INVESTMENT BANKING CAREER FOR A LAW GRADUATE

Dear Jarus,

I am a third-year law student at the University of Ilorin. I am also an ICAN (ATS) student, though I’ll just be writing my first exams come September. I also work as a freelance writer online and offline.
I have gone through your site and I must say that it has been a very enlightening experience. Well done and thank you very much Sir.

I have keenly followed your posts on Nairaland, but I was particularly intrigued by the activity in the investment banking thread.
I am very interested in finance and business development, and I learnt a lot from the thread. I decided to send an email to one your co-contributors on Nairaland, asking him to mentor me since he is a lawyer and finance person, which is what I’m aspiring to be. I guess he is very busy.

I hope that you will be able to spare some time to answer my questions though; I would really, really appreciate it:

1. What are the prospects for a non-finance student in the world of management consulting and investment banking? I am not very adept at mathematics, though I’ve been taking some course of Coursera to bring me up to speed in economics, accounting and corporate finance. Is it a viable career path for a lawyer, and do you know lawyers who have made it in those fields?

2. I applied for an internship with Accenture and they have called me for an aptitude test. Will it be a pure test or interview inclusive, and what areas are the questions likely to be from? A friend who interned with KPMG said it was mostly essays, but someone else said I should prepare for GMAT.

3. I saw on your site that you do provide mentoring (by yourself or via referrals). Could you please mentor me or direct me to someone who will? Preferably a lawyer in finance, because while I’m very interested in finance, I’m confused about whether to approach it from the law side as a commercial lawyer, or from the purely finance aspect. I would appreciate any insights on this.

4. I’m also planning to apply for an internship opening at ARM later this week. Do you think that’s wise, considering that if I eventually get both, I will have to turn down one of them?

Thank you very much for reading through this, I’m really grateful. I hope to hear from you soon.

Best regards,
Wale

***

Dear Wale,

Thanks for the kind words.

Let me take your questions one by one.

1, Yes, Law background doesn’t stop you from being an investment banker. Like you already saw, TCANN studied law. You’ve taken the first steps by enrolling for ICAN ATS and taking Coursera courses. I believe by the time you complete all these, the quantitative skills needed for an IB career would have been acquired. Try and get a good MBA after your Law programme to cap it.

2, I’m not sure of the exact format for Accenture. But you should prepare for both essay and GMAT. I don’t expect the quantitative part to be more than basic.

3, Both are great – Finance side and commercial law side. But I will advise Finance side. Your law degree/knowledge will always be advantage anyway.

4, Apply to ARM too. When you get to the bridge, you decide on how you want to cross. There is nothing wrong in turning down an offer when faced with options. It happens everytime. If both came, as someone that wants a career in IB, I will advise you choose ARM – that is assuming you will be posted to their investment banking division, otherwise, Accenture.

I recommend you read these articles:

Career Advice: Investment Banking Vs. Law

How to Break Into Finance as a Lawyer (Google it)

I will also recommend you subscribe to and read the website Mergers and Inquisition (Google it) for best tips on investment banking career.

I wish you all the best.

Jarus

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