Tools for Legal Practice: Transactional/Business Law

BL > Transactional Intelligence Center > Practical

Guidance for transactional/business law

• browse Step-by-Step guidance: IPOs, financing, hedge fund/private funding, M&A, etc.
• multistate, jurisdictional comparison tools, guidance to federal, state, and international/foreign laws and regs

LX+ > Practical Guidance >

• browse topical areas (e.g., Capital Markets & Corporate Governance), industries (e.g., Life Sciences), and contexts (e.g., In-House Advisor)
• many US states, multi-state, federal, and international/foreign (including several African nations)

WL > Practical Law

• browse practice areas (e.g., Corporate and M&A) and sectors (e.g., Media & Entertainment)
• US states, multi-state, federal, and international/foreign (incl. Americas, Asia, EU, UAE)

Start with internal precedent. Ask a supervising attorney or the firm's librarian about collections of exemplars and standard clauses.

Then look for models in practical guidance:

California drafting aids

register for CEB AccessLaw > Practitioner > Business Entities .... Business Transactions ... Real Property ...

• includes workflows, strategy notes, forms and templates for transactional and governance documents, client-intake communications, and more

California Legal Forms: Transaction Guide (LX+)—business/nonprofit, commercial, financing/loans, sports/entertainment (etc.)

Drafting Business Contracts (CEB)—standard clauses and provisions, guidance on usage, pointers to state and federal law (link is for OnLaw; also available via alternate platform—register for CEB AccessLaw > Secondary Sources > Business Transactions

Corporate & business law research

Ballentine & Sterling California Corporation Laws (LX) leading treatise with Forms content

Marsh's California Corporation Law (VitalLaw) leading treatise with Forms section (at end)

Counseling California Corporations (CEB) practice guide on running a California corporation

Custom topical charts

BL > Practitioner Tools> Chart Builders > [topics]

LX+ > Practical Guidance > Tools & Resources > State Law Comparison Tool > [practice areas and topics]

WL > Practical Law > Resource Types:Quick Compare > [topics]

Basic state law surveys/comparisons

LX+ > Content:Secondary Materials > Content Type:50-State Surveys > Tax ... or browse by practice area surveys of state statutes & regulations

WL > Content Types:Secondary Sources > 50 State Surveys > [browse Regulatory or Statutory surveys by topic area]

WL > Tools > Jurisdictional Surveys > [start from a citation to find similar laws; or browse a handful transactional topics and index terms]

While a Berkeley Law affiliate, you have access to a huge array of research resources available at a major research university. Leverage that access, and brush up your know-how on company, sector, industry, and other business/econ topics—

• Use the Main Library's A-Z Databases list to find databases by Subject: Business
• The Business Library offers tailored guides (scroll under Business) for doing this type of research, e.g.—
  • Entrepreneurship 
  • Industry Information
  • Market Research
  • Venture Capital/Private Equity

Stay current, show your savvy

Pros in transactional and business law practice keep current on developments and trends in their areas of legal expertise, the industries and companies they work with, and the economy.

• Newspapers—set up your free/sponsored access to the day's news via NYT, WSJ, Financial Times
• Deal News (BL)
• Law 360 > See all sections > newsletters by region, topic, industry (e.g., California, Capital Markets, Fintech, Mergers & Acquisitions)

BL > Litigation > Litigation Analytics

LX+ > Litigation Analytics

WL > Tools > Litigation Analytics

Labeled "litigation" analytics, these services also offer competitive intelligence and strategic information for client/business development and counterparty research. These services offer docket-based data on companies and counsel.