I know several people who ended up taking that route, but not one of them intended it to begin with. Getting an LLM in tax is a major bonus.

Right. Just because many people never thought they'd end up taking that route, though, doesn't mean the OP shouldn't acquaint himself with the process if it indeed interests him. In other words, don't plan it; but if IB is your goal and you'd be happy in corporate law, even if you can't land a job at a bank you're still doing something that interests you.

As for the tax LLM comment, that was really in the context of asset management, where they are common. It obviously couldn't hurt for an IB position, but you would rarely see a banker with an LLM. Bankers often disdain people who leave banking to get an advanced degree only to return (with an MBA being the glaring exception). Even with MBAs, though, most MDs and Executive VPs at bulge brackets don't have MBAs, because they didn't want to waste two years of hustling within the bank, developing client bases, and making cash.

Thanks a lot for the information! Finance, in general, is something I am interested in and even though law is my goal right now I would like to acquaint myself with the other options out there. This information is certainly valuable. For me, I would like to work in corporate law with a firm for a while and then perhaps (if I feel the desire to move on and don't want to stay where I am) move onto PE or a hedge fund or something of the sort. Is this something that is possible coming from a non T14 (like a T30 for instance) given that I would already have experience in corporate law (3-5 years perhaps)? The prestige factor is a big deal I imagine and for a firm to be able to say they have a Harvard Law grad working on the client's deal would make them feel better I am sure. But is the experience at a law firm something that can overshadow that prestige value when it comes to moving into other areas of finance?

Yes, the caliber of your firm determines 95% of your exit options w/r/t finance. I only added the T14 bit because some banks are snooty and tend to accept applicants with Ivy-type pedigrees (Lazard comes to mind). A lot of this bias is because the higher-ups went to those types of schools, and when they were applying for jobs their higher-ups went to those places, and so on. Other banks (Stifel Nicolaus comes to mind) sometimes espouse the opposite view: kids that crushed it at lesser-ranked schools are less pampered and are likely to be more hungry.

As for PE and HF exit options....that's a bit misleading because they are not really options. PE firms hire two types of people, with almost no exceptions: (1) kids who went to work in an elite group of a bulge bracket bank straight out of college; and (2) kids graduating from a top-tier b-school who also have previous IB experience. Basically, working as an analyst or associate in an IB is a prerequisite for PE; but this is possible if you go: elite corporate law firm --> IB --> PE.

Working at an HF is even less likely, because there is zero overlap in lawyer skills and HF employee skills. HFs are looking for engineering and math majors who can understand the complex algorithms and formulae they use as trading strategies. There are very minor exceptions (e.g. a corporate bankruptcy lawyer gets recruited from an HF specializing in distressed assets), but these opportunities are rare, and you shouldn't count on finding one. Again, if you get IB experience after working in corporate law, you could be attractive to an HF - but unfortunately it would have nothing to do with your JD background.

Not ibanking.

It really depends on what you do after law school.
If you come up with some new tax advantages structure, that can translate well for certain hedge funds or PE.
Again, your best bet is to do biglaw and make a name for yourself (and develop connections).
If that's your end goal, get a job at biglaw, work in MA, tax, or similar, and keep your eye on the prize

A very good family friend is a senior partner at a top corporate law firm. He has spent the last 30 years focusing on M&A. He started at Penn in their JD/MBA program and in the end decided to pursue just the JD because his undergrad was in economics. He told me that you don't need an undergraduate background in finance or economics, but you must find these topics interesting. If you want corporate M&A, you should at least be reading the NY Times Dealbook and make sure you keep up with the latest happenings in the financial sector.