What's so good about getting both M.B.A. and J.D.?

[bigron1620]

<p>I currently have my MBA and am in the process of getting my JD. MY reason for the joint degrees is to get into the M&A Law. Having a MBA, if you are a practicing lawyer in this field is priceless. Does anybody agree?</p>

[lkf725]

<p>What is M&A please?</p>

[sallyawp]

<p>Mergers & Acquisitions. The dual degree also helps a lot in private equity and hedge fund work.</p>

[inkbottle]

<p>Thx for your concern Wildflower, ppl run into problems when they get out of preschool. You’ll know later. Some folks replied to that via PM to give some recommendations. She’s doing fine now, after switching advisors.</p>

[inkbottle]

<p>

I can count on two hands how many times in over 20 yrs that a client has required a JD/MBA. It has also been in job descriptions as a “plus.”

That’s probably the most useful statement so far.</p>

[sallyawp]

<p>Is a JD/MBA ever necessary? Probably not.</p>

<p>Is it highly desirable sometimes? Definitely yes.</p>

<p>I just got out of a meeting with some of the top officers of a Fortune 100 company. Both the CEO/President and the General Counsel have JD/MBAs from top schools. This is not unusual.</p>

[sakky]

<p>

I haven’t read all the responses but someone early on said it would make you very very marketable and I agree 100%. If you can get into a good JD/MBA program just do it, don’t debate it! I think people worry too much about “losing years” and going more into student debt. If you’re going into banking/trading student debt shouldn’t be too much of an issue when you consider one of your early bonus checks can cover all of your student debt. As far as losing years goes you will have a big advantage with that type of degree so it doesn’t matter.

</p>

<p>I think nobody disputes that it can be an advantage. The question is, whether it’s really worth the extra time and money. See below.</p>

<p>

Now it depends on what you do of course. If you get a JD/MBA and become a trader you probably did waste 3 years getting that JD. But if you go into M&A, private equity, or many types of hedge funds it’ll be a big help. The fund I work for focuses largely on distressed debt, we LOVE good candidates that have a JD/MBA. There is a considerable legal element to investing in distressed securities. Same with private equity or M&A. In fact if you look at the top M&A bankers or private equity guys on the street you’ll see a number of them have JD/MBAs. </p>

<p>Besides, any experienced banker will tell you that spending a few additional years in school getting to drink, party, and have casual sex is well worth it!

</p>

<p>Well, here, you are presuming that you are guaranteed to get the job you want. This is particularly so when you’re talking about how M&A, private equity, or hedge funds, which are all highly competitive. I know JD/MBA’s from Harvard who tried to get those types of jobs but didn’t get offers.</p>