Banking to Law?
Everyone always talks about the path from law to IB - i.e. how can an M&A lawyer become a banker. But what about the reverse? I'm an associate (A2A) right now and I enjoy my job, but to be honest am getting a bit burnt out. I don't know if I really see myself as a managing director. I'm in a product group (think ECM / DCM), so PE exit opps are limited. I could do some corp dev type gig, but to be honest I don't know if I'm really passionate enough about the sectors I cover to want to spend more than 1-2 years in industry.
A part of me wants to go back to law school for the next three years while I'm still in my 20s and can enjoy my life with very few "obligations" so to speak. Thinking about tossing an MBA on top of it, but not sure about that yet. Has anyone made the transition from finance to law? What are the downsides? The way that I view it, the biggest downside is that assuming I get into a decent school and getting a decent post law-school job, I would have to do all of the bitch work again that I've already moved past now that I'm an associate instead of an analyst.
What does the average day look like for a corporate lawyer anyways, are hours similar to analysts / associates and how does career progression fare typical to IB? The way I view it, it would be nice to get out of the corporate rat race for a bit while I'm still in my 20s without long-term commitments and have a bit of a "vacation" (not that law school is easy, but certainly is an improvement on banking). But I don't want to do it at the expense of my career long term especially since I've already put in ~4 years in banking. Thoughts?,
bump would love to know more about this!
You may want to check this law forum out:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/index.php
Don't do this. Law school sucks. And unless you get into Harvard, Yale or Stanford, it will be hell on earth since you'll have to do better than most of your class to even secure a high quality legal position and pay off your six figure student loan debt. And the work itself is soul crushing paperwork.
Unless you're a shoe in for Yale, Stanford or Harvard, and for some reason want to be a judge or professor or prosecutor someday, going to law school is lliterally the dumbest thing you could do.
Edit: I'm more qualified to answer this question than I care to let on here on WSO. Just trust me on this one.
what he said. There's a reason talk is always about going from law to IB not the other way around. People either love law or they look to get out, it requires a unique kinda attitude to really like it and wanna stick with it. It's nothing like sits, its not finance with less numbers less hours and more arguing over words.
Big point: Law school is definitely not a 'vacation'. It sucks
You're better off taking 2 year MBA and looking for other paths. Maybe seed investing, consulting, VC, get involved with a start-up, buy-side fund - heaps of things you can look into.
I would also include UChicago and and Columbia's law school which round off the top 5. Other than that, I totally agree with what you said.
Hi Draymond.
I am wondering if you know anything about Upenn Law school? Do they place attorneys in major law firms?
Thanks
Dude whenever I work on IPOs or whatever it seems like all the lawyers have the shittiest parts of the job. Not sure I'd make the switch in addition to paying to go to school for that misery.
I work with corporate lawyers all the time and never once have we been doing a deal and I've though, "You know what would be fun? Putting together a boiler plate SPA and then sifting through hundreds (thousands?) of previous ones to find some more applicable language or reading through the fine print of that 300 page environmental report about that site that has a family of rare birds on the property line. Or having to discern whether or not our widget that rotates at 30 rpm clockwise is different enough from our competitors that rotates at the same rate but counterclockwise." Screw. That.
None of this is to mention that law schools are heavily saturated and only the best students get good jobs and almost all graduate with gigantic sums of debt. Or that you'll have to work your ass off as much or more than you did during banking to do well/get a good job.
If you want to switch careers, think about what you're interested and go get an MBA, might legit get a two year vacation if that's what you want too. Law school is not the way to go unless you love law and/or you're a masochist.
Don't let the people scare you off about the competition of top law schools.
If you're the type of person who can secure an extremely competitive IB position, you can be the type of person who can get a competitive lawyer position.
Some people prefer law, so if that's you, then consider that route. The biggest advice is go T-6 (top 6 schools) and make it into the top quarter or top third of those people. If you don't think you can do that -- don't do law. Unless you wanna go bang or bust with ambulance chasing or defending crazy criminals (which if you're into that, tons of money to be made).
IB --> Law School --> Law Associate is going to be a great resume and range of skills so anything in the future you have a shot at, but talk to current corporate lawyers and see what they think.
I second the statements made by others here against law school. The whole process of getting in, doing well, and getting something out of it are not worth it compared to b-school or anything else really. From my friends that have graduated and others still in law school, being overly prepared for every single day to talk about the finer details of contracts or civil procedure and then getting called upon by a dickhead professor is not fun. It might bear some resemblance to a shit MD, except you're paying him to yell at you instead of you getting paid to bear it. On top of that, law students and lawyers suck at even the most basic math and love arguing over pointless minutiae, so good luck keeping your sanity.
To top it off, a roommate I had once said that somewhere like 60% of relationships going into law school deteriorate rapidly and end promptly after.
Of course, YMMV.
I think law could be a good complement to his skill-set, but that's just me
I have a friend working at Stikeman and he gets out of the office later than most bankers.
What is a stikeman?
It's Canadian - that's why no one's heard of it haha.
Sounds good
but Whyyyyyyy
lol nah.
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