The value of a legal education/experience in IBanking?

It has often been said that going to law school doesn't make sense if one wants to work in ibanking in the future. However, there have been many successful bankers who have JD degrees from top law schools.

Which led me to consider, could a JD education, (possibly along with subsequent work experience in transactional corporate law), be an advantage for someone looking to move up the ranks within the bank, given that it provides him/her a tangible skillset that most other people who went straight into finance or got an MBA do not possess? This is assuming he/she made the transition from corporate law to ibanking successfully.

I was wondering if anyone, preferably people who have had more insight into the senior levels of ibanks, could comment more on this?

6 Comments
 

I've talked to some senior people (VPs and Associates mainly) that were attorneys for top firms before jumping over to banking and all of them said that it was a very difficult transition. That's not to say it's impossible, but it's definitely tough to do. I also think an MBA would be more useful than a JD for business. Law school doesn't really teach you how to be a lawyer

 

Seen it at the senior level a bit, and at the post MBA associate level for RXing. But as said above, if you want to be a banker, be a banker, not a lawyer.

Further, from my experience, legal analysis is primarily useful for credit guys, my M&A chums don't see much other than the odd NDA or engagement letter.

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 
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