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Hi,

I was wondering how useful an MBA would be for civil litigation (i.e. personal injury)? Would it really increase my employability? Is it worth it? The joint program is only 3 years long (same as law).

Thanks!

Can't tell if this is a flame, but it would most definitely have no substantial effect on employability for most civil lit areas of the law, especially one like personal injury.

If anything, an MBA might have some play in corporate law. Maybe someone who has an MBA and a JD could post here.

This has to be a flame...

An MBA is + for transactional practice.

It's probably not much of anything positive for general litigation at a large firm (the only real benefit could be possibly be that you would be that your clients are corporations and being able to understand "business" and shit that they throw at you).

Probably a huge red mark if you want to do shitlaw (such as personal injury work).

LOL, it was a legit question.

So what you're saying is that it won't be of any real use in civil litigation? What about being better able to understand the financial aspect of corporations in class action law suits, for example? Also, the job market is crazy competitive, will the MBA give me a leg up among other civil litigation applicants?

What do you mean "Probably a huge red mark if you want to do shitlaw (such as personal injury work)."?

might be useful if you want to open your own firm... but even then...

MBAs in general tend to be a waste of money unless it's a top one.

houdini600 wrote:LOL, it was a legit question.

So what you're saying is that it won't be of any real use in civil litigation? What about being better able to understand the financial aspect of corporations in class action law suits, for example? Also, the job market is crazy competitive, will the MBA give me a leg up among other civil litigation applicants?

What do you mean "Probably a huge red mark if you want to do shitlaw (such as personal injury work)."?

The problem here is that you didn't define what you meant by "civil litigation." "Civil litigation" covers pretty much everything except criminal litigation and transactional practice. And even transactional practice is implicated for when deals go bad. But you did mention "personal injury" so in that regard it wouldn't make any sense (why do you think a background in business would be helpful in chasing ambulances? A pair of air jordans might serve you better in that regard, lol).

OP, I feel the need to offer a different perspective than what XxSpyKEx offers. His advice, like mine, was correct that an MBA will have no bearing on personal injury work.

But you have to know what you are getting into. If you don't do doc review and research minutiae for large corporate firms, you might be called a 'shitlawyer' on internet blogs by posters who are not lawyers. Just goes with the game I suppose. You will also need to deal with the 'ambulance chaser' stereotype.

The bottom line is, if you want to do personal injury type work, go to a school that costs you nothing. Personal injury firms need litigators, not doc reviewers. They need personable rainmakers. They need results, not prestige. It would be foolish to get an MBA or an expensive JD if you want to become a personal injury lawyer. If that is your goal, go to a school that gives you the chance to get your JD and sit for the bar at zero cost. Otherwise, be prepared for a hard life.