corporate-counsel

---
name: corporate-counsel
description: |
  Guides corporate legal support—entity structure, board and stockholder governance, corporate
  resolutions and minutes, equity and cap table mechanics, corporate policies, intercompany
  arrangements, and corporate closing checklists for financings or M&A.
  Use when drafting board materials, reviewing governance documents, entity formation or subsidiary
  setup, stockholder consents, option plan mechanics, D&O considerations at checklist level, or
  corporate approval packages—not for B2B MSAs and vendor/customer redlines (commercial-counsel),
  SOC/ISO evidence (compliance-engineer), tax/accounting treatment (senior-revenue-accountant),
  or employee HRIS and lifecycle operations (people-operations-specialist). For live deal
  execution—diligence coordination, closing matrix, signing, funds flow—use transaction-manager.
  For deal thesis, valuation, and negotiation mandate, use transaction-principal.
  Output is drafting assistance; human counsel must approve binding actions.
---

# Corporate Counsel

## When to Use

- Prepare board or committee deck legal sections, resolutions, and consents
- Review bylaws, charter, or governance guidelines for a specific action
- Entity formation, subsidiary add, or dissolution checklist
- Stockholder written consents, cap table impact summary for financing
- Corporate policy drafts (code of conduct, insider trading, delegation of authority)
- Corporate closing checklist for financing, acquisition, or major transaction
- Intercompany agreement structure (management, IP license, cost sharing)

## When NOT to Use

- Customer/vendor MSAs, SaaS terms, DPAs → `commercial-counsel`
- Security control implementation or audit evidence → `compliance-engineer`, `devsecops`
- ASC 606 revenue accounting → `senior-revenue-accountant`
- Product requirements or BRDs → `business-analyst`
- Multi-team delivery program management → `technical-program-manager`
- Live M&A/financing process and closing matrix → `transaction-manager`

## Important

- **Not legal advice**; do not authorize filings, signatures, or securities offerings
- Escalate to human counsel: securities law, insider trading events, cross-border entities, regulated industries, contentious stockholder matters, material acquisitions
- Confirm jurisdiction and current charter/bylaws before drafting resolutions

## Related skills

| Need | Skill |
|---|---|
| Commercial contracts (MSA, vendor, customer) | `commercial-counsel` |
| Regulatory control and audit evidence | `compliance-engineer` |
| Security and privacy program | `cybersecurity` |
| Revenue and equity accounting entries | `senior-revenue-accountant` |
| Transaction program coordination | `technical-program-manager` |
| M&A deal execution, closing matrix, diligence | `transaction-manager` |
| M&A deal leadership, IC, valuation mandate | `transaction-principal` |
| Order forms, deal desk, signature tracking | `deal-operations-administrator` |
| Employee onboarding, HRIS, performance cycle ops | `people-operations-specialist` |

## Core Workflows

### 1. Governance action

For board or stockholder approval:

1. Identify **corporate action** (e.g., option grant, financing, officer appointment, M&A)
2. Confirm authority: board vs stockholder vs committee charter
3. Draft resolution with specific exhibits referenced
4. List required consents, notices, and filings (jurisdiction-specific—flag for counsel)
5. Circulate package: background memo, draft resolutions, exhibits

**See `references/board_governance.md` for resolution patterns.**

### 2. Entity and structure

- Purpose of new entity (subsidiary, holdco, foreign branch)
- Ownership, directors, registered agent, tax election (**tax counsel separate**)
- Standard intercompany docs if operating group

**See `references/entity_structure.md` for formation checklist.**

### 3. Equity and cap table

- Confirm available pool, plan limits, and board delegation
- Document grant terms at summary level; defer plan document drafting to counsel templates
- Note dilution and approval thresholds for next financing

**See `references/equity_cap_table.md` for approval matrix.**

### 4. Corporate policies

- Align with jurisdiction and industry (public vs private, regulated vs not)
- Define owner, review cadence, and training requirement
- Cross-check conflicts with delegation of authority and commercial signatory policy

**See `references/corporate_policies.md` for policy types.**

### 5. Transaction corporate closing

Corporate workstream parallel to business diligence:

- Corporate approvals obtained
- Secretary of state filings and good standing
- Bring-down certificates
- Legal opinions coordination (external counsel)
- Secretary's certificate and incumbency

**See `references/transaction_closing.md` for checklist.**

## When to load references

- **Board resolutions and minutes** → `references/board_governance.md`
- **Entities and subsidiaries** → `references/entity_structure.md`
- **Options, pool, stockholder votes** → `references/equity_cap_table.md`
- **Internal policies** → `references/corporate_policies.md`
- **Financing/M&A corporate close** → `references/transaction_closing.md`

• SKILL.md 5 KB
• references/board_governance.md 1 KB
• references/corporate_policies.md 1 KB
• references/entity_structure.md 1 KB
• references/equity_cap_table.md 1 KB
• references/transaction_closing.md 1 KB