Do you live in the state of Texas? Are you looking at becoming a corporate layer? Or maybe you are looking to move there to continue becoming a corporate lawyer and you want to know what your salary is going to be. Whatever the case may be, we will break down in this article what a corporate lawyer is and what the corporate lawyer salary is in Texas.
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What is a Corporate Lawyer
A corporate lawyer’s job is to tell clients what they can and cannot do under the law for their business.
When a corporate attorney is engaged by a business, the lawyer acts on behalf of the company rather than its shareholders or employees. You might not understand this at first, but a corporation is pretty similar to a person under the law.
A corporation is an entity that — usually for the purpose of conducting business — is created under state law. A corporation is considered a distinct entity or “individual” under the law, separate from its proprietors or shareholders.
There are many legal issues that surround a corporation, which are complex because corporations are subject to state and federal regulations. In addition to other requirements, most states necessitate that corporations hold routine gatherings, like annual shareholder meetings.
Corporate attorneys ensure that businesses meet the requirements of these rules, as well as other responsibilities.
What Type of Work Do Corporate Lawyers Do?
Contrary to popular belief about lawyers, most corporate attorneys do not attend court hearings. Instead, the bulk of their work is considered “transactional” in character. As a result, they spend the majority of their time assisting a company in avoiding legal action.
More specifically, most of the corporate lawyers’ time is spent on the following tasks:
- Contracts: Assisting the company in reviewing, drafting, and negotiating legally-binding agreements, including lease contracts and multi-billion dollar purchases.
- Mergers and acquisitions (M&A): Creating, negotiating, and overseeing agreements for a corporation to either merge with or purchase another company.
- Corporate governance: Assisting customers in creating the framework for a company’s direction and control, such as by drafting articles of incorporation, establishing by-laws, educating corporate directors and board members on their rights and responsibilities, and other measures utilized to manage the firm.
- Venture capital: Working with startups or existing firms to access capital to develop or expand their operations, which might take the form of both private and public funding.
- Securities: Within publicly-traded enterprises, securities regulation compliance, which entails intricate rules intended to prevent fraud, insider education, and market manipulation as well as promoting transparency, is one of our specialties.
Corporate attorneys, on the other hand, are most often employed by major or mid-size law firms that have a corporate department. Many corporate lawyers concentrate on different aspects of corporate law such as mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, and securities.
There are many corporate attorneys that operate in-house, and most major businesses have their own in-house legal teams. In-house corporate lawyers generally deal with a wide range of situations.
Average Salary of a Corporate Lawyer in USA
Now that we understand a bit more about corporate lawyers and what it is that they exactly do, we can take a look at what they are paid. The average salary of a corporate lawyer varies based on three factors:
- Experience
- Location
- Degree/Specializations
| EXPERIENCE | ANNUAL SALARY |
|---|---|
| Less than 2 years | $70,000 |
| More than 2 years | $115,000 |
| More than 5 years | $168,000 |
Above is the average salary a corporate lawyer makes based on experience in the field, however it will also vary by location. Ex. a corporate lawyer in NYC will make more than a corporate lawyer in the suburbs of Texas.
| City | Average Salary |
|---|---|
| San Jose, CA | $119,292 |
| Oakland, CA | $117,918 |
| Tanaina, AK | $117,384 |
| Wasilla, AK | $117,382 |
| Hayward, CA | $115,449 |
| Seattle, WA | $114,670 |
| Concord, CA | $114,383 |
| Sunnyvale, CA | $113,730 |
| Santa Cruz, CA | $112,414 |
| Seaside, CA | $110,926 |
Corporate Lawyer Salary in Texas
When taking a look at over 100 job postings for corporate lawyers we were able to find that the average salary for a corporate layer in Texas is around $110,000. However, a lot of these job postings do require at least 2 years of experience in the field, some even require an LL.M in Corporate Law. The lowest beginners salary in Texas for a corporate lawyer was $84,000 while the highest for corporate lawyers with more than 5 years experience was $225,000.
Obviously there is a big jump in salary to just starting out, to having 5 years of experience. The good news is that not many fields have such a big pay jump and make over $200,000 within 5 years of being in their profession.
How to Find a Corporate Lawyer Job in Texas?
There are many different job boards you can look at to see about different corporate lawyer jobs in Texas. They also will be able to give you a good idea on the qualifications and experience they are looking for along with the salary expectations they are looking to pay to fill that position. Here are a few job boards with links to corporate lawyer jobs in Texas:
There are a bunch more places you can look for in order to find places to apply to be a corporate layer in Texas, but these give you a good start.
