Author : Steve Dimic –Dimic Law Firm
When dealing with law, there are multiple subfields which you can work on. From employment law to criminal law, lawyers in Calgary focus their expertise in a multitude of different areas to ensure there is always someone able to support you regardless of your case and situation properly. And it could not be otherwise – each area of law is a whole subject with its own details, that only a trained professional that dedicates their life to the study of it can really understand from beginning to end.
One of those fields is called commercial law. Commercial lawyer Calgary deals with businesses and ensuring that companies are following regulations, guidelines, and different laws to make sure that operations can keep on going smoothly and there are no surprises or problems down the road.
Commercial lawyers are important and critical resources for any company, but what more, or what exactly do they do? On the following topics we will look over some of the responsibilities a commercial lawyer has, and what duties they perform during their day-to-day work.
Corporate Law and Its Differences
More often than not, commercial lawyers work in a law firm that represents companies and businesses. That is not to say that a commercial lawyer cannot be an employee of a company directly, but normally those companies need to be bigger in order to afford to have a law sector of their own.
Commercial lawyers and corporate lawyers often work together in maintaining the well-being and smooth operations of a company or business, but they focus on different aspects of it. While commercial lawyers focus on the matters related to the company’s daily operations, being valuable resources to the owners or board of directors to understand how the company runs. Corporate lawyers on the other hand focus on the company itself.
Corporate lawyers will work with the company as an entity. The company has duties, responsibilities, and rights in the eyes of the law. The corporate lawyer will be the one that will work to ensure the company is flourishing and advise on moves pertaining to its future.
So, to put it shortly, commercial lawyers focus on the day-to-day aspects of a company and ensure it is running smoothly, while the corporate lawyer will focus on the company as an entity and work to see it grow rather than work for its employees, even directors.
Dealing with Finances and Bank Institutions
Commercial lawyers also deal with an expressive amount of financial transactions. They need to be well versed in things such as taxes, wages, and profits to be able to better give advice when needed.
On the same note, commercial lawyers need to have experience and knowledge of stocks as well so they can support businesses with equity financing if they so wish to pursue it. Equity financing is when a company sell shares of it in order to raise funds for multiple reasons. Maybe they need capital for a project, or just to pay a few bills. A commercial lawyer can support you by reviewing agreements and how they will influence the duties and responsibilities of the company.
Commercial lawyers need to understand finances in order to give legal counsel on debt and how to avoid it. Reviewing contracts and agreements with lenders to ensure your best interests are being protected is pivotal for the healthy growth of the company. They can review and draft documents necessary for funding in order to ensure that your rights are protected and you are entering a fruitful situation.
Litigation and Conflict Resolution
Dealing with any problem can be a headache, but having to go to Court to deal with it is another level of stress, and it is highly unlikely that the company will not face legal issues, if not with their employees, then with business partners. A commercial lawyer can help the company by focusing on dispute resolution and dealing with conflicts in a way that will reduce losses to the company.
Preparing documents, reviewing contracts, and guiding their client in hearings and trials in order to best protect their interests and rights is the role of a commercial lawyer who focuses on litigation. There are instances in which they can also be mediators in conflicts in order to try to come up with solutions before going to Court to save money, time, and stress.
Those situations are relatively common to arise and dealing with them supports the operations of the company on a day-to-day basis as well.
Drafting Documents and Ensuring Compliance
A commercial lawyer is a trained professional to deal specifically with business and company-related issues and necessities. Commercial lawyers need to apply all their knowledge of the law to ensure the company’s operations are running smoothly. That means dealing with agreements of different natures, non-disclosure agreements (NDA) or privacy policies, cease and desist, and more. The commercial lawyer will use the law to protect the company’s best interests and rights.
Commercial lawyers can also review documents, such as transaction ones, to ensure that it is in the company’s best interests to sign them by analyzing terms, conditions, duties, and responsibilities.
At the same time, the commercial lawyer needs to be aware of applicable regulations, laws, and rules that will influence the operations of the company. Be it federal, or provincial, they need to be sure that the company is not breaking any rules to ensure that this will not come back to give them headaches.
Overall, there are many areas of expertise where a commercial lawyer can have experience. The more a commercial lawyer knows, the better. They are amazing resources, and indispensable tools for the maintenance of a company, and navigating where the company is moving towards.
Having an experienced commercial lawyer at your disposal is definitely in the best interests of any company, and will prove to save money, and stress by making the operations run smoothly, in accordance with guidelines, and saving the company stress when reviewing documents and finding problems.
