Which should be the choice between the paralegal and the in house counsel?

There are pros and cons to both professions, and no one can tell you which one you should choose, because it's all a choice, and it depends on what kind of life the individual wants to live. In Beijing, for example, the lawyer industry is relatively tiring, and from the perspective of my friends in law firms, if it is a high-paying (nearly 20,000 yuan) law firm, it is common to work until 12 o'clock in the evening or even two or three o'clock in the morning. Moreover, the profession of a lawyer is relatively high-pressure, the atmosphere will be relatively serious, and the daily work is very full, and there is basically no leisure time.

On weekends, you also need to work overtime at home or at the law firm. Of course, it will be easy to join a law firm with about 7,000 yuan, and you can get off work at about half past six on weekdays.

In-house counsel, that is, the company's employees, need to deal with not only legal issues, but also many personnel issues, and the working hours will be shorter than that of the law firm, and there will not be as much overtime, because the company's legal issues will not have so many for you to deal with. The environment will be easier than that of law firms. The disadvantage is that the salary will be relatively low, it is difficult to reach the level of 20,000 yuan, and many in-house counsel require work experience.

1. Different legal status. In law, lawyers are indispensable, and in-house counsel is dispensable.

2. The service objects are different. Most of the lawyers are social lawyers, usually working for a law firm, and their clients may be very diverse. The object of corporate legal services is the enterprise where it works, and its service content is to meet the needs of enterprises in legal affairs.

3. Salary income is different. The income of a lawyer mainly comes from the lawyer's fee in the case, and each lawyer or team of lawyers directly determines how much money they can earn, which is different for in-house counsel, and the general salary of in-house counsel is determined by the enterprise according to the situation of in-house counsel.

4. The lawyer deals with different people. Litigation lawyers will go back and forth between the parties, the courts, the procuratorate, and the public security bureau, while non-litigation lawyers will deal with the entrusting companies or individuals, and the state units related to the business. In-house counsel are usually colleagues within the company, but also external lawyers.

5. Different career development paths. Lawyers go through the process of paralegal to lawyer to partner, and in-house counsel experience the career development path from legal assistant to legal specialist to head of the legal department.

Lawyers are qualified, but in-house counsel is not qualified, and lawyers are like firefighters, but in-house counsel is like firewalls, and lawyers handle cases independently, but in-house counsel is risk control and coordination, and the abilities of the two are not the same, etc., these are the most obvious differences.

The first is that the legal status is different, lawyers are indispensable in law, and legal affairs are dispensable, and secondly, the service objects are different, most lawyers are social lawyers, and they generally work for a certain law firm, and their service objects may be very diverse. The object of corporate legal services is the enterprise it works for, and its service content is to meet the needs of the enterprise in legal affairs, and the company's income is also different, the green income mainly comes from the lawyer's fees in the case, and the legal affairs are determined by the enterprise according to the situation of the legal work.

A lawyer is a freelance profession that advocates for others, and he is exposed to a lot of things. The in-house counsel does non-litigation work, and the service content is to meet the needs of enterprises in legal affairs. Of course, it's better to be a lawyer, because you make a lot of money.

In-house counsel refers to the employees of a company, while lawyers are legal staff hired from outside the company, and in-house counsel is better, in-house counsel does not need to pass the bar exam, while the lawyer must pass the bar exam.

Each has its own good, and each has its own suffering.

The difference between in-house counsel and a lawyer is as follows: the definition is different: in-house counsel is an employee who is engaged in legal affairs within the unit; A lawyer is a professional who has passed the national judicial examination and obtained a practice certificate and is engaged in the legal profession.

The job responsibilities are different: the main responsibility of the in-house counsel is to assist the lawyer in handling cases within the company; A lawyer's main responsibility is to handle cases and resolve conflicts. The specific job responsibilities of a lawyer are:

1. Serve as the first person in civil cases or defenders in criminal cases, and participate in the litigation; 2. Guide the professional work of paralegals; 3. Study and solve difficult problems encountered in lawyers' business activities; 4. Handle non-litigation legal affairs and participate in the negotiation of economic projects.

Legal analysis: Generally, companies have legal departments, and compared with external legal counsel, the company's legal staff are relatively cheap, but their professional ability is relatively low. For small companies that don't get involved in litigation often, in-house counsel will do.

Outside legal counsel is often hired by large enterprises, and these legal advisers are lawyers of law firms, who are more professional and can better solve the company's legal problems, but the fees are relatively high. Whether a company engages external legal counsel mainly depends on the size of the company and the needs of litigation. If the company is large, it will involve a lot of business negotiation issues, which is very important for the company to avoid many legal risks in contract negotiations.

If a company with a lot of litigation hires a lawyer for every lawsuit, the cost is too high, and it is better to sign a perennial legal service contract with a lawyer, which is relatively low.

Legal basis: Opinions on the Implementation of the Legal Counsel System and the Public Lawyer Company Lawyer System

Article 17: Employees of wholly state-owned or holding enterprises in industries such as industry and commerce, finance, and culture (hereinafter referred to as "state-owned enterprises") specializing in enterprise legal affairs, as well as lawyers hired outside the enterprise, may serve as legal advisers. Persons who have served as legal counsel in state-owned enterprises but have not obtained legal professional qualifications or lawyer qualifications may continue to perform their duties as legal advisers. After the implementation of the national unified legal professional qualification system, the staff of state-owned enterprises that intend to serve as legal advisers or other personnel hired externally shall have legal professional qualifications or lawyer qualifications, except for the current legal counsel of other state-owned enterprises.

Where a small number of state-owned enterprises in remote areas find it difficult to hire legal advisers with legal professional qualifications or lawyer qualifications, they may continue the current practice of hiring legal advisers. Auxiliary personnel of legal counsel may not have legal professional qualifications or lawyer qualifications. External legal counsel for state-owned enterprises is to be handled with reference to articles 8, 9, 10, and 11 of these Opinions.

Article 18: State-owned enterprises may establish legal affairs bodies or allocate or hire a certain number of legal advisers on the basis of the scale and operational needs of the enterprise. Large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises may establish general counsel to give play to the role of general counsel in the legal review and gatekeeping of business and management activities, and promote the enterprise's lawful operation and compliance management.

Article 19: Legal advisers for state-owned enterprises perform the following duties:

1. Participate in the formulation of the articles of association and the operating rules of the board of directors;

2. Conduct legal review and verification of important business decisions, rules and regulations, and contracts of the enterprise;

3. Provide legal opinions on major matters such as corporate restructuring and reorganization, mergers and acquisitions, listing, property rights transfer, bankruptcy reorganization, reconciliation and liquidation;

4. Organize and carry out compliance management, risk management, intellectual property management, external lawyer management, legal publicity, education and training, and legal consultation;

5. Organize and handle litigation and arbitration cases;

6. Other duties as stipulated by the company.

Difference Between In-house Counsel and Lawyer:

Lawyers exist as a pillar group, able to comprehensively lead all kinds of litigation, and control all issues of corporate law from a macro perspective, and their business results will directly affect the life and death of the enterprise; Unlike lawyers, in-house counsel usually exists as an auxiliary team of the enterprise, and its responsibilities are mainly to ensure the daily legal affairs of the enterprise, and the work content is relatively simple. Lawyers' control of corporate risk has a more obvious and direct inevitability, while in-house counsel does not reach such a high level. Legal personnel are employees of the company and need to abide by the company's rules and regulations, and the company is required to pay their salaries and social insurance on a monthly basis and manage them.

A lawyer's workplace is a law firm, and a lawyer's workplace is his or her workplace. Lawyers provide legal services to unspecified people, and in-house counsel only engage in legal work in their own units. Appearing in court to litigate is an important business for lawyers, and in-house counsel will not engage in litigation business if there is no litigation in their unit.

01 The basic attributes are different: in-house counsel is a position within a unit or enterprise, lawyer is a profession, and legal counsel is the counterpart to in-house counsel.

02 Different employers: legal affairs generally work in units, enterprises, and departments, lawyers work in law firms, legal affairs work in units, enterprises, and departments, and lawyers work in law firms and courts.

03 Different qualification requirements: Legal personnel do not need to pass the judicial examination to obtain a lawyer qualification certificate, and lawyers must hold a certificate to work.

04 The main work is different: the legal department mainly focuses on internal contract review and risk prevention and control, and the lawyer undertakes comprehensive legal work.

05 Different value directions: The value of in-house counsel is to control risk and improve the legal awareness of the unit, while the value of lawyers is to maintain fairness and justice.

The starting salary of legal counsel is relatively high, and the basic salary of a recent graduate may be nearly 5k 10k, which is still better than the two.

Hope mine can help you

First of all, in-house counsel can not pass the bar examination and do not have a lawyer's license. Lawyers, on the other hand, must pass the bar examination and obtain a lawyer's professional qualification certificate. The second point is that the legal counsel is an employee of the unit, and the lawyer can be independent of the legal staff hired by the unit, which is relatively flexible.

The lawyer is a pillar group that can comprehensively ** all kinds of litigation from the macro situation to control all the problems of the enterprise legal affairs Its business results will directly affect the life and death of the enterprise In-house counsel is different from the lawyer Usually exists as an auxiliary team of the enterprise The responsibility is mainly to ensure the daily legal affairs of the enterprise The work content is relatively single The control of the risk of the enterprise will have a more obvious and direct inevitable relationship while the in-house counsel cannot reach such a height The in-house counsel is an employee of the company and needs to abide by the company's rules and regulations Enterprises should pay their monthly wages, pay social insurance, and manage them; the workplace of the in-house counsel is the firm; the in-house counsel's workplace is his or her own work unit; the in-house counsel provides legal services to unspecified people; the in-house counsel only engages in legal work in his or her own unit; appearing in court to litigate is an important business of the in-house counsel; if there is no litigation in the unit, the in-house counsel will not engage in litigation business.

Not necessarily. Legal aid is not necessarily all lawyers, and legal workers in legal service offices (who do not hold lawyers' licenses) can also accept the entrustment of judicial organs to undertake legal aid cases. Legal aid is of a public interest nature, and legal services are purchased through financial allocation, free legal services are provided to parties who meet the conditions for legal aid (generally those who are living in difficulty), and subsidies for lawyers or legal workers are issued by the Bureau of Justice.

Article 10 of the Legal Aid Regulations: Where citizens do not have a person to retain due to financial hardship for the following matters that require **, they may apply to legal aid institutions for legal aid: (1) Requesting state compensation in accordance with law; (2) Requesting social insurance benefits or minimum livelihood security benefits; (3) Requests for the payment of bereavement pensions or relief funds; (4) Requests for alimony, child support, or alimony; (5) Requesting payment of labor remuneration; (6) Asserting civil rights and interests arising from acts of righteousness and courage. The people** of provinces, autonomous regions, and directly governed municipalities may make supplementary provisions on legal aid matters other than those provided for in the preceding paragraph.

Citizens may apply to legal aid institutions for legal consultation on matters provided for in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this article.

1. Are in-house counsel all lawyers?

A company's legal department may or may not be a lawyer. Legal affairs refer to the staff who are responsible for handling legal affairs within legal organizations such as enterprises, public institutions, and departments. If you want to become a full-time legal counsel, you can take the national unified corporate legal counsel qualification examination.

The in-house counsel is the legal counsel of the unit and serves the company full-time. A lawyer is a legal staff member who is independent of the unit.

2. Responsibilities of the company's in-house counsel.

Formulation and revision of contract texts, drafting, revising and reviewing contracts for customers, employees and merchants; Processing, collecting and collating information, and cooperating with lawyers to handle the company's relevant legal affairs; Collect and analyze legal information related to the company's business, put forward professional opinions based on the company's situation, and propose preventive measures in a timely manner for problems found in the work; Provide consulting and legal opinions for the company, provide legal advice to customers and employees, and be responsible for formulating various legal documents of the company.

3. The workflow of the company's in-house counsel.

1) Contract business: drafting, submitting for review, notifying the parties of the amendment, communicating (the purpose of the contract, the background and requirements of the contract), drafting the contract, reviewing and revising (the purpose, completeness, clarity, legality, risk degree, etc.), submitting the results and giving feedback (modeling, handling of related issues).

2) Consulting business: consultation request, search for information (consultation object, event background, party requirements), preparation of reply (method selection, content arrangement), reply feedback (formation of suggestions).

3) Suggestions and opinions: self-subjective observation, information collection, feedback thinking (nature division, how to respond), make suggestions, put forward opinions (legal management perspective), feedback (institutionalization, transfer to other departments).

4) Dispute Resolution, Litigation Auxiliary Business: Department Feedback, Company Instructions: According to Legal Requirements, Lawyers' Work Instructions, Collect and Organize Materials, Provide Evidence and Material Support, Legal Support, Participate in the Specific Process, Close the Case, Dynamic Report on the Progress of Disputes, Feedback (Suggestions for Standardized Measures, Preventive Opinions).