T2 consulting job or no job?

Hey man totally get it, you'll get a ton of monkey shit, I was in your position about ten years ago. To tell you the truth it's not the end of the world especially with HLS coming up though law school is kind of a psycho move anyway. I went from T2 to an UMM which was great but it was a real uphill grind. Throughout my career I had a couple of purists now and again who would sneer at T2 and not give me a look but once you get out of T2 hell it's rarely a problem. Not sure you have other options though so don't see the point of this question unless you think you have a way to get a better brand name or something unique enough that that will stand scrutiny on its own. 

Your real problem tbh is going to be that you're graduating from law school with no investing experience so you'll have to be scrappy and unique and really fight for roles. Just my .02 maybe get an MBA with that and use your summers to do classic JD/MBA stuff. Good luck.

You aren’t going from T2 to law school to reputable PE so maybe start there. The path you should be considering is T2 to lateral consulting / IB, then UMM PE.

Law School to PE/HF makes almost 0 sense in the first place. Why are you wasting time and money on that if law isn't your interest? It doesn't put you ahead of any candidates you would be up against nor is it a "unique" differentiator if you want to recruit for top firms.

Have you only recruited for consulting? Why not look at IB?

That said, a job is better than no job, especially in this market.

I was in a similar situation as you. Without revealing too much, I reneged on an M&A opportunity and finally secured a top BB offer despite the job market. Previous experience includes multiple PE internships at MF/UMM firms. Listen to your gut feeling and do not be afraid of taking risks

It seems like you are a smart, connected, highly ambitious person who doesn't really know where to aim that energy and are being driven by prestige as the main factor because you haven't got a sense of what truly interests/drives you. This is totally normal as a 22 year old and it's pretty much why most people join MBB, to keep their optionality open while maintaining a 'prestigious' resume.

The issue is that you got this HLS acceptance, and you're trying to configure your future around it. I think you applied for the deferred law school acceptance as a junior because you had some interest in it and it seemed like a great thing to lock in at that point (can't apply for the deferred MBAs until senior year). Now that you have it, it seems absurd not to go. But going to HLS and going into a top investment seat post-grad school are basically incompatible paths, and law school simply would not be smart preparation for HF or PE investing.

I think you also feel tied to going to HLS because you struck out on MBB and you've never dropped below your top-tier HYP prestige level (top HF internship for example), and you are coping with it by trying to 'get back on that path' through HLS. 

I don't have any advice on your question, because the path you've laid out is probably not possible. If you want to pursue law in the longer term, especially BigLaw, then the MBB/T2 makes a lot less difference and it would look bad to waste 2 years. Just do some work on transactions during your time there so you can talk about motivation/experience in summer associate interviews. If you think you want to pursue top finance roles, then you should mentally prepare to drop the certainty of HLS and instead think about the career path that gets you there (although consulting -> HF is super rare). This probably looks like T2 -> MBB -> PE or T2 -> IB -> PE/HF or wait around -> Off-Cycle IB analyst -> PE/HF. This is a super scary thing to do, giving up that certainty for an ambiguous slog.

Sorry for all the unwanted psychoanalysis; I might be projecting on you because I myself have dealt with angst and concerns about 'prestige' and path and this line of thinking feels pretty relatable. Also it's worth noting that there is more to this world than Blackstone and Lone Pine, and you will probably find your passion somewhere else down the line. Let me know if you want to chat about it further.