Complete guide on How to become a Legal Advisor in India

Legal advisors are the people who can work in various departments in advisory firms, government department, NGOs and also in organizations. Who are the legal advisors, what are the different kinds of legal advisors, what are their role and responsibilities in the workplaces, what skills you need to become a legal advisors, what is the eligibility criteria to become and what are their specializations?

This articles can solve every such question which a person who want to know about the legal career opportunity and become a legal advisor can refer to.

Who are Legal Advisors?

Those lawyers who give legal advices to an organization or a company are called as legal advisors just what the name suggests. They are also known as “In-house Lawyers”, “In-house counsel” and “Corporate Counsel”. They are excellent in some specific areas like Labor, IP, Contract related issues or issues like conflicts at workplaces.

Not only in such cases but also he give legal advices to a company for its growth and how to avoid doing mistakes which can harm them legally in anyway. There are some legal departments at such place, where these people work. There is a job rise in position of legal advisor which is as per Bureau of Labor Statistics. The reason of this growth is the rise in companies who are focusing on hiring proper legal teams which will add growth to them.

What are the types of Legal Advisors?

There are different kinds of legal advisors whose jobs and vacancies are rising in India every year with the rise in business world. Each of them need different specialization. These are:-

1. Government Legal Advisors.
2. Financial Legal Advisors.
3. International Legal Advisors.
4. Banking Legal Advisors.
5. Corporate Legal Advisors.
6. Contractual Legal Advisors.

What are their areas of working or their specializations?

There are different kinds of legal advisors based on their skills, excellence and knowledge of the law. They can be in either any of the below written specializations. These are:-

1. Contracts.
2. Labor
3. Patents
4. Intellectual Property
5. Trademarks
6. International Law
7. Investments
8. Real-estate
9. Criminal
10. Safety and health

Roles and Responsibilities of legal advisors:-

As you might be interested in knowing what are the functions of these legal advisors. Though, it is important to know about what they do exactly and what their tasks in this job are. Below written are some researched various common tasks which these legal advisors do.

1. Drafting and Negotiating:- A legal advisor plays a crucial role in consulting contracts, preparing and reviewing them. Also, collaborating on agreements which requires them to be known about how to arrange terms and conditions of a contract. Also in this they are required to review existing contracts and in creating new documents.
2. Ensuring corporation working:- These legal advisors have also a responsibility to check that the corporation in which he or she is working in working within the legal limits. This task requires them to know about the laws and rules related with the business they are doing.
3. Solving the inner conflicts of the company:- One of an important task which are in control of these legal advisors is to solve all such internal issues and conflicts between the employee or the employers and employees. For an instance in case of sexual abuse incident or labor related issues. These legal advisors take help of those laws which can be applicable in such scenarios and in keep the suitable environment at the workplaces.

Skills required to become a Legal Advisor:-

You need to have some skills which will help you to become a good legal advisor. If you don’t have them learn them with time, practical learning and working and also experience. Below written are some skills which a legal advisor must have within their personality.

1. Excellent skill of communication:- Legal advisors are not supposed to be anti-social or shy with no oral communication abilities. They should have a good way of connecting and raising their points keeping their tone, words and analysis in mind. Not just an ability to speak fluent and clear but also an ability to speak in such a way that the person who is listening get persuaded.
2. Ability to understand:- A legal advisor need to read a lot many of the complex documents which are very lengthy and hard generally. To understand it they need to have a good grasping power and ability to comprehend what they have read. They need to understand what their client or the workplace they are working in wants them to do and then take a suitable decisions.
3. Problem-Solving abilities:- The ability of legal advisors to solve problems quickly, by thinking deeply and analyzing it well can always be beneficial for the company’s growth and success. For this they need to be a critical thinker, a perfect knowledge of law in their field and a quick decision maker.
4. Persuasion skills:- The way to say something that the other person can think of your point and get convinced by you is all about having good persuasion skill. The easily you read it, the difficult and creative it is. Convincing someone is not an easy task. It first required a good analyzing power and in depth analysis and on the basis of logic and facts and then the communication skills then only we can persuade others, a vital part of being a legal advisor.
5.   Dispute resolution skills:- The ability to solve disputes within the company or outside the company in a way that it do not break law is an important skill of a legal advisor. Sometimes the company solve it in-court or sometimes they settle it out of the court. How a legal advisor manage this conflict in a way that it proves less damaging to the company and can settle the conflict is what decides how able the legal adviser is.
6. Patient:- A legal advisor needs to be patient and calm and composed enough because sometimes the situation gets tougher. The Emotional intelligence of the legal advisor is always important skill which comes with time and experience which a vital factor. The ability to balance and handle conflicts requires a lot of patience and not to panic in such opposite situations.

Eligibility Criteria required to become a legal Advisor:-

You can become a legal advisor only when you have some qualification and match to their eligibility criteria which is to have a LLB degree after School education, cracking a law entrance exam. Doing a Maters in Law is also helpful as they have more knowledge and get paid more.

Though while pursuing studying during the Bachelors of Law it is good to participate more in Moot competitions, practical working in internships. This will always help you in knowing how this works in real and make you more aware of the field.

Salary of legal advisor:-

There are many factors which affect salary of a candidate like degree, knowledge, skillset and experience. The starting salary of someone done LLB and a fresher depending on the company is 15,000 per month to 20,000 per month.