Attorney with JD from Top 5 & RE background looking to break into finance - advice sought
So here is my basic story, I have a BS in Business Management (almost a 4.0 GPA) and I went to a top 5 law school. However, I never worked at a firm, I went in-house to a small RE company doing a mix of legal and business work and have been there for about 3 1/2 years. I headed the creation of their current portfolio which is rather small, under $5MM.
I have always been drawn to economics and finance and as I look to transition from my current job, I realize that I would much rather pursue a career in that field.
So what I am trying to find out, and this is very broad, is what is the best way to approach this job search. Where is someone with my background and skill set most likely to have the greatest success? REPE? HF? Or should I just be looking at regular IB? Also, is a CFA necessary or a just a good idea?
I really would appreciate any advice.
No one?
Reach out to alumni in the field or industry you want to enter. All T14 schools have a fair amount of graduates in finance, even more so for a top 5 school. Network with them for at least a better understanding of how you can leverage your academic and professional experience into a role in where you want to go (VC, HF, PE, IB, S&T). Along those lines, finance is a large, broad field. See which area attracts you the most and aim for that. It’s better to concentrate your efforts, especially as an experienced hire with a doctorate, than to shoot widely for a variety of positions.
Wish I could have given you more in-depth advice. Hopefully someone who knows more about law degrees on the street can chime in as to where to most JDs wind up. Best of luck.
Came very close to your situation myself however I found my passion for finance as I was about to start law school applications.
As was mentioned above, you'll be much happier figuring out what you want to do first, even if it's just the general area, and then aggressively going after it from there. If you just look for where is typical for JDs to end up then you are pigeonholing yourself before anyone else does. Obviously some areas are going to be harder than others but with sa solid background if you really hussle you'll find success in what you're interested in.
A good way to find out what you enjoy is to talk to as many people in the field as possible and just ask them what they like/dislike about their jobs. You'll find people who have similar personalities as yourself and realize that the stuff they say they do sounds great to you. Go on LinkedIn and search for all of the alumni from your school in various areas of finance (searching out at the big banks banks-Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Citi, etc is a great place to start).
If you're interested in research or portfolio management, a CFA would be a huge bonus in your favor. It does take several years to get the designation however just passing level 1 would show you really are serious about pursuing this new area.
Best of luck!
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