Corporate legal advisors are people who provides legal advice to another, often in an official capacity. They are lawyers who are employed by the government, large companies and other organizations to provide legal advice and services to the organization and its employees. In-house counsel working for corporations are also referred to as "corporate counsel" whose duties vary depending on the type of organization that employs them.
A legal advisor may serve as a resource for an informed opinion on a legal question. He or she may do research, provide relevant materials, and cite specific laws to help explain a law or craft a plan for a client. In some cases, an advisor may assist in preparing paperwork or examining contracts and other documents to help ensure that an action is being done legally.
Most legal advisors are former attorneys or advocates who want to go into a corporate environment. Therefore, the requirements and training for legal advisors are the same as for advocates and attorneys. Apart from general characteristics like ambition, dedication and a disciplined approach, a legal advisor also needs to possess special characteristics and skills including:
Honesty, decisiveness and integrity;
Being objective in a matter;
Being able to distinguish facts from irrelevant detail;
With confidence;
The ability to solve problems;
Exceptional communication skills;
Discretion, diplomacy and tact;
Working well under pressure.
As a legal advisor you can work for large companies or organizations, central, provincial or local government, law schools, legal aid societies, be self-employment or work in private practice.
Requirements and conditions on Corporate Legal Advisors
In most cases, the legal head or General counsel of a company would be someone having few years of experience of practicing law (especially those working in a corporate law firm). However, there are legal heads who are not lawyers but are CAs or CSs.
In many companies, legal and compliance are one unit which sometimes allows exceptional candidates who are CS/CA to get promoted or appointed as a legal head. As most companies, would appoint external legal counsels or law firms to provide legal opinion, a CS/CA who has strong knowledge of corporate law and compliance can be a legal head provided he also understands and can take strategic decisions on litigation.
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