Regulation is necessary to keep the finance industry working. Finance and law are so intertwined that New York professionals can even change careers between the two. The actual work of financial and legal professionals is technically different, but their competencies and objectives are similar. Overall, some of the central reasons for financial legal action are money, who receives it and how much it’s taxed.
Finance, accounting and law
Accounting for property, rights and taxes is achieved by common law and statutes that aren’t directly related to finance law. Likewise, the financial world is governed by specific laws. From investing to buying assets, how money is used, received and stored must be governed by existing statutes. Further, the basics of accounting are necessary for attorneys practicing finance law as they collect data, organize it and analyze it.
Valuation
Valuation, which is the art of determining an asset’s value, is necessary for law because of business, marital and estate disputes. In a divorce, for example, the assets that one spouse has might get valued less today than they would have 10 years ago. Apart from actual money and a court’s decision regarding it, here are the basics that law and finance have in common:
- Critical thinking
- Strategic analysis
- Organization
- Corporate governance
Changing careers
Changing from a financial role to a legal one might be easier than you think. In finance law, the skills that you currently have in finance are used each day. Corporate and securities law are financial fields that your expertise could thrive in. From mergers to bankruptcies, through finance, you have a broad range of areas to develop expertise within.