• Starting salaries for corporate attorneys range from $50,000-$90,000.Justice image by MVit from Fotolia.com
  
  Corporate attorneys begin with the same requirements as other attorneys entering the legal world. After graduation from law school, these professionals begin life working with a corporation in either a general counsel or specialist capacity creating legal documents and reviewing all corporate policies to ensure that each does not violate current business regulations. Attorneys are required to maintain the latest legal knowledge at the local, state, and federal levels in order to effectively protect the business from potential legal harm.
  
  

Education Requirements

• In order to become a practicing attorney of any kind a student must first attain a four-year degree from an accredited university and then graduate from law school, which usually takes an additional three years. During this time students begin to craft an area of law as a primary focus. Those choosing corporate law will gear elective courses towards the legal requirements of setting up corporations, how these entities legally do business, and how to properly defend them in court. Upon successful completion of law school curricula, the student must pass their state's Bar Exam, a general test of legal knowledge administered by the American Bar Administration.
  
  

Knowledge Requirements

• Corporate attorneys must have a comprehensive knowledge of local, state, and federal laws regarding the running of corporations. These professionals display strong communication and interpersonal skills in passing on information to other staff members in order to clearly provide recommendations relevant to the legal implementation of business strategies and policies.
  
  

Primary Responsibilities

• The primary focus of corporate attorneys is the protection of the corporation's physical and intellectual property, navigating documents in relation to mergers and acquisitions, providing legal counsel in the event of a lawsuit, and representing the corporation, if necessary, in a court of law. Corporate attorneys also are required to draft all contracts and legal documents for the corporation to ensure that such documents are legally binding, within parameters of federal, state, and local guidelines, and do not expose the corporation to any undue risk.