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Corporate attorney skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Brenda Wakefield,

Brenda Wakefield

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical corporate attorney skills. We ranked the top skills for corporate attorneys based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 13.9% of corporate attorney resumes contained law firm as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a corporate attorney needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 corporate attorney skills for your resume and career

1. Law Firm

Here's how corporate attorneys use law firm:

Perform corporate litigation in a boutique law firm specializing in corporate restructuring and reorganization.
Collaborated with law firms that are representing Acacia Research Group subsidiaries for the purposes of patent prosecution and litigation.

2. Litigation

Here's how corporate attorneys use litigation:

Excelled at complex business litigation and advising small business owners regarding risk minimization through structural, contractual and business procedure planning.
Practice areas included corporate/contract law and general litigation with an emphasis on commercial and business litigation and employment disputes.

3. Real Estate

Real estate is land that has buildings on it. This kind of property consists of permanent improvements either natural or man-made, which include, houses, fences, bridges, water trees, and minerals. There are 4 types of real estate namely; residential real estate, commercial real estate, industrial real estate, and vacant land.

Here's how corporate attorneys use real estate:

Coordinated capital raising activities of private equity clients involved in real estate acquisitions.
Negotiated and restructured commercial real estate acquisition and settled lessor/lessee dispute.

4. Mergers

A merger is an agreement by two companies to combine and form a single entity voluntarily. The purpose of a merger is usually to increase the company's market share.

Here's how corporate attorneys use mergers:

Assisted clients in various mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, including drafting and negotiating transaction documents and coordinating closing matters.
Negotiated and closed commercial lending arrangements and corporate mergers & acquisitions.

5. Legal Issues

Here's how corporate attorneys use legal issues:

Provided counseling on day-to-day routine commercial matters to personnel at all levels of the organization by successfully explaining complex legal issues.
Work with leaders in private jets business to resolve legal issues arising in marketing, procurement, customer and vendor relationships.

6. Securities

Here's how corporate attorneys use securities:

Prepared registration statements and related SEC filing documents for public offerings of securities.
Prepared private placement memorandum for company offerings of securities to private investors.

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7. Intellectual Property

Intellectual properties refer to individuals' intangible or non-physical wealth, which results from their imaginations and intellect.

Here's how corporate attorneys use intellectual property:

Develop employment contracts, confidentiality/non-disclosure agreements, policies and procedures to protect trade secrets in conjunction with intellectual property development efforts.
Contributed to legal support for domestic business functions, including supply chain management organization, intellectual property guidance, and advertising.

8. Legal Advice

Here's how corporate attorneys use legal advice:

Provided legal advice to local and international corporations on corporate and tax matters.
Provided legal advice on potential acquisitions of competing companies.

9. Legal Support

Here's how corporate attorneys use legal support:

Provide legal support to all company corporate functions and business sub-segments globally.
Provided legal support for global clinical trial data transparency initiative.

10. Corporate Law

Here's how corporate attorneys use corporate law:

Practiced corporate law, commercial transactions, and corporate taxes.
Manage and maintain a private general law practice which focuses on employment and corporate law.

11. Legal Services

Here's how corporate attorneys use legal services:

Coordinated legal services for statewide corporate trust office and managed central administrative office.
Provided general corporate and commercial legal services.

12. Legal Research

Here's how corporate attorneys use legal research:

Specialized in domestic and international legal research in a variety of fields of law.
Managed paralegal staff in the investigation, legal research and response drafting.

13. In-House Counsel

Here's how corporate attorneys use in-house counsel:

Developed in-house counsel practice management solution with no expense to company.
Manage outside counsel and serve as in-house counsel for multiple strategic acquisitions with a cumulative value of over $5 billion.

14. Due Diligence

Due diligence refers to the process of auditing, investigating, or reviewing done to confirm the authenticity of relevant facts. In addition to this, it also refers to the evaluation of a party's financial records to determine whether one should enter into a transaction with the said party or not.

Here's how corporate attorneys use due diligence:

Coordinated and performed due diligence during acquisitions, and organized and presented due diligence responses during divestitures.
Performed due diligence reviews for corporations in merger and acquisition transactions.

15. Human Resources

Human resources is a set of people in a business or a corporation that are designated to locate, interview, and recruit new employees into the company. They are also responsible to maintain the integrity of the employees and help them sort their problems out. They try to introduce and manage employee-benefit programs.

Here's how corporate attorneys use human resources:

Provided consultant staffing services within the Human Resources department for organizations.
Supported Human Resources by reviewing and advising on non-compete agreements of prospective employees.

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What skills help Corporate Attorneys find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on corporate attorney resumes?

Brenda Wakefield

Director, Philip C. Cook Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, Mark and Evelyn Trammell Professor & Clinical Professor of Law, Georgia State University

Employers typically look for a few different skills for tax attorneys entering the job market right out of school. Some employers may require that new tax attorneys pursue additional education beyond the J.D., such as an L.L.M. in taxation or a Masters in Taxation. However, these additional degrees are by no means a universal requirement, and many employers will be willing to hire an entry-level tax attorney without them. For applicants without an LLM or MTax to be competitive, however, they will want to have taken advantage of as many of the tax courses their law school provided, and they ideally will want to have done well in those courses. In particular, an opportunity to enroll in an academic low-income taxpayer clinic can make a student very attractive to firms specializing in tax controversy work because they know that the clinical experience has already provided a lot of the foundational, practical training that firms hope graduates will have.

What soft skills should all corporate attorneys possess?

Brenda Wakefield

Director, Philip C. Cook Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, Mark and Evelyn Trammell Professor & Clinical Professor of Law, Georgia State University

A tax attorney's most important soft skills are a willingness to listen to their client's overall goals and understand how tax planning or a tax dispute fits into the client's overall business or personal financial plan. In addition, tax attorneys should have a strong ability to communicate complex concepts in straightforward terms, as a large part of the tax attorney's job ix making the tax law more accessible to their clients by explaining how clients can achieve their goals while complying with one of the most complicated bodies of law that exist.

What hard/technical skills are most important for corporate attorneys?

Brenda Wakefield

Director, Philip C. Cook Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, Mark and Evelyn Trammell Professor & Clinical Professor of Law, Georgia State University

Regarding hard/technical skills, there is a misperception that tax attorneys need to have strong backgrounds in mathematics, accounting, or finance. While these backgrounds can certainly be useful, they are by no means required. Really, the most important technical skills are an ability to read statutory language very closely and carefully; the ability to recognize when the tax code provides a clear answer to a question and when the code might suggest multiple answers; strong research, writing, logic, and problem-solving skills; and keen attention to detail.

What corporate attorney skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Hanna Royce

Assistant Dean of Career Services, University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law

The key to success is to add new and relevant legal experience to their resume. If graduates are not taking on full-time roles, this could mean completing document review or project work on a contract basis.

What technical skills for a corporate attorney stand out to employers?

Naveen Jonathan Ph.D.

Clinical Associate Professor and Department Chair, Chapman University

Technical skills that I see employers looking for due to the pandemic, include flexibility and comfort of providing therapy services both in-person and via telehealth. I also see employers looking for therapists who are trained in trauma-informed care. When situations such as the pandemic emerge, they can evoke a traumatic response. If a client has experienced past trauma in their life, these can also reemerge. Therefore, knowledge of trauma-informed care would be important.

Do you want to know more?

List of corporate attorney skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a corporate attorney resume and required skills for a corporate attorney to have include:

Law Firm
Litigation
Real Estate
Mergers
Legal Issues
Securities
Intellectual Property
Legal Advice
Legal Support
Corporate Law
Legal Services
Legal Research
In-House Counsel
Due Diligence
Human Resources
Regulatory Compliance

Employment Law
Risk Management
Corporate Transactions
Service Agreements
Business Development
Venture Capital
Confidentiality Agreements
Corporate Compliance
Entity Formation
Non-Disclosure Agreements
NYSE
Compliance Issues
Vendor Agreements
HIPAA
Distribution Agreements
FDA

Employment Agreements
Vendor Contracts
Sale Agreements
Joint Venture
License Agreements
Corporate Governance Issues
LLC
Arbitration
Pro Bono
Settlement Agreements
Executive Management
Product Development
Probate
Proxy Statements
Registration Statements
Subpoenas

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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