---

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