Law student interested in event-driven/arb--breaking in?

As the title mentions. I've known since my first internship 1L summer that I would like to enter finance. I originally really liked restructuring, but I've found myself to be a lot more interested in event driven, specifically merger arb. I've had a couple investment courses and I'm fairly confident on making calls on mergers that have antitrust hair. Can definitely grow a bit on the financial end, specifically with modeling. I've networked a decent amount with lawyers in the space, can generally talk in finance terms, and have a decent "why" for the switch. But I'm wondering what else I should be thinking about as I consider making the switch at some point?

Specifically:

1. What level of modeling skill is needed? I'm guessing that you'll never hire a lawyer to an investing seat to be your modeling guru, so what, like just decent fluency?
2. Is IB a necessary stepping stone? I'm slated to start at a V10, and I'd like to get to an investing seat as soon as possible, so I'd prefer to avoid IB if possible (also, frankly, I don't want to go from a couple of years working 70 hour weeks to another few years of 80 hour weeks in my early thirties before finally switching over).
3. Any unsolicited/general advice would be appreciated.