IBD Analyst --> Biglaw

I've heard of people going from big law to IBD, yet rarely heard of the reversal...

Exactly, law school is three years of opportunity cost.

Have you worked in IB before? After working in IB (and seeing what kind of work gets dropped on the lawyers), I doubt you will ever want to work in big law.

Why anyone would want to go from doing investment banking to Big Law is beyond me.

Work on enough transactions and you will pity the associates at these law firms. They lead a truly miserable existence.

greenscreens

Anyone know of someone that's done this? I'd imagine that having two years of analyst experience would give you quite an edge in legal recuiting

Playing for the Yankees gives you quite an edge in becoming a Yankees broadcaster, but you don't see players doing so in the prime of their careers, do you?

It will help, depending on the practice. Corporate, bankruptcy, anything that is connected with finance will be easier if you have basic a understanding of finance. I know a number of people in law who had finance experience before. But you should ask yourself why you want to work in big law. It's not easy, and generally you don't work any less as you progress. If you have good contacts who move ahead in finance that may someday, way down the road, help bring in business and make you a better candidate for partner. But there are quite a few hurdles before that is relevant.

It's almost irrelevant. Biglaw recruiting is all a combination of law school pedigree, grades in law school, and ability to hold a normal conversation.

Whoever said that your age will be an issue because of the two extra years before going to law school is categorically wrong. Only about half of people in law school are actually straight through. Most have taken a year off, some have taken significantly longer than that off. It doesn't affect recruiting.

Biglaw recruiting is done at the end of the summer after your first year of law school. The reason people say the first year of law school is so rough is because those first year grades are the only ones that end up mattering. Prior experience plays a role in your recruiting only to the extent that it is just another topic that you might end up having to talk about during your interview, but law firm job interviews are (with limited exception) almost completely non-substantive, and basically an exercise in "prove you researched this firm" and "prove you wouldn't suck to work with at midnight."

The real consideration if you want to go into Biglaw is what law school you go to. If you're taking out debt you probably shouldn't even go to law school unless you get into one of top 6-8 schools. At those schools, a substantial majority of the class gets into Biglaw (I think the last go-round has the stats at around 70% or so, but that excludes the additional 15-20% that get clerkships, almost all of whom typically did get Biglaw but are taking a year to clerk before starting their regular job). Beyond that level, the drop-off of graduates that actually secure a Biglaw job is substantial. You DEFINITELY shouldn't go to one below the top 14. (You can find the rankings at top-law-schools.com).

If you don't have to take out loans, you might be able to justify going to a lower ranked school, but it would still probably end up being a waste of 3 years, since at lower-ranked schools you often have to get in the top 10%, top 5% or even top 1% of the class to have any shot of getting a Biglaw job. And despite what you might think about your own intelligence, even the bad law schools attract mostly intelligent people (albeit ones who didn't do enough research if you ask me). Furthermore, since everyone quickly learns about these depressing job-placement numbers, everyone is working as hard as possible to get good grades.

Here is the big law pay scale:

http://www.lawfirmstats.com/firms/Cravath-Swaine-Moore/all-offices/comp…

Someone who does a 2 year analyst stint would be 24-25 when starting law school and would be 27-28 when they head off to Big Law. If you slave away for a more than half a decade you'll be making 350k at the age of 35.

Or you could sack up and crush the two year IB analyst stint, get a nice buyside job, and make 350k at the age of 25. That and not give up 3 years/$150k.

I searched for "edge", I admit.