Investment banker vs corporate lawyer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t go into law for any reason other than being really interested in law

+1

Thoroughly understand the type of law job you're seeking BEFORE you take the LSAT and apply to law school.

In your DC's case, this means talking to a lot of corporate lawyers about their day-to-day lives. What they do at work, how long they do it each week, is it predicatble/conducive to having a life outside work, how has it changed over time as they've grown more senior, and what do they wish they knew about corporate law back when they were in college.

If they're willing to share a printout of their time for the past two weeks (with all client-identifiable information redacted), all the better. Seeing what actually does with all those .4 and 3.2 amounts of time might be very enlightening.

Bottom line: Some people are made for corporate law. They genuinely like it and are not bothered by the long hours or tedious parts of the job. But many/most truly had no idea what they were signing up for. Don't let your DC be the latter type of lawyer. That life sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

It’s become harder and harder to lateral from one of these small shops to a large bank or a bigger PE firm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer. My uncle is an investment banker.

Investment banker is the much better job and there is, generally, a whole lot more money. But you know you don't just become an investment banker, right? It's not like "Oh, I want to go into investment banking" and then you follow that career path. It's not that simple or that easy, lol.

Actually much easier than a biglaw corporate lawyer. And more quickly.

[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.

This is so unbelievably incorrect yet said with such conviction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Oh no, he wants a job that makes money?!?! The gall to want to be paid well for working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

The highest paid corporate lawyers are making $30 million per year. Are you saying the highest paid investment bankers are making $3 billion per year?

[Anonymous]

Too late for IB unless he's already interviewing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is so unbelievably incorrect yet said with such conviction.

Good summary of 75% of the posts on DCUM. Right up there with “You’re doing it wrong.”

[Anonymous]

I was a corp lawyer. I cannot imagine being in IB. I am surprised that someone would be choosing between the two. They attract very different types of people despite being in related fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a corp lawyer. I cannot imagine being in IB. I am surprised that someone would be choosing between the two. They attract very different types of people despite being in related fields.

Can expand on what you mean? Different how so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a corp lawyer. I cannot imagine being in IB. I am surprised that someone would be choosing between the two. They attract very different types of people despite being in related fields.

Eh, I've known corporate lawyers who've moved to banking and bankers who've gone to law school and become corporate lawyers. You're overstating this. A 20 year old interested in both/either is in no way surprising.

[Anonymous]

"Corporate lawyer" does not mean the same thing to lawyers as it does to lay people. If you tell lawyers you want to be a "corporate lawyer," they assume you want to do corporate law, i.e., deal work and other stuff affecting how corporations function and merge, etc., as opposed to litigation, which involves disputes. Maybe he means that, or maybe he just means he wants to work in BigLaw. Anyway, make sure he knows what he is talking about before telling everyone this is his career path so he doesn't sound like an idiot to people in the actual field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Probably won’t be successful at either if mommy needs to come to mommy board seeing advice for her child who is a man.

+1

Let go!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a corp lawyer. I cannot imagine being in IB. I am surprised that someone would be choosing between the two. They attract very different types of people despite being in related fields.

Eh, I've known corporate lawyers who've moved to banking and bankers who've gone to law school and become corporate lawyers. You're overstating this. A 20 year old interested in both/either is in no way surprising.

1000+

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is so unbelievably incorrect yet said with such conviction.

Lol, this accurately describes 75% of posts of DCUM.