CORPORATE FINANCE / LENDING
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Corporate finance and lending practice involves work with banks and other companies on agreements for large loans and other lending transactions. Some firms may refer to this area (or variations/subsets of this area) as “banking & finance” or “leveraged finance.” One of the key aspects of day-to-day life for corporate finance attorneys is preparing large documents that work in tandem, such as loan agreements, collateral/security agreements, and disclosure schedules. These documents often start from templates or precedents. Another important part of corporate finance practice is managing and filing UCC and other documents to perfect collateral securing the loan.
Corporate finance and lending can be an attractive option for attorneys interested in organizing large transactions, working with numbers (yes, lawyers can do math), and managing various workstreams all at once in an organized way.
Featuring Fried Frank, Willkie, and Proskauer
Watch this interesting and fun panel discussion about the different types of Corporate Finance and Capital Markets work at top firms, including how to prepare for a career in Finance or Capital Markets.
Featuring:
-Ariel Zell, Fried Frank
-Jason Pearl, Willkie
-Jin Joo, Proskauer
WATCH
Check out these short and helpful videos from Hotshot, a video-based learning platform used by top law firms and law schools.
These videos are a great way to get an overview of Corporate Finance/Lending practice, to determine if this practice area is right for you, and to prepare for networking calls and interviews.
These links will direct you to Hotshot’s website, where you can sign up for a free trial and access to 3 free courses. To watch more, use promo code “SAHub” to get 30% off Hotshot’s student rate (which brings the cost down to just $6 per month). Use your .edu email address to sign up, and if your school already subscribes to Hotshot you’ll automatically be added to its account!
Hotshot
Commercial Lending Practice
This course looks at commercial lending practice at a large law firm, including what commercial lending is, who the main players are, and the differences between borrower and lender representations. It also covers how deals are staffed and the roles of finance partners, associates, support staff, and the clients.
Hotshot
Introduction to Financial Statements
An introduction to the four main financial statements, with examples of how the statements are affected by different business transactions.
LISTEN
Check out these episodes from the How I Lawyer Podcast, a series by Georgetown Law professor Jonah Perlin. Â
Jonah talks to attorneys throughout the professions about what they do, why they do it, and how they do it well.
This podcast series is a great way to learn directly from attorneys about what the day-to-day work is like in different practice areas.Â
Matt Schwartz, DLA Piper
In this episode, Jonah Perlin speaks with Matt Schwartz, a transactional partner and law firm leader at DLA Piper, where he serves as Chair of the US Finance Practice and the Head of Venture & Growth Lending. Matt also talks about his experience as a #lawdad and the importance of mentoring young lawyers.
"We are basically party planners. The party is when money gets funded, and we have a whole list of things that have to happen before the party can happen. And we are in charge of making sure we button everything up..."
PRACTICE
Check out these interactive exercises brought to you by Praktio, a modern training platform for reviewing and drafting legal documents. Use these exercises to practice these tasks, make mistakes, and learn from them!
Praktio has teamed up with Summer Associate Hub to make these exercises available to law students for free – these links will direct you to Praktio’s platform, where you may be required to create a free account.Â
These courses are a great way for law students to get a glimpse of corporate finance/lending practice. We selected these exercises as only some of the key tasks on which corporate finance/lending associates work (and, of course, this practice involves many other types of exercises).
Praktio:
Disclosure Schedules
This course teaches how disclosure schedules work with the larger agreement and the diligence process to allocate risk between the parties.
Disclosure schedules are an important aspect of credit and collateral agreements, which are the key documents for loan transactions. Disclosure schedules are used to list assets pledged as collateral, exceptions to statements made in the agreements, and other things.
Praktio:
Signature Pages
Learn how to create, confirm, and coordinate signature pages
Signature pages are a key task for junior associates in any corporate practice, including corporate finance/lending. Because it is the vehicle for the actual signing and closing of the transaction, organizing accurate signature pages is a very important task for any transaction and something that clients rely on the law firm to handle reliably.
