Summer gig --> Corp Compliance v. Tax Consulting Forum

[chiguy99]

Assuming I could land both (Compliance is mine if I want it, the other is a very solid chance), what route would be better (a) for an offer a yr from now (b) starting salary (c) future income/track? (mostly unsure of the future potential)

Note, I have Finance UG and 1 yr experience in finance (which I could sell for either route), taken a compliance class and can use my final project as a sample or selling point in the future. So that with a summer intern gig would clearly give me leg up for post school jobs in the compliance field as it appears most ppl have no experience in it, yet all listings ask for a couple yrs.

For tax, I find it more interesting than compliance, but am curious what the general consensus is as far as the future opportunities for both. From my research it seems like compliance is a comfy job, decent salary to start, but very few will be making decent money later down the line. Tax appears to start a little lower, but possibilities of progression and/or exit options are much better.

Note, the tax is not Big4, but right behind it.

Also, any input on the impact of having a JD with a tax consulting firm would be grand. Having a hard time nailing down info on how much it will help. I have noticed a lot of managing directors have JD's/

Thanks all!

[Anonymous User]

What do you mean by corporate compliance? Securities?

What do you want to do down the road? Inhouse? Firm? Legal role / nonlegal role?

[chiguy99]

Sorry for being vague with the Corp Compliance, it's just that I dont have the actual gig yet. Long story short, I can get a compliance intern role in a Fortune 500 doing across the board compliance (sec, environmental, etc), a financial regulation gig ... or tax consulting gig.

In an ideal world, I would like to get the tax experience, get an offer, move laterally after two yrs back into a firm with solid tax experience (hopefully int'l) and sell that aspect. However, given the climate and my financial background, part of me feels like Compliance is smart safe easy route.

In house is ultimate ideal world, but just dont really see how to realistically bridge the gap from the two above scenarios into that. As far as non-legal/legal, I could care less if Im never a practicing lawyer, I want the best career path and if that means business, biz it is

[Anonymous User]

Sorry for being vague with the Corp Compliance, it's just that I dont have the actual gig yet. Long story short, I can get a compliance intern role in a Fortune 500 doing across the board compliance (sec, environmental, etc), a financial regulation gig ... or tax consulting gig.

In an ideal world, I would like to get the tax experience, get an offer, move laterally after two yrs back into a firm with solid tax experience (hopefully int'l) and sell that aspect. However, given the climate and my financial background, part of me feels like Compliance is smart safe easy route.

In house is ultimate ideal world, but just dont really see how to realistically bridge the gap from the two above scenarios into that. As far as non-legal/legal, I could care less if Im never a practicing lawyer, I want the best career path and if that means business, biz it is

The best career path is totally subjective, so it's difficult to really give much input without knowing what you actually enjoy doing and what these jobs actually are. For some people best careers can mean (i) opportunity for advancement, (ii) money, (iii) good work/life balance, or (iv) genuine intellectual stimulation. Think about these priorities in light of your interviews at these various gigs.

Speaking generally, there are not a ton of in-house tax gigs. So, if in-house is your ultimate goal then corporate work will probably give you more options. If by financial regulation, you mean working with financial institutions on compliance matters, this will probably almost provide you with more in-house opportunities than tax in my opinion.

Ultimately, the devil is in the details. The most important consideration for your first job out of law school is training, in my mind. In-house departments are generally not great at training; however, there are exceptions. Some large companies are heavily investing in training in-house lawyers straight out of school and advancing them within the company. These can be great jobs if you get along with your colleagues. These departments can be very political, because they tend to be smaller than a firm. Generally speaking, the smaller the department, the more careful you need to be about "fit".

Also, you need to think carefully about what you will enjoy. Try to understand the day to day and ask your midlevel colleagues about their career progression. Is there room to move up in the company? I would be careful about directly asking this question before you have an offer in hand because some in-house departments want someone who will be happy filling a specific role for many years.

It's really hard to give advice - you need to look within and look closely at the details of these positions.

[Anonymous User]

This is semi-off topic, but approximately what is the starting salary for a compliance position at a big bank? This would be at their headquarters office (which is in a secondary market, not NYC).

[chiguy99]

Thanks for the response. I would agree with you that best career paths are based on a balance of those factors. I was curious if you had examples of typical in house options from a tax route v fin regulation route.

Tax consulting --> what role in house?
Fin Reg --> what role in house?

I am not looking to go inhouse straight from LS. I agree that inhouse is not the greatest training ground for freshly minted JDs. That being said, a few years out would be ideal and really need guidance on bridging the gap between the two. What types of institutions would be the best avenue?