<p>This is directed to students at top law schools: How would you characterize your peers? What qualities/traits do you find that most students/professors have? Are there virtues/abilities that many seem to lack? How do the law students compare to the business school students at your school (in your experience)? In your unbiased opinion, does the field of law attract the brightest minds? Or is it considered a less desirable fallback option?</p>
<p>I'm an undergraduate and am trying to get a sense of the type of personalities/skills/predilections that law school tends to attract. Before ranting about the inadequacy of generalizations, know that I'm only looking for anecdotes about the type of people (as perceived by contributors of this site) at the top LSchools and will not use them in isolation to inform my decision to apply or not to apply to LS. When asking seemingly knowledgeable/successful people, I've gotten very mixed perspectives as to the type of people that law attracts (ranging roughly from the most intelligent/intellectual in society to self-loathing, introverted wannabe investment bankers). I only ask because I find the law very interesting, and am very fond of debate or intellectually spirited discussion on almost any topic. I also like mathematics and economics; and ultimately will have to make a personal choice between finance and law down the road. Oddly enough, finding reliable information about law students/school is difficult; and I appreciate your insights.</p>
<p>“Or is it considered a less desirable fallback option?”</p>
<p>You are joking, right? Anyway, you will find a very small minority (I would say less than 10%) of law school students at HYS wanting to go into finance, mostly PE and venture capital. There are three types:</p>
<p>1st type: These people tend to be ones coming to law schools from positions at Goldman, venture capital firms, McKinsey, PE shops, etc. hoping that law school would enhance their perspectives during deal making, and most of these people are attending law school to make the transition into PE and venture capital after law school.
2nd type: Of course, once in a while, you will meet someone from a state school who never had the chance to have a prestigious finance position and who wants to use law school to get into investment banking. I’ve always wondered how such people got into HYS, but they are truly the exception.
3rd type: You may meet a true dreamer. The dreamer is someone who went to law school straight from undergrad wanting to make investment banking associate right after law school, not only skipping all the **** you have to go through as an analyst but also end up one or three years younger than your peer IB associates.</p>
<p>Overall, I think my law school peers were more intellectual and conceited than the investment bankers I’ve worked with. A lot of JD candidates I have talked with believed that law to be on par with PE and hedge fund intellectually and compensation-wise, a level above the type of finance (investment banking, capital markets, etc.) that requires 100 hour weeks, repetitive number crunching, etc. Therefore, overall, I think my JD peers think of themselves as smarter and more intellectual than the investment bankers but concede that investment bankers are more talented at sucking up. When I was in finance, I felt that investment bankers at entry levels have inferiority complex towards lawyers, hedge fund research associates, etc.</p>
<p>“Just curious, why did u choose to go to law school? (why not MBA or stay in finance)”</p>
<p>3 main reasons:
1st: Law seems more intellectual and analytically engaging at lower levels. Investment banking just isn’t analytically engaging at all at entry levels. Since at higher levels, both fields can be analytically engaging, I preferred one that’s engaging at lower levels as well.
2nd: Like I said, when I was in finance, I felt investment bankers at entry levels have inferiority complex towards towards JD holders, hedge fund research associates, people in PE, etc. I couldn’t stand that, and decided to get a JD.
3rd: I attended a school where the business school is unmatched by any other for PE and venture capital. I felt that law would give me an additional dimension during transactions, especially if I work on deals small teams. You can always attend whatever classes (including non-law related ones such as financial accounting, etc.) at the business school while in law school. Like many people have mentioned already, lawyers can always tread the track between law and finance (or do just law or just finance), while you are stuck with finance and business with a MBA and can’t touch law.</p>
<p>Interesting. I always thought Ibankers have huge ego relating to their profession. Actually I never heard of anyone make the claim that Ibankers feel inferiority complex towards lawyers. Looking back, do you think going to law school was a good choice for you individually? (I’m assuming you are a corporate lawyer?) </p>
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<p>I don’t know much about finance at all cuz I never worked in it. Did you find the work too mundane/ simple number crunching? Tons of the most serious/hard-core kids at my UG are gunning for Ibanking and perhaps they are doing themselves disservice…</p>
<p>“Interesting. I always thought Ibankers have huge ego relating to their profession. Actually I never heard of anyone make the claim that Ibankers feel inferiority complex towards lawyers. Looking back, do you think going to law school was a good choice for you individually? (I’m assuming you are a corporate lawyer?)”</p>
<p>High level people in all fields have huge egos, no matter if they are biglaw partners or IB MD’s. I don’t know why people think that IB analysts have big egos; maybe they brag when with consultants at MBB with they total compensation card. Even S&T analysts think IB analysts are tools and are arrogant especially when they use the pay/hour card.</p>
<p>“I don’t know much about finance at all cuz I never worked in it. Did you find the work too mundane/ simple number crunching? Tons of the most serious/hard-core kids at my UG are gunning for Ibanking and perhaps they are doing themselves disservice…”</p>
<p>The work is shallow and doesn’t require much thinking most of the time. I don’t know which school you attend. When I was in college (an Ivy), the very top students (think ones with 3.95+) gunned for positions at hedge funds and PE firms straight from undergrad; IB was a fallback option that would give them another year to break into hedge funds or PE firms without attending business school.</p>