Practice group for someone who loves Securities law? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I took a bunch of business law classes (M&A, Business Associations, Real Estate...) but I wasn't crazy about them although I got decent grades.

And I took Securities law class and love it. Can you recommend any practice group for me?

An obvious one is Capital Markets. I am naturally drawn to economic theories. Is there any way ON PAPER that I can convince that I am fit for Capital Markets practice?

Other than Capital Markets, can anyone recommend any other practice group for me? VC? PE? Anything related to economic theories for the market.

Any input would be really appreciated!

[pancakes3]

Are you a 3L? Did you go through OCI?

[SFSpartan]

VC/Emerging Companies is more than just securities work. Things may be different at Biglaw firms, but I routinely deal with IP and employment issues in additional to more bread and butter corporate work. Can't speak to PE work, but my impression is that it's mostly cookie cutter deals (i.e. not much changes from deal to deal).

You should be able to get cap markets interviews if your grades are sufficient. The fact that you think otherwise makes me suspect that you either (i) haven't been on TLS for very long; or (ii) are a troll.

[PMan99]

Securities lit and antitrust both fit the bill but as an associate you won't be dealing with any theory (or really as a partner). You'd need to be a prof to do what you want to do, I think.

[RaceJudicata]

Are you a 3L? Did you go through OCI?

the really important question.

[nunumaster]

Yea... you need to get hired to a big law firm. And they don't care about what you did in undergrad or what you think you know or don't know. If you're you're hired, and want to be in a corporate group like cap markets, they'll happily put you in it.

[bwh8813]

Investment Management / Private Funds groups deal a lot in securities law. To many, it's not the sexiest of practice though, but I have heard it can lead to good in-house exit opportunities. Hedge Funds have been taking a beating of late, but dissolution also requires lawyers.

[WhiteCollarBlueShirt]

Investment Management / Private Funds groups deal a lot in securities law. To many, it's not the sexiest of practice though, but I have heard it can lead to good in-house exit opportunities. Hedge Funds have been taking a beating of late, but dissolution also requires lawyers.

Not much registered experience, but wouldn't registered do more? Not so much work in determining accredited, QP, 3(c)(1), 3(c)(7), etc.

And real answer is of course, no practice has much of anything to do with securities law, except for potentially litigation and being a professor. And hope OP plans on limiting his trading hobbies.

[Anonymous User]

Investment Management / Private Funds groups deal a lot in securities law. To many, it's not the sexiest of practice though,

Can you elaborate more on why it is not a popular practice? Clients are pickier and meaner? Most projects involve all-nighters?

[oblig.lawl.ref]

Investment Management / Private Funds groups deal a lot in securities law. To many, it's not the sexiest of practice though, but I have heard it can lead to good in-house exit opportunities. Hedge Funds have been taking a beating of late, but dissolution also requires lawyers.

And real answer is of course, no practice has much of anything to do with securities law, except for potentially litigation and being a professor. And hope OP plans on limiting his trading hobbies.

Not sure I agree with that. My firm does IPOs, often issuer side, and then works with the companies on their public company disclosures. I'm in the regulations all the time. Sure, there's a limited number of firms with a robust practice in this area but they certainly exist.

That being said, yeah, very difficult to maintain a trading hobby at any BL firm.

[RaceJudicata]

Investment Management / Private Funds groups deal a lot in securities law. To many, it's not the sexiest of practice though,

Can you elaborate more on why it is not a popular practice? Clients are pickier and meaner? Most projects involve all-nighters?

Because it is incredibly technical and boring. IMO

[WhiteCollarBlueShirt]

Investment Management / Private Funds groups deal a lot in securities law. To many, it's not the sexiest of practice though, but I have heard it can lead to good in-house exit opportunities. Hedge Funds have been taking a beating of late, but dissolution also requires lawyers.

And real answer is of course, no practice has much of anything to do with securities law, except for potentially litigation and being a professor. And hope OP plans on limiting his trading hobbies.

Not sure I agree with that. My firm does IPOs, often issuer side, and then works with the companies on their public company disclosures. I'm in the regulations all the time. Sure, there's a limited number of firms with a robust practice in this area but they certainly exist.

That being said, yeah, very difficult to maintain a trading hobby at any BL firm.

I'll defer to you on that, only ever done some blue chip capm work (so no new issues) and far from a focus, stick to alternatives industry generally (which after the first year or so has felt pretty light on the learning curve aside from AIFMD, registered agents, etc.)

[Anonymous User]

In securities litigation senior associates/partners will work with the experts (profs) to fashion arguments about the securities markets for different stages of the case. Firms with big securities lit practices will also often be tagged to do amicus briefs in securities law cases so that's another way you might get to talk about "economic theories for the market" at a high level. But going into securities lit hoping to focus on the law at such a theoretical level is like trying to find a needle in a haystack full of shit (endless doc review and discovery.)

One other thing - many firms actively discourage frequent trading in individual stocks (no such bar to trading in ETFs/index funds). In fact my firm has rules in place that make it very difficult to trade in the shares of publicly-traded companies.

[Anonymous User]

In securities litigation senior associates/partners will work with the experts (profs) to fashion arguments about the securities markets for different stages of the case. Firms with big securities lit practices will also often be tagged to do amicus briefs in securities law cases so that's another way you might get to talk about "economic theories for the market" at a high level. But going into securities lit hoping to focus on the law at such a theoretical level is like trying to find a needle in a haystack full of shit (endless doc review and discovery.)

Then what do associates in investment management practice actually do on a daily basis? For instance, researching filing requirements for an IPO and did the actual filing?

[WhiteCollarBlueShirt]

In securities litigation senior associates/partners will work with the experts (profs) to fashion arguments about the securities markets for different stages of the case. Firms with big securities lit practices will also often be tagged to do amicus briefs in securities law cases so that's another way you might get to talk about "economic theories for the market" at a high level. But going into securities lit hoping to focus on the law at such a theoretical level is like trying to find a needle in a haystack full of shit (endless doc review and discovery.)

Then what do associates in investment management practice actually do on a daily basis? For instance, researching filing requirements for an IPO and did the actual filing?

You're definitely conflating capital markets with IM - IM represents funds/manager typically in connection with fundraising and general management company-related issues; Capital Markets/Securities/etc. do public company offerings and new issues... with some overlap on perhaps with various registered fund offerings. As a lawyer your job is to do paperwork, legal research is generally rare (maybe a dedicated compliance lawyer would do more).

[Blackfish]

.

[Anonymous User]

double post

[Anonymous User]

So what would be a good practice for someone who likes the business/ finance/ securities side the law but also likes to research case law and write things other than ppms and lpas?

[WhiteCollarBlueShirt]

So what would be a good practice for someone who likes the business/ finance/ securities side the law but also likes to research case law and write things other than ppms and lpas?

I mean, you'd prob be better off in reorg or M&A and taking a pay hit to move to the business side when/if possible (I say hit cause you'll effectively lose your class year bumps)... distressed debt, litigation finance, an advisory reorg group, but you'll end up building slide decks all day. Law is risk management and word docs. I imagine you'd hate capital markets and investment management even though you're tangentially interested in asset management and public company stock picking.

[Anonymous User]

What about more interesting capital markets work, like high yield/leveraged finance? Is this as boring if you're on the lender sider?

What about doing bank finance / credit agreements. How does that rank in boredom with investment management, cap markets, and the above.