We often hear about lawyers asking about CFA to break into finance to leave law. Has anyone on here done the reverse and gone from finance/CFA to law?
I’m sure there are some people who do this. Some of those securities lawyers must have worked for finance companies at some point.
However, I don’t think this move is worthwhile if your finance career is good in any way. You will lose 3 years of compensation, probably make less money for the next 10 years after that, and most likely work longer hours as a law associate than as a VP/Director or whatever you would be in finance at that point.
This really depends on what kind of law you are talking about. You could take the LSAT and go to a T100 school, pass the bar and do something everyone does like criminal law. Alternitavely, if you want to go to T10 and go into securities law at a corporate NYC law firm, you’re going to have to ace the LSAT, have a top GPA, and will only have a chance to score some good interviews. A few years ago I was debating going into M&A law and bought all the powerscore books and practice exams. I was pretty deadset into pulling together finance experience with M&A law, but in the end started reading about the vast amounts of incredibly boring information and dropped it. My friend gave me a California bar review book and I debated taking the California bar straight up and then would have to do a 4 year clerkship to bypass law school or something but again the material is so boring I decided I could not be doing that stuff on a full time basis. I didn’t find the LSAT in itself that difficult to study for and it seems significantly easier than the MCAT. So here I am years later looking for an MD/PhD to do 8 years of school and 4 years of residency versus 3 years of law school. I’m following my passion and while only being in the medical field for a semester, it is something I could see myself doing, which is refreshing. On a side note, if you want corporate law, you’re not only going to have to get top 10 law schools, but will probably need to be on the law review as well. Then if you are graced with being an employee, you can look forward to standard IB hours working 100+ hours a week reviewing some of the most boring material you could possibly imagine. Think IB is boring doing model after model in excel and doing endless pitchbooks? M&A lawyers envy those IB guys.
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/index.php You could always consider a JD/MBA as well. Then again you would have to take the GMAT as well.
I am interested actually in going the securities litigation route rather than m&a, but definitely in that top 10 or 25 firm type of gig. Was kind of looking to see if anyone CFA track had gone that route. I am not surprised to hear about someone who has gone the m&a law route as it seems like there is a more well-beaten path in that direction.
I’m 23. Level 3 candidate. Already took the LSAT and applied, am either going to Duke in the fall on a $45,000 per year scholarship or Harvard; am on the Harvard waitlist right now. Duke’s money and my current job (see below) makes the opportunity cost of going not as high as one might think.
Since I’m only 23, one year out of undergrad, career is really not all that great yet. I’m in a transaction advisory spot at a regional (non-big-4) accounting firm.
Ok. If you had said “accounting to law”, my answer would have been different, since the financial and (to me) intellectual tradeoff is not the same. Congratulations on your law school admittance. I doubt many people get off the waitlist at Harvard, but Duke is a reputable school as well. Plus, graduating with little or no debt will be a significant advantage.
Thank you. Yes if I was a PE associate or something, it would be a little different. I should have specified.
Hopefully these last 18 months studying will have been worth something somewhere down the line…
Congrats on getting into Duke. Are Columbia and NYU out?
Yeah those are way too NYC for me.
Isn’t the outlook for lawyers like really awful? Students vs openings is hugely out of whack no?
only for the crappy schools
Wait, so even if you choose Duke, you would turn down securities litigation in NYC? Isn’t that the hub?
Recruitment success depends on the year, the person, and the field in law. I know people who went to Top 10 sort of schools who just never found a law firm job, since they graduated in 2010. Once you miss your recruitment year, a new law school class comes on the market and you are no longer a cute puppy. I also know people who got 20+ interviews and multiple job offers, since they graduated in a better year, and in a less cyclical field.
If you’re the generic Philosophy major with no distinguishing characteristics, and you want to go into corporate law (high GPA major and low actual skills = natural for law school), you’re the first person to be knocked out of the recruitment pool in a bad year. However, if you have a MS in engineering from a top school and want to write patents, the job market will be good for you. Some schools even schedule interviews for the firms; as in the employers have so little bargaining power, they can’t even choose which students to interview. I wish I didn’t know this much about this, but that’s another story.
Basically, don’t assume that law school itself will place you into a career. You need to have a “story” - like for this OP, maybe inflate your accounting credentials and take all the tax courses to work in that department in a law firm. Even in a bad year, the X% most prepared people get good jobs. You just have to be in that category.
This is a moot point since Duke is probably locked in, but location gives you a great advantage in recruitment. Columbia is probably the #1 school in job placement (and they make the most money on average), because lazy employers can just take a taxi there and meet the kids. Schools in a less convenient location will have fewer recruitment channels; again, not a dealbreaker, but just one of those things. NY is probably going to be the #1 recruitment area at Duke, so odds are, you will end up there sooner or later.
Anyway, they probably talk all about this at toplawschools forum or wherever it is people hang out nowadays.
i should have clarified. Just for school it is a little rough to justify NYC cost of living as a student. I have some personal things that make Duke way cheaper too cost of living wise – fiancé who is a teacher in Durham, etc. If I am offered a job in NYC I am all about it.
for most schools sadly. Law salaries are bimodal. Most are struggling to get jobs at $50,000 a year. Schools like Duke, Penn, Columbia, Chicago, Virginia, etc. have like 95% employment and private sector median starting salaries at $160,000.