Investment banker vs corporate lawyer

[Anonymous]

A typical sophomore at a good undergrad business program probably won’t get a crack at banking if they haven’t lined up an internship yet for post-junior year (internships are mostly filled sophomore fall). For big law , they need to have great grades and be one hell of a test taker because the LSAT, and then law school exams, will determine if biglaw is even a possibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is considering these career paths, and ROI. Currently a sophomore at a great undergraduate business program, but thinking long term post graduation and graduate degree strategies. Thoughts.

So he’s considering IB…. At this point internships for This summer were filled Last Year. So he’s not doing a finance internship going into Junior year. If he really wants to pursue it, he will need to start applying asap for the internships that will be posted for Summer 2027. And if he doesn’t land that—— it’ll be a long tough road to break into the industry at all once he graduates. Which is to say, this may not even become a choice on his part but rather a factor of his late decision-ing and the constraints of time.

Summer 2027 internship recruiting has already happened or is already well underway at most banks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is considering these career paths, and ROI. Currently a sophomore at a great undergraduate business program, but thinking long term post graduation and graduate degree strategies. Thoughts.

So he’s considering IB…. At this point internships for This summer were filled Last Year. So he’s not doing a finance internship going into Junior year. If he really wants to pursue it, he will need to start applying asap for the internships that will be posted for Summer 2027. And if he doesn’t land that—— it’ll be a long tough road to break into the industry at all once he graduates. Which is to say, this may not even become a choice on his part but rather a factor of his late decision-ing and the constraints of time.

Typically sophomores do not intern at major banks. That said, recruiting for internships that happen after junior year happens during sophomore year and many programs have already made offers or are close to making offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is considering these career paths, and ROI. Currently a sophomore at a great undergraduate business program, but thinking long term post graduation and graduate degree strategies. Thoughts.

So he’s considering IB…. At this point internships for This summer were filled Last Year. So he’s not doing a finance internship going into Junior year. If he really wants to pursue it, he will need to start applying asap for the internships that will be posted for Summer 2027. And if he doesn’t land that—— it’ll be a long tough road to break into the industry at all once he graduates. Which is to say, this may not even become a choice on his part but rather a factor of his late decision-ing and the constraints of time.

So try to land an IB internship and, if not, plan for law school. Seems like this is mostly figured out already.

Another option would be to do something corporate for two to three years, get an MBA, and use that to flip into IB as an associate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is considering these career paths, and ROI. Currently a sophomore at a great undergraduate business program, but thinking long term post graduation and graduate degree strategies. Thoughts.

OP, are you entirely serious? Really? Like one can just pick while a college Soph and there are no exogenous variables worth noting? And BTW apart from Wharton and Stern and McIntire and a few others, there is -NO- undergrad B-school that carries as much weight as a T20 econ major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is considering these career paths, and ROI. Currently a sophomore at a great undergraduate business program, but thinking long term post graduation and graduate degree strategies. Thoughts.

OP, are you entirely serious? Really? Like one can just pick while a college Soph and there are no exogenous variables worth noting? And BTW apart from Wharton and Stern and McIntire and a few others, there is -NO- undergrad B-school that carries as much weight as a T20 econ major.

Ross, Haas, McDonough, Mendoza, Kelley, Marshall, McCombs, Goizueta, etc all get recruiters from investment banks. She said he’s at a “great” business program so no reason to think these opportunities are not available to kids at the school. Whether he is competitive for them is a different question.

[Anonymous]

Gross and gross

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is considering these career paths, and ROI. Currently a sophomore at a great undergraduate business program, but thinking long term post graduation and graduate degree strategies. Thoughts.

Lawyer

[Anonymous]

Investment banking will be gone by 2028

Lawyer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought this was a movie title, like “Godzilla vs. King Kong”

LOL. But also most boring action movie ever.
Coming to a theater near you…. Godzilla and Kong Kong crushed large cities and trampled panicked crowds as they battled. Now watch Bruce and Trey crush small communities and trample the hopes of working men as they battle for the largest ski chalet in Aspen. Mergers will be negotiated and RIF notices issued as these two titans battle to the death (or someone other than themselves who just lost their health insurance due to a PE buyout).

I’m casting Tom Cruise as the lawyer and Keanu Reeves as the IB guy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both sound utterly soul-sucking.

Corporate law might be but there are plenty of careers for lawyers that are fulfilling and mean something. Being a defense lawyer or prosecutor can be satisfying jobs. Working for a nonprofit that you believe in. If you only go to law school because you think you’ll be making a million plus dollars a year , think again. 99% of lawyers are not even close to that kind of salary.

A kid claiming he wants to be specifically a corporate lawyer or investment banker is looking at the money. He probably has no idea what it entails to work in these type of careers.

[Anonymous]

There's no good legal job to get as a college grad or student, so he should try to go into investment banking and then go to law school if that does not work out or if he does not like it.

For investment banking, he should be looking NOW for internships the summer after junior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's no good legal job to get as a college grad or student, so he should try to go into investment banking and then go to law school if that does not work out or if he does not like it.

For investment banking, he should be looking NOW for internships the summer after junior year.

Yes there is. Many law firms will hire recent college grads as legal assistants. They jobs are not high paying but they are an excellent way to get exposure to law and see if you like it. I'm married to a lawyer. We both did this before law school. We both like being lawyers. I think it's because we knew what we signed up for. Some of my fellow legal assistants did not like it and did not go onto law school. Better for them to know. Some of my fellow law students without previous exposure to law dropped out. Many more made it through law school only to switch careers. They are doing very random non law things. Could have saved their $$ and not gone to law school.

Again I like law but it's not for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My thoughts are that I feel sorry for your kid.

+1

[Anonymous]

Guys there are tons of small / middle market investment banks out there founded by 1 or 2 people that left a bigger shop and focus on $10-$50m deals that the big banks wouldn’t waste their time on. And you do not have to come from a top business school to find these but you do have to hustle. Once you’re “in” you can lateral to a bigger bank if desired and exit to PE.

I used to work in M&A and bankers/PE guys make 100x what the highest paid lawyers do. I often created the transaction fees / funds flow memo, and let me tell you- on a $10b deal, the sellside bankers walked away with well over $100m in fees, while the law firm had less than $5m. And I think it was closer to $2m