Big Law ---> MBB?

I'm a junior corporate lawyer at Biglaw and am contemplating making a career transition into management consulting. I would much appreciate your thoughts on the following questions:

  1. Many consultants that I've talked to emphasized "structured way of thinking and solving problems" as a prerequisite to succeed as a consultant. While I do take a systematic approach to many of the problems I face in my corporate practice (so-called issues in a deal), I was hoping to get an illustrative example of what this may look like in consulting context.

  2. Would it be safe to assume that all candidates (including an ex-lawyer) are evaluated solely based on their interview performance once they get to the case interview phase, or would the hiring decision be made through a holistic evaluation such as (school * 25% + WE * 25% + case interview performance * 50% = ?)

  3. It seems like MBB recruiters are prestige snobs as much (if not worse) than Biglaw. I'm at a pretty good practice group but the firm does not carry the brand such as the V5 NY firms, but I would be able to lateral into those firms if I wanted to. Would making that transition improve my chances with MBB? On a different note, would passing CFA level 1 exam help my chances?

  4. What would be the best way to find out whether I would enjoy the work of consultants at MBB? Would preparation process for the case interviews be indicative?

Thanks

 
Best Response
  1. Partially generally logical thinking and how you break down a problem into it's constituent parts. Consulting problems are wide and oftentimes poorly defined by nature, and it's our job to identify the moving levers and solve it from the ground up. It's a bit like thinking with first principles. Also, can you do this in a wide variety of scenarios (i.e. consistently).
  2. Once you're in the interview, you're entirely evaluated based on your interview. Now, during the fit portion, your own story comes into play and how you sell that is up to you.
  3. Where did you go to school? If you went to a recognizable school, that would help a lot with the transition to consulting. Since you are in BigLaw, I imagine you went to a top law school. No, CFA will not help whatsoever, it's for public equities investing (ER/HF).
  4. I always say that if a candidate enjoys the case interview process and preparing for the case interviews, it's generally a good indication that they'll like the work. Also think about whether you genuinely enjoy business and thinking strategically about a wide variety of business problems. Finally, your experience is coloured by the people you work with, so think about your cultural fit with the firms you're interviewing for.
 

Thanks a lot for your thoughts. This is very helpful. I have few follow up questions if you don't mind...

2 -- that makes sense -- do you know if this is the case (evaluation based solely on interview once pass screener interview) for all M / B / B?

3 -- I went to a school right beneath T14 (think UCLA / U TX / Vandy). I've found linkedin profiles (albeit very few) who went to my law school and made the transition into MBB but not sure if them doing a JD/MBA had to do with anything. I didn't. I'm still wondering how much the prestige that my law firm carries matter. if, at the end of the day, my prior WE, school, law firm pedigree don't matter after i pass the paper application process, I guess the real question is how to pass that initial selection phase, which is why I was contemplating beefing up my resume by passing CFA 1 exam (thanks for confirming that it's not needed nor helpful). Though there may not Can you shed more light on how to maximize my chances to pass the paper application process?

 

2) Yes, all MBB are like that. 3) Check if the MBA is a target for your school - in which case it was probably the JD/MBA, and you're going to have a hard time recruiting. Of course the prestige of your law firm matters: MBB screens for all experiences, and the more prestigious your school and your previous employers, the better.

With regards to maximizing your chances, and I hate to say this, but there's little you can do looking back to game the system. There's the obvious things (having a well-worded resume, highlighting your accomplishments, etc.). But if you don't already have the right experiences or schools, it's probably a long shot.

If you are serious about the switch to consulting, you should also consider firms outside of MBB. Given your prior experiences and schools, you stand a much better chance at landing a T2 firm.

 

Thanks much again, really appreciate it.

Here are my thoughts (not really a follow up question but please let me know if you see that I'm missing something):

I vaguely remember that McKinsey once posted on our law school's job website so I guess I'll reach out to the school to confirm whether MBB ever recruited directly from our JD pool.

I guess the fact that all MBBs would base their hiring decision solely on my interview performance is somewhat comforting. Nothing would be worse than spending all time and effort preparing for the interview and failing to get an offer because of prior school and work experience but not interview performance.

If I don't pass the application process with my current credentials then I guess I will lateral into a top firm (I haven't moved yet since my current practice group has a great reputation within the specific industry (as opposed to the firm name itself; not boutique, still biglaw, and I get much earlier, substantive responsibilities in running deals whereas I would have been a due diligence monkey if I started out at top firms; and of course I don't expect MBB to know or care about that) and give MBB another shot then with the other T2 firms.

 

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