Lawyers working as in-house counsels have a more detailed ensure the legality of commercial transactions. They must have a knowledge of the specific statutory laws and regulations passed by government agencies that apply to their company. They assist the company they work for in the day to day functioning and various legal compliances that need to be made. The lawyer must ensure that any proposed transaction does not conflict with local, state, or federal laws.
In contrast to the adversarial nature of trial law, corporate laws is team-oriented. The corporate counsels for both sides of a transaction are not strict competitors; together they seek a common ground for their clients. This becomes especially true in the context of lawyers working for a company and the bankers in capital markets transactions like an IPO or QIP.
The role of a company counsel is to provide all the documentation that is required for the successful completion of a transaction of such nature. This process is lengthy and typically corporate lawyers who work as in house counsels do not always have the extremely long hours that are associated with their law firm counterparts. The upside to this profession is the compensation is good and you can have a more balanced life style in terms of work-life.