Exit Options for Big4/WTAS Tax with JD Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey Guys,
Anonymous so I'm not outed as enough identifiers under my normal name. Before anyone says taxtalent.com, I've searched over there and also tried to post my question, but they have some kind of approval for posts, and it's been 3 days and still hasn't shown up, and I want to get some input from TLS people also anyways.

I had a question regarding exit opportunities / career moves from WTAS Tax as a JD. I have an undergrad in business/finance and my JD is from a school ranked 40-50, and GPA was only right at about median unfortunately (I only say this, as obviously biglaw was never even a consideration). However, I do like tax work, and I won't necessarily be broken if I am not a practicing attorney.

So that said, what kind of exit opportunities would there be for someone with a JD working in Tax at WTAS in one of the main hub offices - NY/SF/LA/Chicago? Additionally, if I wanted to focus on the alternative investment fund groups - clients that are hedge funds, PE/VC, how would that play into exit opps vs. high net worth individuals vs. corporations? Would there be an opportunity to lateral into B4 after a couple years, and then after a couple more years there then have better exit opps? And also what kind of exit opps are there straight from WTAS after 4 years? And also after a couple years at Manager level?
Thanks so much for your time!

[Anonymous User]

The office you work at is less significant than the work you do. As a general principle the exit options will be other accounting/tax consulting firms, maybe small to mid law if you do controversy, and government at a very long shot. I know people who have gone from B4 to Biglaw but it's very tough, and they weren't partners.

[Anonymous User]

The office you work at is less significant than the work you do. As a general principle the exit options will be other accounting/tax consulting firms, maybe small to mid law if you do controversy, and government at a very long shot. I know people who have gone from B4 to Biglaw but it's very tough, and they weren't partners.

Thanks for the info! As far as moving to other accounting/tax consulting firms, is it feasible to transfer to big4 from a place like WTAS after a few years, and then leveraging that into at least getting the "best" out of what exit options there are with that name brand?

[Anonymous User]

It's pretty common, yeah. You'll definitely be in a relatively stronger position exiting from B4, but what you can get really depends on the group you were in and who you know, rather than than the fact you worked at B4. For instance, international places very well, to the extent you're better off staying at a WTAS international job if you can only get B4 controversy or something. But if you can get a few years of B4 international right before you go into industry or whatever, that's preferable to staying on at a smaller firm.