JD to MSA

Curious as to whether JD --> MSA/Macc makes sense? Know anyone that's done it with success/with no success? Worth the extra year and money? Job prospects? etc. Tax consulting would be the goal.

Any info at all - positive and negative - would be much appreciated.

9 Comments
 

What's wrong with just going for the CPA?

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I'm a student in a top-ranked MAcc program and I know we have a couple of JDs in the class, though I'm not sure I really understand their intentions. The only reason I can think of is that you're in a state that requires X number of accounting credits for the CPA exam and you have an unrelated undergrad degree.

OP, I know that a lot of my class (myself included) is interested in going from MAcc to law school just because of the pay difference. Care to comment on that?

 
Best Response

I probably can't speak all that well on the pay difference because I don't know much about the variation across accounting firms (one of the reasons I'm here looking for info). I believe from what i've heard that big law pays much better than big 4, though big law hours seem to be much more consistently awful than big 4. If you miss out on big law (me; why i'm looking for info), then, very generally speaking, you either graduate without a job or you graduate with a 40k job. There really isn't much in between unless you're lucky.

I guess one of the things I'm trying to find out is if MSA/Macc recruiters place any value in having a JD. I've heard anecdotally that big 4 will hire fresh JDs, though I think that may require an accounting background (which I don't have, I was econ with only an intro accounting course).

To the above poster who suggested NYU/UF/Gtown LLM - I'm exploring that option as well.

 

I'll second what Futuredoc says. If you want to go that route, then get an LLM in Tax. The MAcc may be feasible, but the LLM will play to your background more with the legal education.

 

Also feel like I should add that I have been taking and will continue to take tax courses - I enjoy the subject. I'm not looking to do a complete 180 from trial attorney to accountant or anything like that. Just trying to explore what options are out there re: tax work.

 

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