Exit from NYC M&A to Investment Bank? Forum

[bananasfloat]

Anyone with any experience or insight on exiting from the corp group at a Latham/K&E/Weil to an Investment bank? Does this happen often? What are the pros and cons of such a move?

[QContinuum]

To clarify, are you looking to join the in-house legal department at an i-bank, or are you looking to become a banker? The former is common; the latter is decidedly uncommon and will be much tougher.

[bananasfloat]

To clarify, are you looking to join the in-house legal department at an i-bank, or are you looking to become a banker? The former is common; the latter is decidedly uncommon and will be much tougher.

considering both options, but am more curious about the pros and cons of a move banking (if this is even possible). Just looking for insight from those who have considered, tried, succeeded, failed, or knows of someone who has and can share some anecdotes.

[Anonymous User]

Worked at one of the big investment banks before law school. Fair number of the senior investment bankers were former lawyers from your Cravaths, S&Cs, and we hired JD-MBAs into associate roles fairly regularly just through the typical on-campus recruiting. Never had anyone lateral in from a law firm into my group, but 1) I was industry coverage, not M&A (where a legal background would be more valuable), and 2) I met some more junior ex-lawyers at another bank on a few transactions. You'd want to go through a connection though, as on paper it makes more sense to just hire a banker from a competitor.