Top Law Schools

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:14 pm**

So I go to a T2 law school and will be starting 2L in the fall. I'm a bit above median ( top third or so). What I really want to do is work for a hedge fund and eventually start my own hedge fund. I have a traditional law school background (Poli Sci undergrad). I have only invested in the stock market recreationally with success over the last couple of years and have a real zest and passion for investing money. I have always seen myself getting a law degree and enjoy law school but am not sure exactly how I can use it in my effort to get into the hedge fund industry.

Should I get an MBA? Is there any way the law degree can help me get into a strong MBA program? What do I do? I greatly appreciate any help.

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:30 pm**

bump.

I also love investing recreationally and would like to know how a law degree fits in if I would like to make it a career.

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:34 pm**

Viper12 wrote: Should I get an MBA? Is there any way the law degree can help me get into a strong MBA program? What do I do? I greatly appreciate any help.

If you went to Penn, maybe, what with their dual Wharton program. But you don't, so...no.

Viper12 wrote: I also love investing recreationally and would like to know how a law degree fits in if I would like to make it a career.

I'm afraid my advice would be to cut your losses, drop out of law school, take the GMAT, and apply to top business schools. Little if anything about a TT JD is going to help you find success in hedge funds.

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:53 pm**

laotze wrote:
Viper12 wrote: Should I get an MBA? Is there any way the law degree can help me get into a strong MBA program? What do I do? I greatly appreciate any help.
If you went to Penn, maybe, what with their dual Wharton program. But you don't, so...no.

Viper12 wrote: I also love investing recreationally and would like to know how a law degree fits in if I would like to make it a career.
I'm afraid my advice would be to cut your losses, drop out of law school, take the GMAT, and apply to top business schools. Little if anything about a TT JD is going to help you find success in hedge funds.

IDK about cutting loses that's 100k+ without a JD to show for it seems a bit questionable imo. Only 50k more for 1 more year year make 500k+ income afterward 3-4 years to pay off your debt and save up 100k for your MBA then pursue a MBA after 4 or 5 years work experience. If your dream can wait, I think that would be your best option both financially and psychologically (two wasted years of your life can seem pretty hard to explain and rationalize down the line 10 or 15 years... just finish what you started work in law for awhile and then make your move.) You have plenty of years ahead of you don't make a decision you'll regret.

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:56 pm**

What is this I don't even...

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:59 pm**

No offense, but I don't think you could get into an investment role period. Even with an MBA, it would have to be from a top school and you would still then have about a 0% chance to work at a hedge fund right out. You would have to gain a spot on an equity research team, or S&T role or another analysis role at a regarded asset management firm. After that, you would need massive amounts of connections and luck to get in the door in a substantive way at a fund. I know traders who have been at desks for 3+ years and who have great PNL and don't have anyone hitting them up about joining a hedge fund. Also, if you think law is a dying industry, hedge funds are in for a huge correction. They charge 2% management fees and 20% performance fees so that they can mimic or do worse than the market, and the fact that client money is essentially illiquid for months at a time, people are no longer wanting to keep capital tied up that long with the huge swings the market makes in this new ultra-volatile market. Honestly, MBA is a good way to go if you want to do investments, but MFin, would be cheaper most likely (if you can get in with a poll sci major - probably not), and the law degree will be a huge burden when pitching yourself for investments, unless you have a $100K portfolio you can talk about and discuss why you made certain moves at certain times and the strategies you employed, most interviewers wont even give you a second look.

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 4:01 pm**

akg144 wrote:
laotze wrote:
Viper12 wrote: Should I get an MBA? Is there any way the law degree can help me get into a strong MBA program? What do I do? I greatly appreciate any help.
If you went to Penn, maybe, what with their dual Wharton program. But you don't, so...no.

Viper12 wrote: I also love investing recreationally and would like to know how a law degree fits in if I would like to make it a career.
I'm afraid my advice would be to cut your losses, drop out of law school, take the GMAT, and apply to top business schools. Little if anything about a TT JD is going to help you find success in hedge funds.
IDK about cutting loses that's 100k+ without a JD to show for it seems a bit questionable imo. Only 50k more for 1 more year year make 500k+ income afterward 3-4 years to pay off your debt and save up 100k for your MBA then pursue a MBA after 4 or 5 years work experience. If your dream can wait, I think that would be your best option both financially and psychologically (two wasted years of your life can seem pretty hard to explain and rationalize down the line 10 or 15 years... just finish what you started work in law for awhile and then make your move.) You have plenty of years ahead of you don't make a decision you'll regret.

What. The. Christ.

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 4:06 pm**

Thank you for the replies. So would it be wise then to work in business law for a few years for work experience, save for the costs of an mba, and then apply? Assuming I follow through with these steps and can get into a strong (top 15 mba program), what is the next step? Work for a fund for a few years and then start my own, or immediately jump into starting my own? Im just trying to craft a plan.

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 4:11 pm**

laotze wrote:
akg144 wrote:
laotze wrote:
Viper12 wrote: Should I get an MBA? Is there any way the law degree can help me get into a strong MBA program? What do I do? I greatly appreciate any help.
If you went to Penn, maybe, what with their dual Wharton program. But you don't, so...no.

Viper12 wrote: I also love investing recreationally and would like to know how a law degree fits in if I would like to make it a career.
I'm afraid my advice would be to cut your losses, drop out of law school, take the GMAT, and apply to top business schools. Little if anything about a TT JD is going to help you find success in hedge funds.
IDK about cutting loses that's 100k+ without a JD to show for it seems a bit questionable imo. Only 50k more for 1 more year year make 500k+ income afterward 3-4 years to pay off your debt and save up 100k for your MBA then pursue a MBA after 4 or 5 years work experience. If your dream can wait, I think that would be your best option both financially and psychologically (two wasted years of your life can seem pretty hard to explain and rationalize down the line 10 or 15 years... just finish what you started work in law for awhile and then make your move.) You have plenty of years ahead of you don't make a decision you'll regret.
What. The. Christ.

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 4:17 pm**

Viper12 wrote:Thank you for the replies. So would it be wise then to work in business law for a few years for work experience, save for the costs of an mba, and then apply?

No. You will almost certainly not get "business law" (by which I assume you mean biglaw or in-house counsel) with median GPA from a T2. Drop out now and apply for an MBA. You have admitted you didn't have any compelling reason to be in law school in the first place.

Viper12 wrote: Assuming I follow through with these steps and can get into a strong (top 15 mba program), what is the next step? Work for a fund for a few years and then start my own, or immediately jump into starting my own? Im just trying to craft a plan.

Wrong forum. Honestly, it doesn't sound like you've done much research on law school or business school. I highly recommend taking some time off to work in whatever your pre-law school field was while you consider your life options.

I apologize for the tough love, but you are in a very precarious position and need to make some major life changes.

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 4:23 pm**

Viper12 wrote:Thank you for the replies. So would it be wise then to work in business law for a few years for work experience, save for the costs of an mba, and then apply? Assuming I follow through with these steps and can get into a strong (top 15 mba program), what is the next step? Work for a fund for a few years and then start my own, or immediately jump into starting my own? Im just trying to craft a plan.

dude, did you not read my post? there is pretty much no chance you work for a hedge fund out of business school .... period. There is also no way you start your own hedge fund without having millions in capital contributions, because otherwise you will not make any money. If you start a firm and are lucky to have idiots pay you 2+20 and they put in $500,00K into your fund, you will have management fees of $10,000. If you can beat the market on that $500K, and have returns of 20%, while the market is at 5%, you'll have incentive fees taken out on that 15% difference (75K *20%), which would equal a total revenue of your fund of about $25,000. That 25000 will have to then be split up between operations, lawyers, yourself, salary, etc. You need MILLIONS to start a hedge fund. You can however, start a partnership where friends give you money to manage and you put your own money into as a LP. Then you can invest and do whatever the hell you want, but this is highly unlikely unless you have a rich family/friend network and people actually trust your investment skill.

If you truly want to do hedge fund work in any way possible, go work at a big nyc firm and do fund formation work, or M&A work, or other dealmaking work where you get exposure to important hedge fund issues. M&A is great for special situation funds, long-short equity funds, or even investment banking --> hedge fund. Fund formation is great for dealmaking skills and creating fund structures that are efficient for the client and the LPs. Or if you do bankruptcy work you can possibly get into disstressed debt funds and things of that nature. But again, this is highly unlikely unless you have an absurd network or go to Harvard, and even then the chances are very small.

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 4:33 pm**

laotze wrote:
akg144 wrote:
laotze wrote:
Viper12 wrote: Should I get an MBA? Is there any way the law degree can help me get into a strong MBA program? What do I do? I greatly appreciate any help.
If you went to Penn, maybe, what with their dual Wharton program. But you don't, so...no.

Viper12 wrote: I also love investing recreationally and would like to know how a law degree fits in if I would like to make it a career.
I'm afraid my advice would be to cut your losses, drop out of law school, take the GMAT, and apply to top business schools. Little if anything about a TT JD is going to help you find success in hedge funds.
IDK about cutting loses that's 100k+ without a JD to show for it seems a bit questionable imo. Only 50k more for 1 more year year make 500k+ income afterward 3-4 years to pay off your debt and save up 100k for your MBA then pursue a MBA after 4 or 5 years work experience. If your dream can wait, I think that would be your best option both financially and psychologically (two wasted years of your life can seem pretty hard to explain and rationalize down the line 10 or 15 years... just finish what you started work in law for awhile and then make your move.) You have plenty of years ahead of you don't make a decision you'll regret.
What. The. Christ.

i cannot stop laughing right now and i'm sitting in my cube at work surrounded by people

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:06 pm**

This thread gave me cancer

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 6:06 pm**

OP, why, specifically, do you want to start a hedge fund? This is actually a really important question.

(i mean why a *hedge fund* and not other careers in investing)

Posted: **Fri Jul 05, 2013 8:43 pm**

mr.hands wrote:OP, why, specifically, do you want to start a hedge fund? This is actually a really important question.

(i mean why a *hedge fund* and not other careers in investing)

They're sexy, ok?

Posted: **Sat Jul 06, 2013 2:04 am**

Posted: **Sat Jul 06, 2013 1:31 pm**

Viper12 wrote:Thank you for the replies. So would it be wise then to work in business law for a few years for work experience, save for the costs of an mba, and then apply? Assuming I follow through with these steps and can get into a strong (top 15 mba program), what is the next step? Work for a fund for a few years and then start my own, or immediately jump into starting my own? Im just trying to craft a plan.

It seems that you ignored all of the comments in this thread except for the one from a 0L advising you to just go make $500k over the next 3-4 years with your T2 law degree. This is unwise.

Posted: **Sun Jul 07, 2013 3:14 pm**

Posted: **Sun Jul 07, 2013 3:42 pm**

Look at those statistics. That's the median income of students who land private practice legal jobs. But what percentage of those schools' students actually get these jobs in the first place? Figure this all out and then you'll understand everyone's reaction to your first post.

Posted: **Sun Jul 07, 2013 4:07 pm**

Viper12 wrote:So I go to a T2 law school and will be starting 2L in the fall. I'm a bit above median ( top third or so). What I really want to do is work for a hedge fund and eventually start my own hedge fund. I have a traditional law school background (Poli Sci undergrad). I have only invested in the stock market recreationally with success over the last couple of years and have a real zest and passion for investing money. I have always seen myself getting a law degree and enjoy law school but am not sure exactly how I can use it in my effort to get into the hedge fund industry.

Should I get an MBA? Is there any way the law degree can help me get into a strong MBA program? What do I do? I greatly appreciate any help.

No. Probably not. Reevaluate and drop out, if need be.

Posted: **Sun Jul 07, 2013 6:23 pm**

akg144 wrote:
dixiecupdrinking wrote:
Viper12 wrote:Thank you for the replies. So would it be wise then to work in business law for a few years for work experience, save for the costs of an mba, and then apply? Assuming I follow through with these steps and can get into a strong (top 15 mba program), what is the next step? Work for a fund for a few years and then start my own, or immediately jump into starting my own? Im just trying to craft a plan.
It seems that you ignored all of the comments in this thread except for the one from a 0L advising you to just go make $500k over the next 3-4 years with your T2 law degree. This is unwise.
LOL, TLS people r brutal I said 500k over 3-4 years but I'm guessing every1 either misread my statement or interpreted it as 500k per year. A cursory glance at the Tier 2 schools median income for private practice shows this to be a veritable reality. UNC is ranked 38 median priv. practice = 117,500. Wake Forest ranked 40 = 115,000. Not saying private practice is a lock but it's a strong possibility and not sure how else you think he's gonna pay of 100k debt otherwise. It's hopeless otherwise imo, but maybe everyone else knows some1 special and has a better way to make 100K+ per year, if so please PM me lol doubtful

What part of "median private practice income" makes you think T2 schools place an even remotely acceptable number of students in legal practice?

HINT: They don't.

Posted: **Sun Jul 07, 2013 6:24 pm**

Posted: **Sun Jul 07, 2013 6:26 pm**

Did you just ninja edit the portion referring to stats from 2007?

Posted: **Sun Jul 07, 2013 8:30 pm**

akg144 wrote:
dixiecupdrinking wrote:
Viper12 wrote:Thank you for the replies. So would it be wise then to work in business law for a few years for work experience, save for the costs of an mba, and then apply? Assuming I follow through with these steps and can get into a strong (top 15 mba program), what is the next step? Work for a fund for a few years and then start my own, or immediately jump into starting my own? Im just trying to craft a plan.
It seems that you ignored all of the comments in this thread except for the one from a 0L advising you to just go make $500k over the next 3-4 years with your T2 law degree. This is unwise.
LOL, TLS people r brutal I said 500k over 3-4 years but I'm guessing every1 either misread my statement or interpreted it as 500k per year. A cursory glance at the Tier 2 schools median income for private practice shows this to be a veritable reality. UNC is ranked 38 median priv. practice = 117,500. Wake Forest ranked 40 = 115,000. Not saying private practice is a lock but it's a strong possibility and not sure how else you think he's gonna pay of 100k debt otherwise. It's hopeless otherwise imo, but maybe everyone else knows some1 special and has a better way to make 100K+ per year, if so please PM me lol doubtful

Good luck with your career.

Posted: **Mon Jul 08, 2013 6:33 am**

I hope you posters that are saying "drop out and apply MBA nowz" realize that MBA programs are extremely focused on relevant work experience. OP, do you have any or are you k-JD?

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