| Topic Name: |
Can freshly minted law grads become I-bankers? |
| Message Name: |
lawyer's role in IB |
| Date Posted: |
02/22/2000 |
| In Reply To: |
Something doesn't add up. At what level are lawyers (who are hired by i-banks right out of school) offered positions. If they are offered analyst positions then they have completely wasted their three years in law school as they can get these jobs straight out of undergrad. If they get hired in as associates then b-school students are the biggest suckers in the world. Most graduating b-school students are 29 or 30 (with 4 - 5 years of work experience) while most law school graduates are around 25 or 26 (with 0 years of work experience). Why would someone go the b-school route and come out with the same position four years behind a law school graduate. It doesn't even make sense to hire them as second or third year analysts, because they would be hopelessly behind the traditional analysts who actually have 2-3 of investment banking experience. The only thing that makes sense is that the very few law school students who do get hired by i-banks have non-traditional law school backgrounds. Perhaps thay do have several years of i-banking experience under there belt and went back to law school to study securities law or something. ALthough this really doesn't make sense either. Someone please enlighten me. |
| Message: |
JDs hired into investment banking right out of law school are hired as associates, not as analysts.
You're right in that it is a pretty good deal for those law students who can get the banking jobs - many are 25 years old as opposed to the average 29 y/o b-school grad. However, it is not easy to get the banking/consulting jobs right out of law school. Many people a vying for a limited number of positions. Thus, one who wishes to pursue a career in banking or consulting will generally be better served by going to b-school. If somebody can get into Harvard or Yale Law out of undergrad, then it might be worth the gamble to do three years of school and try for one of the banking/consulting jobs. However, it becomes substantially more difficult to get the banking/consulting jobs from even slightly less prestigious institutions (e.g. Columbia, NYU, Chicago).
Banks and consulting firms are recruiting more heavily at law schools as more MBAs are going the dot.com route. Also, these firms are realizing that law school is a gold mine for smart, driven people. Let's face it, on a pure numbers level (test scores and GPA), top law schools are harder to get into than top b-schools. Just check the numbers. I've been told by an insider that McKinsey in particular has had great results with their JD recruits.
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