A corporate legal assistant works for a large firm that specializes in corporate law or for a private company’s in-house counsel department. Depending on the type of business, the responsibilities assigned to legal assistants within the corporation or firm, the size of the business, and the extent of the assistant’s legal experience, a corporate legal assistant may perform a variety of tasks. A corporate legal assistant’s job is to support the attorneys who work for a company in every case.
Corporate law is a vast subject. Writing contracts, dealing with insurance disputes, dealing with employment discrimination cases, deciding on a business structure, assisting a business with incorporation, or handling litigation when two businesses or a business and a customer are involved in a dispute are all examples of what it entails. There are numerous other tasks that corporate lawyers perform, and thus numerous specific tasks that a corporate legal assistant may assist the attorneys with.
In some firms or businesses, a legal assistant will perform duties similar to those of a paralegal. In such cases, the legal assistant will conduct legal research to assist an attorney in responding to legal questions posed a client. For example, the legal assistant might look up whether a contract similar to the one the client is writing is likely to be valid in law books or online databases like LexisNexis and Westlaw. This type of legal research entails creating keywords to locate cases, codes, statutes, and other legal sources that can assist in answering the question at hand.
Other than providing legal research, corporate legal assistants may be able to assist attorneys in other ways. Briefs, motions, pleadings, and other court documents and memorandums that a lawyer or paralegal has handwritten or dictated to him may be typed a corporate legal assistant. He may write letters to clients or prospective clients informing them of the status of their cases, requesting information, or otherwise relaying an attorney message to the client.
In a corporate firm or in-house legal department, a legal assistant may also be in charge of filing information into appropriate case files or submitting paperwork and documents to the court, the Department of Labor, or the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission when necessary. There are numerous regulatory agencies that regulate business behavior, and corporate lawyers — and thus their assistants — are responsible for assisting corporations in meeting reporting requirements and abiding the laws established these agencies.