Exercise 8

Read about Corporate lawyers. Work with your partner - make up a dialogue –interview with a corporate lawyer.

Corporate lawyers serve one client-the corporation in which they are employed. Small corporations may retain one or two lawyers on staff while larger corporations may have numerous lawyers, each with their own specialty. Typically, corporations like banks, insurance companies, hospitals, retail stores, oil firms, biotechnology companies and manufacturing, energy and communications companies require the full-time services corporate lawyers provide.

A corporate lawyer is also known as In-House Counsel, Staff Attorney, Deputy General Counsel, General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer. Their primary objective is to serve the interests of the corporation, not the owners of the business or the officers who run it. In addition to legal counsel, they may also be called upon to provide business advice.

Their duties may include:

• Negotiating employee contracts

• Preparing and filing government reports

• Drafting legal documents

• Guiding managers on regulatory and compliance matters

• Administering training workshops

• Analyzing legal issues relating to proposed products

• Representing the corporation before administrative boards and court trials

Part 2. Law firms and legal departments Exercise 9

A) The following words match either the word Legal or the word Law. Complete the table.

practice; services; firm; advice; matters; report; office; needs; dispute; case; representation; issue; community; decision; expertise;

Legal	Law
services	firm

B) The following words s can go together with the verbs from the table below.

cases; advice; reputation; matters; resources; issues; a practice area; services; expertise

render	offer	engage in	specialize in	focus on	handle	seek	counsel on	have

Exercise 10

Complete the text with the word combinations from Exercise 9 (B)

The McIntosh Law Firm 1) ……. various legal services to our clients and the legal and business community. We 2) …… the highest levels of expertise.

The McIntosh Law firm 3) ……. the general practice areas of law. The attorneys 4) ………. bankruptcy, business law, collections, litigation, personal injury, wills, trusts and estate planning. We 5) …… a reputation for prompt, efficient and personal service. Because we are a full service legal firm, our clients do not have to 6) …… legal advice from multiple offices every time they need assistance.

The McIntosh Law Firm attorneys welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss your particular legal needs and 7) ……. different issues.

From The McIntosh Law Firm’s early days, its primary focus has been its clients.

We 8) ……. Corporate and Business law. The lawyers also deal with Bankruptcy and Real Estate matters. The Litigation Team also 9) …… General Litigation cases

Law firms are partnerships and are managed by partners. The firm consists of practice groups, every group deals in a particular area and is headed by a partner or an associate. The firm administration (finance, marketing, human resources) can include managers or directors like in a company.