A look at the vitae of many lawyers shows that the classic path via legal clerkship to the judiciary or to a law firm is the most common. However, it does not have to be the only choice of career options for lawyers by far. How about a job as a Banking Lawyer, for example?

If you want to develop yourself in the direction of banking law, you basically have two alternatives in order to be able to work in this field. A lawyer can either choose a law firm that specializes in this area and offers appropriate advice. He can also directly look for a job in the banking industry as a lawyer.

Business Lawyer

Practice early: internship or legal clerkship in a bank

If you decide to start your career in the banking industry, it makes sense to gain experience early on of how work in a bank looks like.

Legal professionals are in demand in this branch. Accordingly, large banks in particular usually offer both internships and traineeships for bank lawyers. The internships in the legal departments of the banks can also be counted as compulsory internships. The reason for this is that a fully qualified lawyer is always at the head of the teams.

During the legal clerkship, young bank lawyers have the opportunity to get to know the in-house department of a bank and how they work. The legal departments of the banks cover all classic banking law areas. Some areas are capital market law, stock corporation law, corporate law and the like. Internal labor law, contract drafting and general commercial law are also part of the competence of the legal department of a bank.

Business lawyer: Big bank, private bank or savings bank?

There are also various options available in the banking sector itself. Large banks offer lawyers entry via trainee programs specially designed for them.

The work here differs from other banks in that the legal departments are very large. Therefore more specialists are needed than in legal departments with fewer employees, where all-rounders are more sought after.

The smaller private banks also offer jobs for lawyers but are more interested in trained lawyers with professional experience.

The legal departments of banks are more likely to look for all-around legal talent than for highly specialized legal advisors. Advisors who are needed in investment banking, for example.