Dual MBA/JD

[spiegel.j]

Basically when is a dual JD/MBA worth it? Only at T10 or T20 B Schools? When the program is 3 years instead of 4? Only when the student is interested in corporate law or the legal side of business? Do people with these degrees make significantly more than people with just a JD or just an MBA? What should a prospective law student do to be a more competitive applicant for the MBA side of things?

[Nova]

There will be 0 advantage to having an MBA in the law firm environment. It's plausible it could have slight benefits down the road. Very, very few firms are going to see the JD/MBA as a material boost vs. just looking at your JD school + performance when making hiring decisions.

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[spiegel.j]

Thanks... Didn't realize there was already so much on the topic. My bad.

[lsat_hopeful]

tag

[tomwatts]

There's also this.

Long story short, it's not going to be a particularly useful credential in law (as in, a hiring partner says, "Ooohhh, shiny!" and then wants to hire you — this will not happen). However, the education and experience can be good, depending on your prior experience/knowledge, the program you attend, and your goals. It's not required for any particular path within law, but it may be helpful stuff to know and give you some useful connections, especially for corporate transactional work.

But if you view school as paying for a diploma in order to get a job (which seems to be the majority view on TLS), then it's probably not worth it.

[AllTheLawz]

With few exceptions, neither the JD nor the MBA even pretend to teach you a practical, useful skillset (i.e. if you ask a prof, they will say their job is to teach you "how to think"). One exception may be quant-based finance/valuation classes at B-schools but most of the MBA students who take those classes worked in a quant function in PE/Hedge Funds/IBD before b-school and you aren't getting a job in those fields without pre-MBA experience. The big payoff for a JD/MBA would be much later on when you are successful in your career and are being considered for board positions. Everybody wants someone with both business and legal acumen on their board. Difficulty there is that you would need to practice law for some time before making the switch to the business side and god knows how hard that can be.

Otherwise, both consulting and IBD/Wealth Management hire direct from law schools or MBA programs. Small company recruiting is likely to be more focused on MBA programs but whether you get the job will depend on a ton of person-specific variables.

Also, ignore all the stuff about understanding legal transactions or business thinking better as a lawyer if you get an MBA. Sure it might help a small bit but there is an entire shelf of books at your local bookstore that do this equally effectively but at a price of $100 and a few hours of your time rather than $50k and a year of lost earnings. You aren't coming up with a novel deal structure or walking in the door with incredible insight because you took "Corporate strategy for senior managers" one semester.