Corporate Law Paralegal Duties

Hey there, Leslie Sansone Williams coming
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I'm going to talk
about corporate paralegal duties today.

Now corporations
and the corporate paralegal duties,

there are different jobs
within the corporate realm.

It could be working
for a corporation.

It could be working
for a law firm

who works for corporations.

It could be working
for a law firm who...

helps people establish a business
as a corporation,

whether it's
a limited liability company

or it's a an S corp

or a bonafide corporation

or just something established
under somebody's name.

Lawyers that specialize

in that know what
that entity needs,

what you should
be established at,

or sometimes
they'll give you options

and explain the pros and cons
of each one.

So working--
I've worked for lawyers

who established corporations,
and I was responsible

for developing the articles
of incorporation,

a list of the board of directors,
special forms

that the secretary of state
in your state requires

when a corporation is formed.

So that's what you learn in a--

a small law firm
or a large corporation

who has sub corporations,

and you're the paralegal.

It might be a--
one huge corporation,

but they have many companies
under them,

and they establish more
and more as they go,

and you're responsiffle--

responsible for developing all
that paperwork

and keeping what we call
is a "corporate book."

And in our law firm,
our small law firm,

we had corporate books
for companies.

They wanted us
to keep them there.

Other people decide
they want to hold on to it.

But what happens is is when we--

we kept the corporate books.

We had a document
that we would list out

when things needed to be updated.

If a company has--

They always have
usually a board of directors

depending on how
they're established

and what type
of corporation it is,

but let's say they have a board
of directors, and...

one of the board
of directors leaves,

that document needs--
they have to have an--

find another person
and the other docu--

and that document has
to be updated.

And so anything that mentions
that person that is left

has to be updated
with the secretary of state.

So we would--

once we were informed of that,
we would develop the document

and then we would put that
in their corporate book,

because then you get to see
what has happened in that company

and that you have a good solid record
of how it was established,

on what date, and the forms,

and usually the secretary
of state will file stamp those forms,

and you have all that
in there in that book,

copies of it, all right?

So, and it's on the secretary
of state's website too,

because in Florida,
you can go on the website,

and I can look
up different corporations... in there

and when somebody's trying
to establish a trademark

for their company,
they want a certain company name.

Somebody may already own
that name.

And so we did-- We dabbled
in trademark work as well, all right?

So that's a small
law firm picture,

but then you also have
a large corporation

with subsidies under them

that maybe they established,

and maybe they
are buying another company,

just like Google bought YouTube.

So when that merge happened,

there were a lot of legal documents
that had to be executed.

And guess who did them?

The paralegals within Google,
I am sure,

or Google employees
outside attorneys,

and that law firm did all the work
for them

for that acquisition of YouTube.

So those are all acquisition
of a company docs.

All right? So that's different--
different ways in--

And the type of corporation it is

will dictate what areas
you will be immersed in.

When I worked for a--

And I've worked mainly
for small law firms

as a paralegal, and medium size,

and one very large law firm.

So, when I worked in corporate,

I worked
on partnership agreements.

I worked on...

contracts
between automobile dealers

who we represented

between them
and the US car makers

or overseas car makers,

and would make sure
that those contracts

were protecting
the automobile dealership.

So here are some of the aspects
of corporate law

that you would deal with.

So we mentioned it would be
filing certificates of incorporation,

keeping
the corporate record books,

maybe company
acquisition paperwork

when another company
buys another company,

there might be
public reporting required.

These
Securities Exchange Commission,

some corporations have
to report to them.

And they're called the SEC.

And there might be regulations
around those companies,

and they have to send
in certain forms

every single year

or, you know,
there might be quarterly requirements.

But it might be
that they have to--

they have to report to the SEC.

And some of the SEC filings
are forms called 13Ds,

like in David,

13G's, like in George,

parts-- Forms 3 and 4.

So you can look up some
of that stuff and investigate it.

If this is an area,
which I believe is a more calm area,

say, then litigation to work in,

then you need
to look some of this up

and investigate it.

So.

In some of the ads, you'll see--

and I want to cover this,

--you'll see that there's
a bachelor's degree required

that you have to have
five years' experience.

Always,
when you're first starting out,

apply to entry-level positions.

Put that in your search.

Don't look
for just corporate paralegal.

Put entry-level
corporate paralegal

for the city
that you're looking at.

You don't see any jobs?
Nobody needs anybody

right now, okay?

The--

The other thing that you--

you know, this goes
for every paralegal out there:

the thing that will make
or break your reputation

will be how well you proofread.

And in my book, "Legal Break-In,"

I talk about the skill sets
that you need.

And one of them is proofreading;
huge, huge,

very important skill.

Not relying--

Proofreading doesn't mean
relying only on spellcheck.

It means taking a ruler
and going down line by line

making sure that the English--

the sentences
that are used make sense.

It's not just about spelling.

You have to invest yourself
n the documents you produce.

Don't hand off a document
to an attorney loaded

with grammatical errors
and spelling errors.

If you rely just on spellcheck,
it won't--

it just won't work, okay?

So the other thing
that makes your reputation

is finding the needle
in the haystack

when your attorney needs something
by research,

and it might mean
that you're on Westlaw or Lexis,

but that's research software

that's very expensive.

And attorneys usually subscribe
to those...

software packages.

They don't usually own it.

It's so expensive per month.

So.

You might be handling pre-closing,

and after-the-closing paperwork,

when one company takes
over another or they--

they purchase something.

So.

The commercial contracts
is what I worked in

for the automobile dealerships.

And I had a fill-- I-- you know,

I didn't have specialized software
for that.

It was just Word.

And I had forms to fill out.

And believe me,

I had to make sure
that when I was done,

I handed that into the attorney,

and it better be done correctly.

The spelling of the names and--

and as I said, proofread,
proofread, proofread.

You're collecting business information
that has to--

that data has to be put
within the form:

the name, the address, you know,

all the things that they're agreeing to,
with--

let's say,
with the automatic automobile dealer,

the car maker, in my case.

So you're collecting the info,

and you're putting it
into those schedules

or whatever they're called,

and sometimes there
might be additional documents

attached to the main document

that are called appendixes/
appendices,

or they're called, in most cases,

the ones I did
were called exhibits,

and it'll be called
exhibit 1, 2, 3.

And when you electronically file

that court system has a special way
to file exhibits usually.

So.

Let's talk about--

We talked
about corporate formation,

and there's also
corporate dissolution,

meaning that the company
is going to dissolve,

doesn't exist anymore.

It's like-- when my restaurant--
we closed it.

We had to dissolve it.

So we dissolve the corporation,
and that's special forms,

and we filed that
with the secretary of state,

and I put that
in my corporate book that I had.

Also, when a new company
is being formed,

you have to get
your own tax ID number.

And that's called an E-I-N,
like in Nancy

and easy breezy to get
on the irs.gov website.

Go over there and look around.

Become familiar
with that website, okay?

Even if you're not going to go
into corporate law,

just go over there
and look around.

So secretary of state
usually has their own website.

Check that out.

You never know where
you're going to be placed by God,

where you're going to work,

and how that will come in handy
that you already know

how to move around
on that website.

And that is pretty much it.

That's an overview
of a corporate paralegal's duties.

Of course...

you know, knowing how to...

type rapidly in the 60 to 65

word per minute range

is important.

Proofreading... accuracy,

not letting your attorney
find mistakes.

He's not your assistant.
He's not your proofreader.

So yes, I'm tough in those areas,

because for you,
it makes or breaks your reputation

and how your attorney will trust

the work product
that you put out.

So that is it for today.

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What else can I tell you?

Oh, don't forget to go
to the website,

and I'll put links below.

It's LeslieSansoneWilliams.com.

And...
you'll find podcasts over there.

And you'll find good blog posts.

You'll find information
about the class

that's called Paralegal
Inner Circle Class.

If you're interested in that,
as you're looking at this career,

that is a fantastic class

to get the legal knowledge
you need

to convince the attorney
that you're right for the job,

and I give you a good foundation
in that class.

And you get
thirty-five plus videos

with over seven hours
of instruction,

lots of downloads
and a private Facebook group just for us

and a book
that is not published anywhere

called "Cover Letter Secrets"
where I teach you

how to do a rock solid
cover letter,

and I also teach you how to look
at the ads the right way.

So check that out on the website,

but lots of good free
info there as well.

And go to Amazon
and check out "Legal Break-In," my book.

That's where you should start.

That's the number one thing
to get.

It's in Kindle
or paperback format,

whichever works for you,

but that's where you should begin

if you're looking at this career

for the first time,
and then take my class

after you've looked at the book.

And it's a-- you know,
those two together? Powerhouse.

So have a great day,
and I'll talk to you in the next video.

Take care. Bye bye.