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I'm an analyst at an investment bank and I'm considering going to law school after my two-year stint. I've always been interested in law school and was planning on attending straight out of undergrad before I got my job, but figured I would try out finance to see how I liked it and to build some savings.

The typical career path in finance involves moving upward from analyst to associate to vice president to director, but from what I've seen, every position requires that your job take precedent over your life. I currently average about 90 hours a week (with 100 hour weeks not being uncommon), and the associates that I work with don't have it much better. Even the VPs and MDs pull 60-70 hours per week and are on call 24/7 to put in work for deals. I remember pretty vividly an experience where my MD was on vacation with his family and was essentially working through the night on a deal. The dude was too exhausted to spend time with his family during the day and came back looking worse than before he left. In general, it just doesn't seem like an attractive prospect to put your job above all else even at that age. I've heard it's better in other groups and other banks, but I'm at the point where I'm not sure if I want to bother looking for opportunities like that.

How is the work/life balance in biglaw? I know that the hours are brutal at a lot of firms, but compared to what I'm working now, the 60 hours/week that people talk about on here sounds like a cakewalk. I've also seen a lot more lawyers with successful family lives than bankers and it seems like firms encourage you to have more of a life than investment banks do. I know that pay is roughly the same for starting associates, but banking tends to progress faster but this isn't really a big deal for me. If it makes a difference, I would want to work in a secondary market (think Chicago, Houston, Dallas etc.) rather than NYC.

Basically, would it be worth going to law school for three years (I have enough saved that I'll have very minimal debt) and giving up three years of opportunity cost to switch careers? I know law sucks compared to your typical office job, but how is it compared to other high pressure service jobs and how does it differ in the secondary markets? Do the hours get better the higher up you progress? I appreciate an help

Is working at a PE shop not an option/interest? I've always heard that's the goal after 2 years in ibanking, and with it usually comes reduced hours.

PE is an option that I've considered and given a lot thought to (it's hard not to salivate at the thought of that amount of compensation), but I'm not sure it's something that I'd want to do.

I skipped PE recruiting this year (it typically happens about 6 months into your first year of banking for a job after your second year) because I was absolutely crushed at work and there was no way I could adequately prepare for interviews. There are still some smaller funds recruiting but if I want a legitimate shot at a top shop, I would need to recruit next year to start after my third year of banking. That's another year of 90+ hour weeks along with deteriorating health and sanity. Plus, the hours at the big PE shops aren't dissimilar to banking and an MBA is going to be necessary and, if I want to continue in the industry, it's going to have to be from Harvard or Stanford. Also, of my friends that have done PE, less than 1/5 are still working in it 5 years later. I'm not sure if it's worth going through the whole process just for that.

Anyone have any thoughts on how useful having banking/M&A experience would be at OCI when recruiting for firm jobs? I know that as a corporate attorney that's pretty much what you'll be doing, but idk how much of a boost that would be in terms of recruiting.

Under no circumstances would I suggest you go to law school, and honestly would say any solid PE gig would be better than the best legal job you could get, but that's just one person's opinion. To answer your main question re: hours, it really varies depending on firm, location, and practice. Many juniors bill 2100+ hrs/year (50-60 hours in the office a week with the occasional marathons), many can bill well over 2500+ (70-80 hours a week in the office and the occasional 90/100 hour weeks). Some spend a huge amount of time simply waiting around for work/people to get back to them, others might spend a whole week on doc review and bill for 12 hours straight a day. In either case, you're still going to be on call throughout vacations and weekends and you're still going to work a ton, though noticeably less than in investment banking, save for a few firms, where you will work just as much.

As folks move up the ladder, the hours do not get better, and arguably get worse for many as they take on more responsibility. You speak about how many people flame out of PE in 5 years... it is no different in biglaw.

That said, I can't really speak to non NYC hours, etc. Again, it will be largely contingent on the firm, office, and practice group. I will add however that nobody should go to law school under the assumption that the secondary markets are just up there for grabs. You could literally list every first year biglaw associate in most secondary markets on a single page of a word document.

IB sucks, there is no doubt about it, but in your shoes I would focus on taking any alternative position, even if not a "top shop," before going to law school. The pay will be better than biglaw, the hours will be the same, the devil you know, etc. You will save 200k, and the jd or mba will always be there.

Biglaw is only going to be a slight improvement over investment banking. You have valuable, marketable skills now, don't go to law school. Get another job in finance with better work-life balance. There are plenty of analysts with 40-50 hour a week jobs.

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