Pivot from law to natural resources/energy/infra finance

I'm a mid-level finance lawyer specialising in natural resources and infrastructure working at a top US firm in London.

I'm on partnership track - a difficult one though, as I have to help rebuild a team after departures, but reasonable prospects. I'm just not excited about billing by the hour and watching deals from the sidelines for the rest of my life.

I've been looking to pivot into finance as that is where my skillset works best. I'm looking at origination roles which have a lot more crossover with what I do now. Otherwise I'd look at finding a role at an infrastructure fund. Business school is an option, but I am hoping I can make the jump without that cost (though I appreciate that the network is beneficial).

I'm curious about career trajectory and earning power if I make the jump. What are potential exit opportunities in origination, and does it make financial sense to stay where I am? Currently on £300k +, with partnership pushing up to high 6 figures possibly 7 within 6-7 years (though not guaranteed - a lot can happen in between).

Any advice would be well received.

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I work at a PF bank and know of at least 1 former lawyer who is now a power PF banker. That being said, don’t know his exact path or if he only went to law school, etc.

Working with infra, I think a reasonable transition could be to a PF bank/PF team at a bank. A lot of what bankers at the VP/Director level do is review/understand contracts so you’d obviously understand that aspect well while understanding the deal process flow. You might have to work on modeling skills (from my understanding, you guys only review models, don’t do much else with them).

Realize I’m making a lot of assumptions here on your experience, but assuming you’re working on those types of deals, PF seems like a much easier jump than say, a coverage group at a BB. From PF you can try to pivot over to infra PE and other related roles.

 

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