Big 4 Law Forum

[Shredzeppelin240]

I'm probably jumping the gun on this but if someone could give me a general idea that would be great.

Most of my friends have gone into accounting with big 4 companies and are planning on staying there for as long as they can. I would love to work with my friends (I know that sounds silly). Professionally we are all like-minded, work hard and fairly smart. In our conversations it often comes up how I can go into a field of law in which we could work together either at a big 4, or if they left and started their own practice, how we could still have active, professional relationships. This is by no means of priority of mine, just something we occasionally joke about and explore in conversation.

If this scenario were to be likely or possible, would field of laws would be most appropriate? In the same vein, what law schools would be most beneficial? Obviously YHS would be nice but I know some schools are known for being more regarded for their tax programs or other subjects.

Thank you!

Oh half are auditing and half are the other kind commonly practiced in big 4. The term is escaping me.

[dabigchina]

Big4 are not allowed to practice law in the US. The big4 have tax lawyers working for them who do structuring and who provide tax advice.

It sounds like you are a 0L. I'm going to go out on limb and say none of your friends are going to be at their respective big4 when you graduate from law school.

[QContinuum]

Students at the T13/T20 do not target Big4 jobs, because they pay much less than BigLaw jobs (both initially and in terms of salary growth over time) and because it's possible to start in BigLaw tax and lateral to the Big4, but effectively unheard of to start in Big4 and lateral to BigLaw tax. Big4 tax practice is also generally thought of as less complex/"sophisticated" than BigLaw tax (and certainly as less "prestigious" in the legal industry). On the other side of the coin, the Big4 prefer hiring folks with a Tax LL.M., usually from NYU or Georgetown, instead of folks straight out of law school. Big4 jobs are generally targeted by students who graduated in the top ~quarter or so at a T1/T2 law school and didn't land BigLaw or BigFed, and went on to do a NYU/Gtown Tax LL.M. and did well in that program (but not quite well enough to land BigLaw tax).

[Anonymous User]

You sound very lost and confused about what you want to do with your life. Which is not unique, as I assume you are in your 20s? In any event, I would strongly counsel against going into a career which requires 3 years of school and likely lots of debt just because your friends are doing it.

I am a lawyer at a Big 4, and as an FYI, lawyers who go into the Big 4 generally end up in tax, and usually in specialty groups doing consulting (international, SALT, M&A), whereas other tax groups do mostly compliance, which is generally done by people with accounting degrees. I don't know a single JD who went to the audit side.

It's also just not a particularly great idea to go to law school with the *goal* of doing Big 4, unless you have an accounting background.

[Shredzeppelin240]

Students at the T13/T20 do not target Big4 jobs, because they pay much less than BigLaw jobs (both initially and in terms of salary growth over time) and because it's possible to start in BigLaw tax and lateral to the Big4, but effectively unheard of to start in Big4 and lateral to BigLaw tax. Big4 tax practice is also generally thought of as less complex/"sophisticated" than BigLaw tax (and certainly as less "prestigious" in the legal industry). On the other side of the coin, the Big4 prefer hiring folks with a Tax LL.M., usually from NYU or Georgetown, instead of folks straight out of law school. Big4 jobs are generally targeted by students who graduated in the top ~quarter or so at a T1/T2 law school and didn't land BigLaw or BigFed, and went on to do a NYU/Gtown Tax LL.M. and did well in that program (but not quite well enough to land BigLaw tax).

This is the exact info I was looking for thank you very much!