California Corporate Lawyer
Modern commercial activity in California began in earnest with the Gold Rush, which brought around 300,000 people to the state. However, corporate law in California didn’t come into place until the California Civil Code was passed in 1878, which was the first formalization of common law by the state’s English-speaking population.
Today, California corporate law is highly complex, and it flexes an influence that extends far beyond the state’s borders. The days of the Gold Rush may be long gone, but California’s importance has grown exponentially thanks to entertainment and tech industries with powerful global influence.
As you can probably imagine, California corporate lawyers face unique and exciting challenges on a daily basis. In addition to working in close proximity to the state’s tech and entertainment industry, California corporate lawyers must also operate inside the state’s uniquely progressive legal environment. Recently, the term “California Effect” has emerged to describe the state as a legislative leader in the US when it comes to legal protections for individuals and underrepresented populations. California corporate lawyers are often small but important players in the state’s de facto role as legislative leaders.
What Is Corporate Law?
The term’ corporate law’ refers to the area of law governing the business dealings of individuals and organizations. Attorneys specializing in corporate law have significant experience with businesses’ rights and legal obligations. Common areas of corporate law pertain to the formation, operation, ownership, actions, and dissolution of legal entities. While corporate law is heavily dominated by federal law — thanks to Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce — state corporate law is also a major concern for corporations, especially those doing business in California.
Types of Corporate Law in California
To be clear, California corporate lawyers have to deal with the same federal rules and regulations as attorneys in other states. However, California has many unique corporate laws, and some of the more notable relate to corporate leadership, employment, securities, and data privacy.
California has many unique laws and regulations pertaining to responsible corporate leadership. These laws are ostensibly designed to promote transparency, accountability, and ethical business practices. Occasionally, corporate leadership laws in California become high-profile legal matters. In 2018, the state made it compulsory for corporate boards of California-based companies to include female representation. In 2020, the state expanded this representation mandate to include board seats for specified underrepresented communities. However, subsequent court decisions struck down these measures.
Like California’s approach to corporate leadership regulations, the state’s employment laws can be uniquely progressive and occasionally contradictory to employment laws in the rest of the country.
One example of unique employment law in California is the so-called “most favored nation” rule that affords California employees the most protections and benefits from any federal laws, state laws, local laws, or a collective bargaining agreement into which they have entered. For example, someone making a discrimination claim might do so under a city ordinance, not state or federal law, if the ordinance provides greater protection.
Even though federal laws have the effect of limiting California’s oversight on the sales of many securities, the state still has effective securities regulations by which corporations must abide by. In particular, California’s Blue Sky laws are designed to protect investors and prevent securities fraud by establishing standards for fairness and transparency. Any startup or corporation looking to raise funds through the sale of equity within California must comply with the state’s Blue Sky laws.
Corporate law within the Golden State is also unique for its proactive approach to protecting personal information. Both the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) lay out a number of rules for how organizations can collect, store, and handle personal information. These regulations give consumers the ability to:
- Know what information a business is going to collect or disclose about them
- Request the deletion of the information being held by a company
- Opt-out of their information being used for marketing or sold to third parties
- Have expanded control over their sensitive information like Social Security numbers and racial origin
These privacy regulations also mandate businesses to provide easily accessible and understandable privacy notices, as well as ban businesses from discriminating against people who exercise their privacy rights.
What Does a Corporate Lawyer Do?
Regardless of whether they are located in California, corporate lawyers can have many different job responsibilities, which are often dictated by the company they work for or the nature of their practice. However, many corporate lawyers have similar sets of job duties they take care of in the course of a typical day.
Corporate lawyers usually spend much of their workday on meetings and consultations. Increasingly, corporate lawyers are focusing on developing proactive legal strategies for their organization or client company. This is particularly true of a general counsel who offers legal guidance and oversight to an organization.
Document review is another key responsibility for the typical corporate lawyer. Organizations have countless agreements, contracts, policies, and other legal documents. After following up a document review session with legal research, a corporate lawyer can then recommend one or more courses of action. For example, a corporate lawyer working with a startup company might review documents used to start a business and recommend changes to non-disclosure agreements or terms of use policies.
Most corporate lawyers also spend a lot of time looking into the latest legal developments and case law that are most relevant to their practice, client, or organization. If new developments appear to be relevant, an attorney will hold consultations and take appropriate action. New developments could be related to increased legal risk, liability, or compliance matters.
While it isn’t the most glamorous part of the job, many corporate lawyers also handle mundane administrative tasks, such as preparing and filing various legal documents. A corporate lawyer might also be responsible for the periodic review and maintenance of corporate records to ensure a company remains in compliance with various documentation rules.
Let Our Team of California Corporate Lawyers Tailor Expert Legal Solutions for Your Business
At Fridman Law Firm, our team of California corporate lawyers can handle the legal matters of your business so you and your team can focus on core, revenue-generating operations. Our attorneys take a proactive and transparent approach to their responsibilities, whether they are crafting legal strategies or filing paperwork. Our areas of California legal expertise include the following:
- General counsel. A general counsel acts as the top legal authority for an organization, and our general counsel services can be tailored to empower corporations of all sizes. Our attorneys are very experienced when it comes to using legal strategies to achieve an organization’s growth potential.
- Intellectual property. Intellectual property is the cornerstone of California’s vibrant entertainment and technology industries. Our term of attorneys understands the unique challenges associated with protecting and licensing intellectual property. We can tailor legal strategies for our clients that enable them to get the most out of their valuable property.
- Mergers and acquisitions. Corporate mergers and acquisitions come with all kinds of challenges, and all parties involved benefit from robust legal counsel. Our California corporate lawyers understand the various strategies, opportunities, and challenges associated with these major business deals so they can advise our clients on the important steps to take.
If your California-based organization is currently in the market for corporate law services, send us an email or call our corporate offices at 212-262-9823 to arrange for a consultation. Let our expertise power your corporate success.