Advice Needed!! Corporate Paralegal Jobs
Hey Everyone,
I am currently a Corporate Paralegal at a large law firm in NYC. I get calls from headhunters and recruiters constantly trying to place me in similar legal jobs at i-banks, hedge funds, and P/E Shops. I want to move over into a finance role, and whenever I explain this to recruiters they say that being a corporate paralegal / legal assistant at an i-bank, hedge fund, etc. is a great first step in transitioning. Is this true or will I get pigeon holed?
Any Thoughts?
So are you looking for new paralegal jobs? I think that if you are looking into a new job, then you should definitely double check to make sure that you are making the right choice for your career. Best of luck
Don
Corporate Paralegal looking for something new (Originally Posted: 02/09/2013)
I'm a corporate paralegal for a V10 firm in New York. While the pay is great (thanks to overtime) for a first job after college, I'm not sure that I want to go to law school.
Unfortunately, my grades (3.4, Economics and Political Science, top 30 private university) aren't awesome and now that I'm not in school, it's too late to try the internship>entry-level banking job approach.
What should my first steps be given that my grades may hold me back and given that I didn't do any banking-related internships in college? I'm considering taking the GMAT just to have a good score on my resume that might balance against my GPA. I'm not sold on the CFA, but open to hearing suggestions. Should I be considering going back to school for a Master's in Finance? Any guidance would be helpful.
I'm not sure what in particular I'd want to do, except that I do a lot of private funds work and I think I'm interested in some sort of entry-level job at a small PE firm (even if it's really small and the pay isn't awesome), but from the little I know, it seems most people in PE were in I-banking first.
I am interviewing for a paralegal position as well-- just wondering what's the base salary figure for paralegals? They asked for salary requirements and I feel like I said a number pretty lower than average..
Very interested in both of the above posts...
Thoughts on Paralegal positions in IB and PE (Originally Posted: 03/03/2017)
With all of the recent studies and negative feedback regarding the ROI of law school it seems as though it is not the best option unless you are accepted into Yale, Harvard, Standford, etc. I currently attend Michigan State University and will be graduating in May with a B.A. in Political Science and a 3.8 cumulative GPA. After researching the many stories of recent graduates being held down by the enormous debt associated with law school, I started looking into corporate paralegal positions as an alternative. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts/advice for getting into IB or PE through a paralegal role. Also, would you still consider the overall investment in law school to be worthwhile in 2017?
Geographically, where are you looking to be after graduation? Don't take a paralegal role unless you are preparing for law school. Otherwise its a job for the unambitious or desperate. It sounds like middle office banking would be your best fit right now. Paralegal isn't middle office, its about 10 steps beneath in the admin job realm.
Try maybe compliance (regulatory, AML). It will expose you to regulatory banking laws and standards and you will meet a few young JDs and MBAs in that field (mostly from small schools) as well as several young pre-law, pre-MBA on their way to quality schools. A chance to gain operational insights and experiences while interacting with a higher caliber type than what you'll mostly encounter in paralegal realm.
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