Devoted to Corporate Attorneys, Corporate Lawyers, and Corporate Counsel

The following is not meant to be legal advice.

Why should attorneys be interested in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)?  The NYSE was one of the biggest movers Monday, April 23, 2007 on Yahoo!’s Buzz topic list.  Why would this be?  For attorneys working in securities law, having some insight into the stock exchanges is always good for conversation with the finance staff.  Those working in securities might consider comparing the NYSE with AIM or NASDAQ to realize how companies differ depending on where they are listed.

Some think the Buzz on the NYSE is probably because the Dow Jones Industrial Average is about to hit a historical high of 13,000. For those who were not observing, the NYSE closed at 12,961 on Friday and then 12,919 on Monday.  This leads one to wonder if the economy is going down or up.  With the economy doing well, there will be more mergers and acquisitions, leading to more corporate work.  Attorneys might consider moving from litigation to transactional work.  Those attorneys hoping to go in-house from the law firm environment see that being a litigator such as a patent litigator may not be as conducive to the corporate environment versus knowing how to do due diligence for the acquisitions and series funding. 

The NYSE also recently announced a merger with Euronext. What is the Euronext?  It is the NYSE of Europe.  Big name companies with offices both in the United States and Europe such as Business Objects S.A. are listed on the Euronext.  Previously, the Euronext was a merger of two stock exchanges in Europe.