Corporate lawyers may be employed by private businesses, banks, insurance firms, real estate companies, public utilities, manufacturing firms, and nonprofit organizations. Specialties may be in tax law, securities, accounting, federal reporting, contracts, intellectual property, or real estate. Of the lawyers and attorneys who held about 761,000 jobs in 2006, approximately 73 percent worked for corporations or private law firms.

To become a lawyer, you'll need to complete a four-year college degree with studies in pre-law, criminal justice, political science, history, law enforcement, or another social science or humanities field. Following graduation, you'll need an additional three years of law school, and you'll also need to pass a written bar examination for the state in which you plan to practice.

Corporate law specialists may analyze performance or business activities of company shareholders, creditors, or employees. They can be independent investigators or hired guns for a company's board of directors. You might be asked for a legal determination or to report on possible legal outcomes of business decisions. Some corporate lawyers and attorneys serve at the right hand of chief executive officers or company presidents.
Other key responsibilities center around corporate compliance with recent federal rules on financial reporting or environmental laws. You may work in concert with independent accountants and auditors, or with federal regulators. Other corporate law experts specialize in bankruptcy and corporate liquidation.

*Entry-level wages are around $50,000 a year. Wages are approximately $135,000 with 10 years of experience. New jobs for lawyers are expected to increase by 11 percent during the 2006 to 2016 decade.

*Bureau of Labor Statistics