J.D. = Post-M.B.A. Associate?

I know from perusing the Wikipedia pages of bankers such as Erin Callan and Lloyd Blankfein that lots of lawyers lateral to banks. But, I have yet to see, with my extremely limited experience, a banker freshly minted from law school. What are the rules for lawyer-bankers? Do you have to be a ball hard corporate lawyer or can you go straight into an associate role sans Bar Exam? Thanks in advance for any information.

5 Comments
 

Blankfein started his carrier in S&T on the sales side. The same is true of Harvard J.D. graduate Jim Cramer.

The short answer is that a J.D., while far from useless, is not necessarily going to open as many doors relative to the cost and time of obtaining it as an MBA would. If already have a J.D. I would suggest you look for jobs in S&T or PWM. Also networking is going to be key.

BTW, Cramer and Blankfein started out their careers as attorneys, but switched to S&T because they hated working at law firms.

"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man." ― William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
 

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