Top Law Schools

Im currently an accounting undergrad. I will be starting my final year in fall and I have a 3.67 GPA. Ive been contemplating about wanting to become a tax attorney. Is it worth it, or should I just forget about it and just get my CPA and call it a day? Im unsure, that's why I haven't bothered even studying for the LSAT. Things that scare me off are the expensive tuition and an additional three years of opportunity cost.

No reason not to get the CPA and work a few years. And if you still want to go to law school after that, you're only in a better place to do so than you are now. I think a CPA probably gets a nice little boost in firm hiring, but someone else would know better than I.

I am also curious whether a cpa can get a little boost in firm hiring?

Have you been able to do any internships in undergrad? It might be worth it to check out the accounting field before going to law school. I was also an accounting major and I know getting a little bit of work experience gave me some insight into what the field was like. I ended up deciding law school was the right choice for me, personally, but I also have a few friends who ended up liking accounting.

(I do want to add that I'm only a 0L and I'm sure there are other people here on TLS with far more knowledge on this topic.)

Regarding tuition expense (if you do decide to go to law school): get your GPA as high as possible your last year of undergrad and get as high of an LSAT score as you can. Substantial (or even full) merit scholarships are very much a thing in law school if you have the numbers.

Ericwa wrote:I am also curious whether a cpa can get a little boost in firm hiring?

Maybe slightly, but no more than any other professional job.

When you interview with firms for a summer job you can express a desire to do tax but very few hire you straight into a narrow practice so to them your CPA probably looks about as good as consulting or banking or paralegalling or whatever.

ISDcaptain wrote:Im currently an accounting undergrad. I will be starting my final year in fall and I have a 3.67 GPA. Ive been contemplating about wanting to become a tax attorney. Is it worth it, or should I just forget about it and just get my CPA and call it a day? Im unsure, that's why I haven't bothered even studying for the LSAT. Things that scare me off are the expensive tuition and an additional three years of opportunity cost.

I think you would be better off working for at least a couple of years at a Big 4 firm. Most people go to law school because they have a totally unmarketable liberal arts degree and therefore have no other obvious alternatives. The Big 4 firms in my area start out at around 52k, which is probably equal or more than what most entry level lawyers make. Law school isn't going anywhere, and while you work you can use the opportunity to further reflect on your professional goals. In addition, with a few years of work experience, applying to a top MBA program also becomes an option.

.....

Ericwa wrote:I am also curious whether a cpa can get a little boost in firm hiring?

def worth a boost. its not a prerequisite but it would def help.

dabigchina wrote:

2014 wrote:

Ericwa wrote:When you interview with firms for a summer job you can express a desire to do tax but very few hire you straight into a narrow practice so to them your CPA probably looks about as good as consulting or banking or paralegalling or whatever.

I talked to a couple of V10 partners and this seems to be the opposite of what i came away with. if you want tax, express your interest in tax and try as hard as you can to get into tax. after you start in general corporate it may be harder to get into specialty groups.

i've also heard that having a cpa/accounting background helps a lot with in house hiring for tax people because many tax departments are accounting driven.

you do need to understand that big4 accounting can be very demanding. i would knock out the LSAT/CPA ASAP while you still have time.

I was/am talking about hiring into summer programs specifically, not into full time associate positions. You will certainly have to elect to go all in on tax at the end of your summer at basically all firms. The point is this choice is made well after you have actually interviewed with firms because of the nature of big law hiring.

OP: Based on the info. shared in your original post in this thread, you need to get your CPA designation & work for a few years before attending law school. Psychologically, you just don't seem ready for another 3 or 4 years of school.

CanadianWolf wrote:OP: Based on the info. shared in your original post in this thread, you need to get your CPA designation & work for a few years before attending law school. Psychologically, you just don't seem ready for another 3 or 4 years of school.

Yeah you are right. I'd rather not fill the corrupt ABA's coffers with my hard earned cash for dim-employment prospects. As a CPA I can have 150k in the bank in three years as opposed to losing to the money grubbing ABA.

ISDcaptain wrote:Im currently an accounting undergrad. I will be starting my final year in fall and I have a 3.67 GPA. Ive been contemplating about wanting to become a tax attorney. Is it worth it, or should I just forget about it and just get my CPA and call it a day? Im unsure, that's why I haven't bothered even studying for the LSAT. Things that scare me off are the expensive tuition and an additional three years of opportunity cost.

I'm an in-house tax attorney, did biglaw for a while first. I haven't worked for big4, but most of my non-attorney tax department colleagues have, and I work quite a bit with our outside auditors and advisers from the big4.

If you already have Big4 on the table, it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay at least long enough to get your CPA. CPA tax work is generally quite different than biglaw tax work, but the two converge a lot more if you go in house. It's also a nice credential for clients and a good way to get real world experience before law school.

That said, having a law degree can open doors than the CPA designation does not. I find the highest level work (both in-house and outside advisers) tends to go to lawyers. I also think the law degree gives you a real leg up in corporate tax departments.

Tuition is a real concern, although I would say that the salary delta could make up for it if you get into a top school where biglaw is a legitimate expectation and you don't mind working extra hard. Biglaw is a bit more intense than big4, but not extraordinarily so. Also worth noting is that it's even harder to make partner in big4 than biglaw.

nealric wrote:

ISDcaptain wrote:Im currently an accounting undergrad. I will be starting my final year in fall and I have a 3.67 GPA. Ive been contemplating about wanting to become a tax attorney. Is it worth it, or should I just forget about it and just get my CPA and call it a day? Im unsure, that's why I haven't bothered even studying for the LSAT. Things that scare me off are the expensive tuition and an additional three years of opportunity cost.

I'm an in-house tax attorney, did biglaw for a while first. I haven't worked for big4, but most of my non-attorney tax department colleagues have, and I work quite a bit with our outside auditors and advisers from the big4.

If you already have Big4 on the table, it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay at least long enough to get your CPA. CPA tax work is generally quite different than biglaw tax work, but the two converge a lot more if you go in house. It's also a nice credential for clients and a good way to get real world experience before law school.

That said, having a law degree can open doors than the CPA designation does not. I find the highest level work (both in-house and outside advisers) tends to go to lawyers. I also think the law degree gives you a real leg up in corporate tax departments.

Tuition is a real concern, although I would say that the salary delta could make up for it if you get into a top school where biglaw is a legitimate expectation and you don't mind working extra hard. Biglaw is a bit more intense than big4, but not extraordinarily so. Also worth noting is that it's even harder to make partner in big4 than biglaw.

Yeah that's what I want to do as a Tax Attorney. But lets face it, most schools have only have a 50% employment rate and that's abysmally low for the 150k they charge in tuition. Id be so down for law school if it was cheaper and only took 2 years like a masters degree or an MBA. At this point in time it just doesn't seem viable even through I really want to be an attorney(Ive taken three classes of business law as electives), but I cant make financially ignorant decisions. Also Ive been in undergrad for 5 years, its time to take a break from school and earn some dough.

You don't do this track if you only get into average schools. It's HYSCCN or other T14 with significant scholarship or bust.