Big Law to IB

Hi everyone,

I am a current 2nd M&A year associate at a Vault 10 law firm inNYCand thinking about switching my career from big law intoIB. I have started pondering about this change since mysummer internshipduring law school and after taking a few finance & valuation related courses jointly offered with the business school. After having spent about a year in big law, I have realized that this is not the career path for me and am now seriously considering a move intoIB. I know a few big law associates and law students who lateraled or went straight toIBas an associate, and would like to do the same. I (i) don't want to go to business school given the amount of time I already spent in law school; (ii) believe unrealistic to start as anIBanalyst. I am also primarily interested inBBIBsand maybe a couple of elite boutiques.

As for background, I have graduated from one of the top 3 law schools in the US (HYS), which I went straight through from about a #20 nationally ranked university for undergrad (non-business or econ related major). As such, I have almost no finance-related work experience or education with the exception of the aforementioned courses in law school. Those courses covered accounting,corporate finance, modeling, valuation, and preparing & giving investment pitches. I am not entirely2ManBetX登陆 yet, but I have built andcan buildDCFandLBOmodelsfrom scratch with enough time. I also have a lot of interest in the market and investing and do a lot of research/reading related to investing and finance during my personal time. I have also worked on a couple WSJ headline M&A deals ($10bn<EV), but strictly in a legal role and capacity. I do not have aCFAor any other similar/relevant certifications.

I believe that I do havesometangentially relevant work experience in M&A and coursework and believe I can do moderately well on interviews if I adequately prepare and refresh my memory in the next few weeks. I am also enrolled in a fewBIWS coursesto help me prepare for the interviews. However, I am having trouble on planning out how to get my foot in the door -- i.e. on how to get interviews. Although I have friends who have started inIBout of college, most of them have already exited toPE,HF, corp dev and other non-IB roles, so I have very few to no friends who are working at an associate level at anIB. As such, I have very limited resources as to hearing some insider thoughts on this transition, and was wondering if I can get some input and advice on this process.

I guess my main questions are as follows:

1. How do I get interviews? I get a lot of emails and calls from legal recruiters, but have not yet heard any job opportunities re:IBs. Are recruiters helpful for associate-level lateral moves, especially from big law? Should I try to leverage my connections in finance and ask them to reach out to their current banker friends? Most of my friends and connections are already out ofIBand mostly inPE, and have yet to discuss with them in detail about my potential transition given how fast the word may spread.
2. I have also heard from a few sources that the market is (or was) hot for laterals intoIBat both analyst and associate levels, but not sure if it's still entirely true. Any information on what the job market is like right now?
3. What would be the best way to leverage my legal background and work experience? I know that despite my involvement in some prominent M&A deals, the work that corporate lawyers do differ considerably from investment bankers. Any ideas on how I should leverage my education/work experience to make me a more attractive candidate for IB?
4. Although I want to go intoIBfor now, I doubt that I want to stay inIBforever. What are the exit opportunities for associates inIB, especially if they moved from law and haven't climbed the ladder starting from an analyst?

Any other tips, thoughts and/or advice on this transition would be greatly appreciated, especially if you know firsthand someone who made the move from law toIB. I also realize that I have rambled incoherently so please feel free to ask any questions.

Thanks in advance!