Seven Practice Areas for Specialisation of a Corporate Lawyer

For the people working in the corporate law firms in India, the following are the practice areas of specialization.

• Banking and finance practice
• Mergers and acquisitions practice
• Dispute resolution
• General corporate law
• Insolvency and restructuring
• Capital markets
• White-Collar Crime

The knowledge of company law is needed when you practice in the above-mentioned fields as it makes you more equipped to comprehend the situation in a specific setting. The following points highlight some of the work the corporate lawyers in India handle in the following seven practice areas.

1.    General corporate

The large organisations hire the best corporate law firms in India although the corporate team in the smaller organisations handle the corporate work. The following is the work layout of the corporate lawyers in this country.

• Offering advice regarding the options of investment and explaining the route of entering India.
• Helping with the incorporation of subsidiary, liaison, or branch office.
• Complying with the KYC documents.
• Drafting the modifications in AOA and MOA.
• Requisites for foreign companies to conduct business in India.
• Structuring and layering of the group companies.
• Restructuring of corporate entities.
• Meetings for initiating corporate action.

While working for a listed company, the compliances may increase, but generally, compliance with SEBI is required regularly. Apart from this, there are event-based compliance as well such as acquisitions, ESOP’s, buy-back and delisting.

2.    Mergers and Acquisitions

This is another practice area for the top corporate lawyers in India and they must execute the following duties.

• Draft the important documents related to M&A.
• Help in creating a corporate structure needed for the transaction.
• Offer advice on the opportunities to exit during different phases of fundraising, open offer, or IPO.
• Negotiating with the legal advisors of the other party on various issues.
• Filing of forms before the Registrar of Companies.
• Carrying out due diligence related to the affairs of the target company.

Apart from the Companies Act, the lawyers serving in this field must have knowledge of different regulatory practice as well.

3.    Banking and finance

While the banks offer loans to the customers and companies, they must safeguard their interests as far as recovery is concerned. When the lawyers of the top corporate law firms in India work in the field of banking and finance, they are involved in the work of drafting and vetting of the mortgage deed, loan agreements and various other documents. The company law includes a lot of other provisions that are related to inter-corporate loans and other categories of transactions involving the Director of the Company, promoters, and stakeholders.

4.    Dispute resolution

When it comes to dispute resolution, your potential to control the process is going to be based on your knowledge of the following:

• Disputes of shareholders and rights of the minority shareholders
• Decision making procedure such as preparation of the agenda for meetings.
• Power of the board of directors to sell the company.
• Terms of AOA
• Power of the bank to regulate the company affairs.

Quite naturally, the skills of a commercial litigation lawyer come to help in this field.

5.    Laws of insolvency

Some of the legal firms in India have knowledge of the insolvency and the bankruptcy code and relate it with the matters of dispute resolution and banking or finance. However, there are law practitioners carving this as a separate area of practice. The work of insolvency can be difficult to carry out unless the legal professionals have a good foundation in company law. They must also understand the concept of the priority of processes, rights of the debtors, the litigation issues before the NCLT, and the ability to recommend the other feasible solutions before declaring bankruptcy.

6.    Capital markets

A corporate commercial law firm is often appointed to help with the compliances for the company issuing the shares, investors, brokers, investors, mutual funds, and AIF’s. They must have a solid grip on the regulations of SEBI. They offer advisory services to the merchant bankers, investors, and issuers on various matters and carry out due diligence on the company affairs, which requires a good grip of the company law. Furthermore, the law practitioners also need to draft the documents to be issued for the amendment of the AOA.

7.    Handling white-collar crime litigation

The best corporate law firms also specialize in handling the white-collar crimes as they need to understand the regulations that explain criminal penalties for the directors. When it comes to Companies Act, section 447 of the Companies Act and Companies Rules of 2017 are relevant. Usually, an organization, which is accused of violating the statutory provisions hire the firm when non-compliance results in criminal punishment. While the lawyer needs to help the director to obtain bail and outing up an adequate defence. Whether the non-defiance is related to Companies Act or another legislation, the knowledge of corporate procedures, standards of corporate governance, and decision-making is essential to put up a defence.

Building the skills

If you are keen to work in a corporate law firm, you will get the opportunity to deal with various corporate disputes and it is here that the understanding and expertise of the Companies Act is essential. However, mere knowledge is not going to work as the legal professional must know how to apply the law and the areas in which the implementation of the Companies Act is relevant. Various companies in India give preference to hiring corporate lawyers with qualifications of company secretary as well. More and more individuals today must know how to have dual qualifications of company secretary and corporate law to deliver what is expected from them.

Author Bio

Amy Jones is a Legal Advisor working with Ahlawat & Associates one of the best law firms in India, delivering legal and business solutions. Amy has a long background of taking up several types of cases. She keeps writing about different legal matters.