A business lawyer works exclusively with professionals. Business law is a branch of private law.
Unlike a “traditional” lawyer, a business lawyer almost never appears in court. Their main task is to defend their clients’ interests. He will only be present in court in the event of a dispute.
A business lawyer generally works for large companies, but also for business people. They may be employed either by a law firm or directly by a large company.
Their main tasks?
They provide legal advice, particularly in connection with investments, mergers, acquisitions, disposals or the search for financing. These days, business lawyers need to be multi-skilled: intellectual property law, unfair competition, tax law, contract law, employment law, property law, etc. Of course, in the event of litigation, a business lawyer will be able to defend his client in court.
Excelling in different areas of law is an unconditional characteristic of a good business lawyer. Here we describe the different specialisations of a business lawyer.
What are the different specialisations a business lawyer can have?
A business lawyer is very often a specialist. They have a broad knowledge of general law, but often specialise in a specific area of expertise.
The different business lawyer specialisations :
- Industrial property law ;
- Intellectual property law
- Competition law;
- Contract law;
- Employment law;
- Arbitration law;
- Customs law
- Law of associations and foundations;
- Insurance law;
- tax law;
- Stock exchange law
- Banking and finance law;
- Commercial law;
- Personal injury law
- Property law
- Environmental law;
- Trust law;
- International and European Union law;
- Guarantees and enforcement law;
- Digital and communications law
- Business criminallaw;
- Personal data protection law;
- Public business law;
- Company law;
- Social security and welfare law;
- Transport law.
Depending on your company’s needs, you can recruit one or more business law lawyers.
The day-to-day tasks of a business lawyer
The primary objective of a business lawyer is to help his clients make the best strategic decisions for their businesses.
On a day-to-day basis, a business lawyer will perform the following tasks:
- Diversify their client base if they are not employed by a large firm;
- Interact with clients and answer their questions;
- Develop and present solutions to clients’ problems;
- Continuous training and keeping abreast of developments in competitive markets;
- Drafting contracts in good order and supervising their signature;
- Determining the rights and duties of each of the parties involved;
- Setting up financial structures;
- Advising clients;
- Negotiating and modifying transactions;
- Defending clients’ interests.
When necessary, a business lawyer may also plead in court. However, this is not their main task. A business lawyer will appear in court when one of his clients is involved in litigation. This is an exceptional situation, since the business lawyer’s job is to prevent his clients from being faced with litigation.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the specialisations of a business lawyer:
Intellectual property
According to the website of the Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI), industrial property is an area of law that protects and promotes inventions, creations, innovations and creations. The primary aim of intellectual property law is to protect inventors/creators and their intangible assets.
Intangible assets may include patents, copyright, trademarks, designs, models or logos.
An intellectual property lawyer is somewhere between a business lawyer and acriminal lawyer. Their aim is to protect their clients’ intangible assets. They act as advisers or litigators, as required.
Unfair competition
The term “unfair competition” defines a set of abusive commercial practices carried out by one company in relation to another.
These various commercial practices may include: denigration, parasitism, imitation, mass poaching of employees, cybersquatting or confusion. The common denominator of these actions is that they are prejudicial to another company, usually a competitor.
Sometimes, unfair competition is not intentional.
Calling on the services of an unfair competition lawyer is the simplest way of countering the unfair actions of a competitor.
Mergers and acquisitions
The term “merger-acquisition” refers to the bringing together of two or more companies. It covers the various characteristics of the purchase of the capital of one company by another, but also of a division of a company or of assets.
An M&A lawyer is involved once the main clauses have been negotiated between the various parties. He or she takes part in the negotiation and drafting of the legal elements, including :
- Pre-contracts;
- the memorandum of understanding
- guarantees of assets and liabilities
- Miscellaneous agreements;
- Closing formalities.
Calling on the services of an M&A lawyer guarantees that you will come out of the negotiations on top. A good lawyer specialising in mergers and acquisitions recognises the points of tension in the various files. He can then defuse potential future conflicts.
Do you need a business lawyer and would like to find out more about our skills and/or fees?
Visit our page dedicated to ” Business lawyers in Paris ” or contact us directly.
