Help a Law Student Out
Hey, I'm new here, so if this isn't the correct Forum for this I apologize in advance.
Basically, I just got into Northwestern Law on a full scholarship. Problem is that over the past year of working in BigLaw, I've come to find out that I don't actually want to be a lawyer. I want to be on the other side of M&A - finance.
I'm considering going through my first year of 1L (since it's very low cost anyway), and then transferring into Northwestern/Kellogg's JD/MBA program. I've taken the GMAT and feel like I have a decent shot at pulling off the transfer. I've been doing some research on this but information can be kind of scarce for JD/MBA programs and job opportunities.
I had a few questions that I was hoping someone would help me out with:
1. I know that Northwestern produces a lot of consultants and some finance folks who generally have post-undergrad finance experience. As someone with a few years legal experience, but no finance experience - what are realistically my chances of finding a job in finance after a JD/MBA from Kellogg?
2. Is it worth it to go to law school at all if I have no interest in being a lawyer? In most cases the answer is no, but in my case it doesn't seem like it would hurt me to go. Basically, is a JD/MBA limited in any way that a traditional MBA is not?
Any information someone could provide me would be a huge help - it's tough trying to figure out how to change tracks.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
@AJ-Syverson posted in a thread a bit ago about the JD/MBA. I believe he is one if I remember.
Also there are a couple threads on here about the JD/MBA. That said I know of a couple associates in IB who came straight out of Law School and dont have an MBA. Im not sure what banks would do with a straight-through JD as associates are normally direct promotes or experience + MBA (JD works also).
I know I have seen MS postings for Summer Associates that say graduate of a masters program such as an MBA, JD, blah blah blah
I'll say as a law grad myself that law school is simply a bad idea from the beginning. You can lateral over direct into investment banks. Shouldn't be a problem with networking with the bankers.
Which area of law did you work in? It will not set you back to have a legal background, at least not if it is in M&A/corporate law. The question should be whether it is a plus for you. I believe it is less useful at the lower levels, but if you have an interest in a long-term career in M&A I definitely think it will be a plus.
People who go to M&A post business school are usually 1) career changers, or 2) bankers trying to "move up a tier". I believe you will be competitive against both. The MBA is not necessary any longer for internal promotion and thus you will not compete against GS analysts wanting to go back to being GS associates.
I believe your chances should be good if you can pull off the move in to the JD/MBA program. You can spend the next year and a half preparing for business school recruiting by learning finance and modelling, talking to people at banks (incl. JD-MBA alumni) and building your network. That should set you up well for recruiting.
Thanks for the responses. It sounds like this is entirely possible which is good news for me!
A little more background on me - I worked in corporate law for year and am now working in litigation. If I were to go to law school, I would focus primarily on corporate law classes (M&A, tax, bankruptcy, capital markets, etc.).
Just to get a little more specific, knowing that I want to enter finance, would it be more advisable for me to go to law school now and try to transfer into JD/MBA? Or, would I be better served to turn down law school, find a new job in finance/consulting/whoever may take me, and then apply to bschool in a year or two?
You don't need an MBA at that point. I know there are ex-lawyers who do this. But it's stupid. You don't need to go to law school, figure out you hate law and then get an MBA to correct what you did in the first place. You need to lateral directly some type of way i.e. network in directly. Once you're on the financial side, you will learn what you need if you don't know it already. Stop paying schools money and creating unnecessary opportunity costs (sitting out of the workplace). By the time you graduate from B-school, you will be an associate banker. Your friends who didn't do this will be VP's or SVP's in banking by then. You screwed yourself once by not going directly into Finance in the first place. Don't screw yourself again with a third degree.
Essentially you are wanting to substitute one year of law school for the two or three years of additional work experience you (probably rightly) feel you need to get into an MBA.
I'm not clear on what you do right now. Are you a paralegal?
Look into three year JD/MBA programs. If you can get in that is a good idea but so is just trying to get into bschool right now.
What is your work like? Are you learning a lot? Does it look good on a resume? There are probably some JD/MBAs at your firm who could give you advice.
I recommend you keep applying to regular MBA programs and let them determine when you have enough work experience which may be sooner than you think.
Yes - I'm a paralegal at a BigLaw firm. It looks good on a resume for legal jobs - I'm not really sure how financial firms look at paralegals.
There's a lot of work, but being nearly two years in, I've more or less learned as much as I'm going to learn as a paralegal. The only way I would learn more now would be to keep jumping practice areas which I don't think would necessarily be useful.
Thanks for all the advice from everyone here.
Yes - I'm a paralegal at a BigLaw firm. It looks good on a resume for legal jobs - I'm not really sure how financial firms look at paralegals.
There's a lot of work, but being nearly two years in, I've more or less learned as much as I'm going to learn as a paralegal. The only way I would learn more now would be to keep jumping practice areas which I don't think would necessarily be useful.
Thanks for all the advice from everyone here.
Ok if you're a paralegal avoid law school. You should just go to get a top MSF i.e. Vanderbilt to break into IB or trading or go to a top 10 MBA program. Period.
Hi I go to a kellogg.
It'll be absurdly easy to get into finance with JD/MBA. 88% of the people who applied for IB last year got jobs.
Attending Northwestern law will make it much easier to get into MBA than applying to Kellogg on it's own (since you have no significant work history).
The MSF strategy is bad because you will get a much lower starting salary
JD/MBA definitely seems like the best strategy. I have quite a few friends who are doing that, they literally are all doing MBB or IB (so they are actually BETTER than the average Kellogg graduate). The full scholarship makes the choice even easier.
I'm heavily leaning towards this option. Thanks for your help; I really thought Kellogg grads ended up more focused on consulting. It's good to know that 88% of the people who applied for IB got a job.
Of those 88% who applied, do you feel like most of them had IB exp before bschool or was there a good amount of career-changers?
Every single one I know was a career switcher. MBA associate IB recruiting is almost exclusively career changers nowadays (at all schools, not just kellogg).
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