Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Corporate Legal Consultant

🎯 Role Definition

The Corporate Legal Consultant provides high-value legal advisory to corporate clients and business stakeholders, combining transactional expertise (M&A, joint ventures, commercial contracts) with regulatory compliance (securities, anti-corruption, data privacy, competition) and corporate governance. This role delivers practical legal solutions, leads due diligence and negotiations, manages outside counsel, drafts and implements policies, and supports strategic business objectives across jurisdictions.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Associate at a national or international law firm (corporate/M&A focus)
In-house Corporate Counsel or Senior Legal Counsel
Compliance Manager or Senior Contracts Manager

Advancement To:

Head of Legal / General Counsel (mid-market company)
Legal Director / Senior Legal Counsel (global corporation)
Partner or Counsel in boutique corporate or compliance practice

Lateral Moves:

Director of Compliance / Chief Compliance Officer
Corporate Secretary / Head of Corporate Governance

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead end-to-end M&A transactions including structuring, drafting and negotiating share purchase agreements, asset purchase agreements, SPA ancillary documents, and transaction closing mechanics, coordinating internal stakeholders and external advisors to achieve strategic deal objectives.
Conduct comprehensive legal due diligence for acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and strategic investments, prepare detailed due diligence reports, draft disclosure schedules and highlight transactional, regulatory and commercial risks with recommended mitigation measures.
Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of commercial contracts and master agreements (NDAs, supply, distribution, licensing, services, SaaS and professional services agreements), ensuring clear allocation of risk and alignment with business terms.
Advise senior business leaders and boards on corporate governance matters, including board resolutions, shareholder agreements, director duties, conflicts of interest, meeting minutes and compliance with corporate law and listing rules.
Design, implement and maintain global compliance programs addressing anti-corruption (FCPA/UK Bribery Act), AML, trade sanctions, competition law, and internal escalation procedures, including policy drafting and remediation planning.
Provide regulatory advice and strategy on securities, capital markets, and public company obligations, including disclosures, filings, insider trading policies, and investor communications.
Lead and manage cross-border legal matters and coordinate multi-jurisdictional counsel to ensure cohesive strategy for international transactions, restructurings, and regulatory approvals.
Oversee privacy and data protection compliance, advising on GDPR, CCPA and related data transfer mechanisms, drafting privacy policies and data processing agreements, and supporting incident response and breach notifications.
Counsel on employment and organizational restructuring matters in collaboration with HR, including senior executive hiring, termination agreements, restrictive covenants, severance, and employee equity plans.
Advise on intellectual property strategy and transactional protections, draft licensing agreements, assignments and ensure IP is appropriately secured and transferred in corporate transactions.
Support corporate finance activities including debt facilities, security documentation, intercreditor arrangements and lender negotiations, collaborating with treasury and external finance counsel.
Manage and coordinate external law firms and service providers, set budgets, scope of work, negotiate fee arrangements, and drive efficient use of external counsel to control costs and deliver consistent quality.
Draft and maintain internal policies, standard operating procedures and playbooks for commercial contracting, approvals, and escalation to reduce legal bottlenecks and increase transaction velocity.
Conduct legal research and regulatory monitoring to evaluate potential impacts of new laws, industry guidance and regulatory trends on corporate operations and transactions.
Provide training and workshops for commercial, HR, finance and operations teams on legal risk, contract best practices, compliance obligations and policy adoption to reduce business-side legal exposure.
Lead internal investigations and remedial actions in response to alleged compliance violations, coordinate evidence collection, interview stakeholders, liaise with regulators and recommend disciplinary or remediation measures.
Advise on corporate restructurings, reorganizations, spin-offs and asset transfers, ensuring tax, regulatory and contractual implications are managed and documented.
Prepare and negotiate shareholder, investor and joint venture agreements, including governance, exit mechanics, tag/drag rights, anti-dilution and preferential rights.
Support dispute resolution and litigation management by coordinating defense strategy with external litigators, managing budgets, preparing witness statements and advising on settlement strategy.
Provide practical commercial legal advice during product launches, marketing initiatives and strategic partnerships to minimize regulatory and contractual risk while enabling business growth.
Lead contract lifecycle management improvements, including templating, clause libraries, playbooks, and contract management systems to streamline approvals and reporting.
Advise on ESG-related legal issues, disclosure obligations and sustainability commitments, supporting integration of ESG risk management into corporate policies and investor communications.

Secondary Functions

Maintain and update corporate records, minute books, registers and filings with relevant authorities to ensure ongoing statutory compliance.
Support ad-hoc legal projects and operational initiatives, including procurement, vendor risk assessments and license compliance reviews.
Assist in budgeting and internal reporting for the legal function, tracking legal spend, outside counsel invoices and providing monthly status to leadership.
Mentor junior lawyers and paralegals, providing on-the-job training, review of work product and career development guidance.
Facilitate cross-functional legal-business workflows, intake processes and SLAs to improve response times and legal support quality.
Serve as primary liaison with regulators and external stakeholders during routine inspections, audits and regulatory inquiries.
Develop and maintain a knowledge management repository of precedents, legal memos and training materials to accelerate team productivity.
Participate in company-wide risk workshops and strategic planning sessions to align legal strategy with business objectives.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Corporate law expertise: mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, restructurings and corporate governance.
Contract drafting and negotiation across commercial, licensing, SaaS, supply and reseller agreements.
Transactional due diligence: ability to lead diligence, draft findings and remediation plans.
Regulatory compliance: securities, AML, anti-corruption (FCPA/UKBA), trade sanctions and industry-specific regulation.
Data privacy and protection: GDPR, CCPA compliance, data processing agreements and breach response.
Securities and capital markets knowledge: public company reporting, disclosure controls and insider trading compliance.
Debt and finance documentation including credit facilities, security packages and intercompany financing.
Cross-border transactional experience and coordination with multi-jurisdictional counsel.
Litigation and dispute management: coordinating external counsel, discovery and settlement strategy.
Legal project management and use of contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools and e-billing systems.
Legal research and statutory interpretation across multiple jurisdictions.
Strong drafting skills for policies, playbooks, board materials and shareholder agreements.

Soft Skills

Commercial acumen: translating legal issues into practical business solutions that enable growth.
Excellent negotiation and persuasion skills with internal and external stakeholders.
Clear, concise communication tailored for non-legal audiences (executives, operations, finance).
Strong project and time management with the ability to lead multiple complex matters simultaneously.
Leadership and mentoring: building capability in junior team members and cross-functional partners.
High ethical standards, discretion and ability to handle confidential information.
Problem-solving mindset with attention to detail and pragmatic risk assessment.
Adaptability and cultural sensitivity for cross-border collaboration and multi-jurisdictional matters.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Juris Doctor (JD), Bachelor of Laws (LLB) or equivalent qualified law degree and admission to practice in a relevant jurisdiction.

Preferred Education:

LLM in Corporate Law, Finance, International Business or an MBA with corporate/financial focus is a plus.
Additional compliance, privacy or regulatory certifications (e.g., CIPP, CAMS) desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Law (Corporate, Commercial, Securities)
Business, Finance or Corporate Governance
Compliance, Data Privacy or International Trade

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5–12 years of combined law firm and/or in-house experience, with at least 3–5 years focused on corporate transactions and compliance.

Preferred: 8+ years of substantive experience including lead roles on M&A deals, cross-border transactions, compliance program design, and demonstrated exposure to public company/regulatory environments. Prior BigLaw transactional experience or senior in-house counsel experience strongly preferred.