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I think i'm interested in doing transactional work, but I came straight through from undergrad with no business background (political science degree).

What is the best way to present myself in an OCI interview as wanting to do transactional / corporate work ??

wear a tie with dollar bills on it.

adameus wrote:wear a tie with dollar bills on it.

lol

Did you do any extracurriculars that had anything to do w/ transactional stuff (like a law & business group)? Did you do any transactional-like work at your summer job? If not I would say look for some.

I don't know where this misconception comes from. You don't have to have a business background to do corporate/transactional work any more than you would to do litigation, especially at a big firm. Does having a business background help you understand what you're doing and the paperwork you're reviewing? Yes. Is it a requirement? No.

OP wasn't asking about whether it was required to have a business background but rather, how to present yourself as being interested in that kind of work with no past experience in it.

I think Doritos is right in that you should try to play up some activity or experience you had with business law stuff.

Being able to "speak the language" is important to making a credible case for your interest. I read the NYTimes DealBook and AmLaw Daily over my summer to prepare for and understand what was going on.

Potential successful strategies:

(1) you don't like westlaw/lexis. You'd be SHOCKED how many corporate partners list something like this (i.e. I didn't like lit, so what the hell was I going to do otherwise?) when asked how they got into corporate law.

(2) The non-zero sum aspect of corporate work, finding value for everyone, structuring, intensity, etc.

(3) Read one famous book (I read Barbarians at the Gates) and without taking yourself too seriously mention that it seemed interesting. I got a lot of mileage out of that As a handy aside, that book in particular will somewhat demystify what people mean when they talk about M&A and corporate governance, and is useful for that too

But yeah, as others said, you need no background nor will you be grilled about it. Anybody can do the work and get up to speed on the lingo, you won't have to pass a test. Compare and contrast with geographic ties to smaller markets where you will likely be interrogated.

thx for the help ... are there any good resources for reading up about transactional / corporate work??

Anonymous User wrote:thx for the help ... are there any good resources for reading up about transactional / corporate work??

WSJ, financial times, champers & associate practice area summaries, the blogs dealbreaker (tabloid), deal book, and deal journal (both legit newspaper blogs). There's much more press about the underlying transactions, just know that almost all of it involves legal advising for SEC compliance, proper structuring, tax issues, corporate governance, etc.

thesealocust wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:thx for the help ... are there any good resources for reading up about transactional / corporate work??

WSJ, financial times, champers & associate practice area summaries, the blogs dealbreaker (tabloid), deal book, and deal journal (both legit newspaper blogs). There's much more press about the underlying transactions, just know that almost all of it involves legal advising for SEC compliance, proper structuring, tax issues, corporate governance, etc.

+1, there's really no way for you to fully (or even partially) understand the legal background of these huge deals, so what you should focus on, if anything, is knowing and understanding business terminology. Having that basic framework will go a long way when/if you start your first transactional project as a summer.