Attorneys: What is commercial/transactional experience in law firm?
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at
11:53 pm
I want to apply for a position as a legal assistant, and they want someone with "commercial/transactional experience." If they said contracts I would know what they’re talking about, but I guess I need to ask all the attorneys online prescriptions or law students out there what this means. I have worked for an abstractor doing legal research in the oil and gas industry, and I am hoping that this is relevant experience. Thank you very much.
Commercial/transactional experience means experience in corporate/business transactions that include things like the sale or purchase of a business, the reorganization of a business, the financing of a business by sale of equity (public and private offerings of stock or other securities) or debt (secured financing) and the dissolution and liquidation of a business. All of this falls under the practice area of corporate law and the position is for a corporate paralegal.
These are the kind of paralegals I interview and hire for our law firm. Unless your legal research experience includes due diligence research such as ordering, organizing and summarizing UCC, tax, judgment and open litigation searches on companies and individuals, it is not going to be particularly relevant to the qualifications required for the job.
Commercial or transaction law usually involves things like regulatory schemes, banking law, bankruptcy law, real estate transactions, contract issues, trade law, corporate credit and sometimes M&A or employment law issues.