Law is a career that comes with endless opportunities and options. It gives you a vast scope as a career and has something in the bucket for everybody. With the rapid growth of society, disputes too, are increasing manifolds. This calls for the exponential growth in the demand for lawyers.
With some conventional fields that never go off demand, there are certain new domains which are seeing a drastic demand for lawyers. In this article, we will be discussing the top emerging areas of practice for commercial lawyers, which can give them a great flight in their legal career.
Banking and Finance Practice
The primary role of a lawyer in the banking and finance sector is to draft and vet the mortgage deed, loan agreements and various other documents. They work to safeguard the interest and provide legal guidance and assistance to banks for the recovery of their amount. They help in the drafting of laws regarding inter-corporate loans and other categories of transactions involving the Director of the Company, promoters, and stakeholders.
Capital Markets
A Capital Market lawyer works with a company or an investment bank to advise them on legal and regulatory matters. They draft documents, negotiate contracts, and work with bankers to obtain approval from various external parties such as regulators, listing agencies, and rating agencies. They aim to provide the company with adequate financing by structuring security on terms that are agreeable to investors.
Commercial Arbitration
Britannica defines Commercial Arbitration as “Commercial arbitration is a means of settling disputes by referring them to a neutral person, an arbitrator, selected by the parties for a decision based on the evidence and arguments presented to the arbitration tribunal.” The primary role of a commercial arbitration lawyer is to help their clients in pursuing their claims, preparing pleadings and argument on the merits before arbitrators.
E-Commerce Practice
India has started marching on its path of digitalization and in this journey; it has seen a major boom in the E-Commerce industry. With everything being transferred on the internet, the disputed have also made their way to the e-commerce world. This has given a new area of practice to the legal community. The job of an E-Commerce lawyer is to aid the clients on complex business, structuring, regulatory and legal issues connected and associated with E-commerce businesses. They advise clients on teaming agreements, licensing contracts, hosting maintenance and development agreements, technology escrows, equipment leases, software maintenance, support contracts, and much more.
General Corporate Law
The corporate lawyers help their clients with the incorporation of subsidiary, liaison, or branch office. They offer to advice on the matters such as options of investment, structuring and layering of the group companies, restructuring of corporate entities, etc.
Insolvency and Restructuring
As per a survey conducted in 2016 by the World Bank, it takes an average of 4.3 years of an insolvency process to complete in India. While being Insolvency and reconstructing lawyer, one has to act on behalf of their client companies when they are facing insolvency or acute financial distress. They also help directors of solvent companies who have chosen to liquidate their company by way of to extract held profits.
Investments
An investment lawyer resolves disputes regarding the purchase or sale of investments. With the introduction of Consolidated Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy, which aims at making India more investor-friendly, the scope of investment lawyers has increased manifolds. This also allows investment lawyers to explore the area of foreign investment.
Mergers and Acquisitions Practice
The roles of a lawyer practicing in this area include drafting important documents related to M&A, Carrying out due diligence related to the affairs of the target company, filing forms before the Registrar of Companies, helping in creating a corporate structure needed for the transaction, negotiating with the legal advisors of the other party on various issues and offering advice on the opportunities to exit during different phases of fundraising, open offer, or IPO.
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