I am about to enter 4th year of an average law school in the country. After experimenting I've realised where my interest lies: M&A, PE-VC and Capital Markets. However, it's very overwhelming seeing a crowd of students going in the same path, doing better internships and publications than me, having better University tag. I really am interested in making a career in this niche area of law. I am looking for current working professionals on what skills do I need to build other than knowledge of law, in order to actually end up with a decent (don't see the dreams of ending up in tier 1 firms right out of law school).
I am an M&A lawyer with my own boutique firm. When I am hiring freshers, people with some existing knowledge of M&A are at the top of my list ; and publications / moots / class rank do not really matter to me. Here is my advise:
1. Familiarise yourself with the standard documents signed in most M&A transaction - share purchase agreement, share subscription agreement, shareholders agreements and business transfer agreements. Knowledge of non-compete, indemnity and AVM provisions would be useful. There are several samples in public domain. 2. Read up and try to understand the process for NCLT approved schemes. This is a highly technical and procedural form of M&A, and not well known to many lawyers. Could help impress a potential employer. 3. Smaller firms tend to represent smaller companies, some of who could be start-ups - read about legal restrictions and permissions specific to start-ups in India. 4. Study FEMA provisions on FDI / ODI - these come up a lot in M&A transactions. 5. Most M&A firms / teams take-up a lot of general corporate advisory work, especially when transactional work is slow. Be mentally prepared for this, and try and keep-up with amendments to Companies Act, 2013, its rules and SEBI Regulations (the websites of regulatory authorities are a good source).
Also, if your college projects didn't teach you this - please pick-up word formatting skills. This skill is sorely lacking in many lawyers, and can make your work so much easier and better looking!
However, it's very overwhelming seeing a crowd of students going in the same path, doing better internships and publications than me, having better University tag. I really am interested in making a career in this niche area of law. I am looking for current working professionals on what skills do I need to build other than knowledge of law, in order to actually end up with a decent (don't see the dreams of ending up in tier 1 firms right out of law school).
Here is my advise:
1. Familiarise yourself with the standard documents signed in most M&A transaction - share purchase agreement, share subscription agreement, shareholders agreements and business transfer agreements. Knowledge of non-compete, indemnity and AVM provisions would be useful. There are several samples in public domain.
2. Read up and try to understand the process for NCLT approved schemes. This is a highly technical and procedural form of M&A, and not well known to many lawyers. Could help impress a potential employer.
3. Smaller firms tend to represent smaller companies, some of who could be start-ups - read about legal restrictions and permissions specific to start-ups in India.
4. Study FEMA provisions on FDI / ODI - these come up a lot in M&A transactions.
5. Most M&A firms / teams take-up a lot of general corporate advisory work, especially when transactional work is slow. Be mentally prepared for this, and try and keep-up with amendments to Companies Act, 2013, its rules and SEBI Regulations (the websites of regulatory authorities are a good source).
Also, if your college projects didn't teach you this - please pick-up word formatting skills. This skill is sorely lacking in many lawyers, and can make your work so much easier and better looking!