Non-legal employment with good grades? Forum

[Anonymous User]

People frequently say that you should only go to law school if you want to be a lawyer. I agree. I went, did well this past year and lined up two 1L SA's. I think I'd be happy as an attorney.

With that being said, I think I can do better - in terms of both money and satisfaction (I'm not trying to be part of the upper middle class here, I'm shooting for the 1%). Does anyone have any experience with, or know anyone who went into a non-legal corporate position at a large company strait out of law school?

Does anyone know how I would even go about doing this?

[dingbat]

People frequently say that you should only go to law school if you want to be a lawyer. I agree. I went, did well this past year and lined up two 1L SA's. I think I'd be happy as an attorney.

With that being said, I think I can do better - in terms of both money and satisfaction (I'm not trying to be part of the upper middle class here, I'm shooting for the 1%). Does anyone have any experience with, or know anyone who went into a non-legal corporate position at a large company strait out of law school?

Does anyone know how I would even go about doing this?

not straight out of law school, but I've known plenty of people to do so a few years out (and yes, I'm referring to the 1%)

[CanadianWolf]

Occasionally major national companies recruit newly graduated law students during OCI for management development programs. Otherwise you may want to combine your prior educational & work experiences to direct you to another career. Some pursue finance, real estate (probably commercial real estate) or get involved in the insurance industry.

[Aberzombie1892]

There are more than a handful of companies that hire someone with a JD to do project manager type positions.

[LOLyer]

Pretty sure there are plenty of lawyers in the 1%.

[Danteshek]

Start your own company if you want to be in the top 1%. Granted, there is a good chance you will wind up in the bottom 1% instead.

[Anonymous User]

what about non lawyer jobs for someone with a low graduating JD GPA? (let's say closer to 2.0)

The fact that the resume says "Juris Doctor" still looks cool to employers right?

[Anonymous User]

Occasionally major national companies recruit newly graduated law students during OCI for management development programs. Otherwise you may want to combine your prior educational & work experiences to direct you to another career. Some pursue finance, real estate (probably commercial real estate) or get involved in the insurance industry.

Do you know how well pursuing a career through the normal channels plays out? I really have no prior work experience and my education was in economics so I'm not sure what to look for.

Do management consulting firms hire lawyers?

Either way, I feel like saying "law just wasn't for me" in an interview for a non-legal position probably plays really well if you were in the top 1% of your class... am I wrong? Are there any negative assumptions that might be made about me in that situation?

[Borg]

Occasionally major national companies recruit newly graduated law students during OCI for management development programs. Otherwise you may want to combine your prior educational & work experiences to direct you to another career. Some pursue finance, real estate (probably commercial real estate) or get involved in the insurance industry.

Do you know how well pursuing a career through the normal channels plays out? I really have no prior work experience and my education was in economics so I'm not sure what to look for.

Do management consulting firms hire lawyers?

Either way, I feel like saying "law just wasn't for me" in an interview for a non-legal position probably plays really well if you were in the top 1% of your class... am I wrong? Are there any negative assumptions that might be made about me in that situation?

Your prospects are dramatically diminished without any work experience, regardless of where you go to school. Non-legal employers generally don't really care much about how your grades were in law school, because it's irrelevant beyond showing that you have some amount of intelligence/ability to take exams. Nothing you learn in law school will be directly applicable to anything else, other than working as a lawyer. It's hard to find a compelling reason to take someone with your background over an MBA or another JD who has relevant work experience. Also, saying something like "law just wasn't for me" isn't nearly good enough. You need actual reasons why you think whatever you interview for is right for you, and they need to be convincing reasons.

The people I know who were straight JDs that got jobs in business are generally doing consulting for one of the big three, or they are going into finance. They all have significant prior work experience, and the ones doing finance already worked at banks beforehand. You would probably be better off going to a law firm and trying to transition eventually than you would be trying to go straight into a business role.

[bdubs]

You would probably be better off going to a law firm and trying to transition eventually than you would be trying to go straight into a business role.

This, but OP sounds delusional about what kind of opportunities he will have in business. You're more likely to become a top earner by getting a job at a v5 and rolling the partnership dice than you are pursuing a the kind of consulting or finance positions you will get with a JD and no WE.

You haven't even specified what school you go to yet. Someone posted interview/callback/offer rates for McKinsey from HLS recently and even there the odds are not really that great. Anywhere below that will be even more of an uphill battle.

[gokumax]

A biglaw partner at a top firm would technically be in the top 1%, at least according to this NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011 ... ncome.html

[Borg]

A biglaw partner at a top firm would technically be in the top 1%, at least according to this NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011 ... ncome.html

Why technically? Also, doesn't even look like it needs to be a top firm as $386k will get you in the club, right?

[LawIdiot86]

A biglaw partner at a top firm would technically be in the top 1%, at least according to this NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011 ... ncome.html

Why technically? Also, doesn't even look like it needs to be a top firm as $386k will get you in the club, right?

Technically might refer to the PPP-Service/Equity anomaly. A service, non-equity partner at a branch office of firm like Dewey was, with a very exaggerated compensation ladder, might make under 386k.

[Anonymous User]

A biglaw partner at a top firm would technically be in the top 1%, at least according to this NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011 ... ncome.html

Based on this chart the average salary of a NYC school teacher is more than $75k. If you graduate from law school and don't make more than $70k and you're in NYC your next move should be to fill out an application with the Dept. of Ed. I bet they'd love to have a teacher on the role with a JD.

[Anonymous User]

You would probably be better off going to a law firm and trying to transition eventually than you would be trying to go straight into a business role.

This, but OP sounds delusional about what kind of opportunities he will have in business. You're more likely to become a top earner by getting a job at a v5 and rolling the partnership dice than you are pursuing a the kind of consulting or finance positions you will get with a JD and no WE.

You haven't even specified what school you go to yet. Someone posted interview/callback/offer rates for McKinsey from HLS recently and even there the odds are not really that great. Anywhere below that will be even more of an uphill battle.

I'm at a school ranked in the low 20s. Applying to transfer, solid shot at H.

I should probably have clarified - I expect to make less out of the gate in the non-law job than in a law-job. All I meant by my 1% crack was that the high-end earning potential is higher for corporate officers than for attorneys. The only exceptions to this rule are big-law partners, but the whole reason I don't want to work in the legal profession (maybe) is that I (probably) don't want to do big law (but can).

[Anonymous User]

Nothing you learn in law school will be directly applicable to anything else, other than working as a lawyer.

Wrong.

[Anonymous User]

Nothing you learn in law school will be directly applicable to anything else, other than working as a lawyer.

Wrong.

how?

[Borg]

Nothing you learn in law school will be directly applicable to anything else, other than working as a lawyer.

Wrong.

how?

Why are these anonymous? Also, I should mention that this is different than saying that legal knowledge is not helpful in general. I think you will be in a much better position to make moves after a few years of actually getting experience working on deals, because that knowledge can be very valuable. The stuff you pick up in law school without any context is of zero value though.

[Anonymous User]

I said wrong because a lot of the classes you take in LS are just business classes on steroids (or are actual business classes taken P/F in a few cases). But, I think you're probably right.

I'm considering doing the JD/MBA (free breh).

[Renzo]

If OP is at a sufficiently preftigious the correct answer is management consulting and exit into the executive suite at a F500.

[Borg]

I said wrong because a lot of the classes you take in LS are just business classes on steroids (or are actual business classes taken P/F in a few cases). But, I think you're probably right.

I'm considering doing the JD/MBA (free breh).

Not really, the content is completely different between the two. Even the most businessy law classes really aren't all that similar. Highly recommend JD/MBA.

[SchopenhauerFTW]

If OP is at a sufficiently preftigious the correct answer is management consulting and exit into the executive suite at a F500.

Being a management consultant sucks way more than being a lawyer.

[Anonymous User]

I said wrong because a lot of the classes you take in LS are just business classes on steroids (or are actual business classes taken P/F in a few cases). But, I think you're probably right.

I'm considering doing the JD/MBA (free breh).

Not really, the content is completely different between the two. Even the most businessy law classes really aren't all that similar. Highly recommend JD/MBA.

Well, I was a business major in undergrad and the classes had so little substance that it would be hard for me to compare content between the two. I went to a huge state school though. Scholastic achievement was not the focus.

[Anonymous User]

If OP is at a sufficiently preftigious the correct answer is management consulting and exit into the executive suite at a F500.

Being a management consultant sucks way more than being a lawyer.

Could you esplain pls.

[Renzo]

If OP is at a sufficiently preftigious the correct answer is management consulting and exit into the executive suite at a F500.

Being a management consultant sucks way more than being a lawyer.

No doubt. But, it's the path of least resistance to a C-level job at a big firm.