entered into to sell products or services more widely. What do commercial lawyers do? Commercial lawyers will tend to have a specialist area of practice (such as intellectual property) or an industry focus (such as technology, media and telecommunications). The exception to this is small businesses, where the term refers only to those whose customers are businesses rather than individuals. A commercial attorney's responsibilities in the commercial legal sector depend on the area in which the attorney works, but most transactional work focuses on protecting each client's business interests while managing a wide range of risks. For example, this could mean interpreting the law to decide how to protect a customer from liability for claims made on your website. Day-to-day work for an attorney at a commercial law firm includes drafting extensive commercial contracts and standard forms of statement, such as disclaimers. How to become a commercial lawyer? To work as a solicitor, you can take the Bar Qualifying Examination (SQE) or, if you qualify, you can study the Legal Practice Course (LPC). If you qualify through the SQE, you will also need to complete two years of Qualifying Work Experience (QWE). To prepare for the SQE, we recommend studying one of our SQE courses, which are designed to give you the knowledge and skills for a successful career as a lawyer. If you are eligible to study the LPC you will need to secure a two-year training contract with a law firm. To find out which path is right for you, visit our Becoming a Lawyer page. Once you have completed your two-year training contract or QWE, you can apply to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to be admitted as a solicitor. To become a barrister, you must complete a law degree before completing the Bar Practice Course (BPC) or a conversion course if you are not a law graduate. You must therefore protect the student. You can also study a Master of Law (LLM) in Data Protection and Intellectual Property, an LLM in International Business Law or an LLM in Corporate Law to give you the knowledge and skills to navigate this area. Skills required to be a commercial lawyer Commercial lawyers need strong research skills and a sense of curiosity. They must keep current and develop a detailed and comprehensive understanding of their clients' industries and the factors that affect the way they do business. Attention to detail is crucial because the smallest mistake in a contract can spell big trouble for a client's business. Working well in a team is a key skill as large commercial work involves working with other lawyers and support staff in a firm. Why study business law? Business law is a safe legal field that continues to thrive and expand with our economy. Studying business law will not only help you develop research skills, attention to detail and connect with clients, it will also give you the skills to stay up to date with industry news and economic changes. Business law offers a wide range of opportunities to work as it looks at specific areas in which people do business. For example, commercial lawyers can provide tax advice and also offer contract law advice. Hence, there will always be a demand for legal professionals who want to specialize in business law.