US
Essentially, the situation is as follows: I recently qualified as a corporate solicitor but am thinking about changing career to asset management, venture capital, private equity or strategy consulting.
I’ve been sending out my CV, with mixed results. For asset management, I’ve been offered only for graduate openings. For venture capital, one firm has said it likes my CV but nothing has come of it. For private equity, the reaction has been negative or no response. And for strategy consulting, I haven’t yet applied and was thinking of doing so as a better way of ultimately getting into private equity/ venture capital.
Any help or advice on how I could improve my chances would be much appreciated.
EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS
2/2009 – 3/2011 Major Law firm
Professional Skills Courses (including Business & Accountancy) as part of a two-year rotating legal training contract; qualified as a solicitor in March 2011
2007 – 2008 Law School
Legal Practice Course (including courses in Equity and Debt Finance)
2003 – 2007 Top UK and German universities
BA Honours in English Law with German Law (2:1)
Other academic honours include: 4 As at A-Level (including Mathematics) and 6 A*s, 6 As at GCSE (including English and Mathematics); Prize for voluntary work; and Music Scholarship with seven years of unpaid tutelage at secondary school
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2/2009 – 3/2011 Major law firm (Trainee Solicitor)
-Banking
Facility Agreement for UK Bank: co-ordinating conditions precedent management?
Advising German Bank as lender in Revolving Credit Facility: drafting finance documents, agreeing amendments with borrower’s lawyers and managing signing process.
-Corporate
Share listing and recapitalisation for major UK company: applying to the UKLA and the LSE for listing and admission to trading. Drafting RIS announcements, board minutes and shareholder resolutions.
Purchase of oil rights by international oil company: drafting Sale and Purchase Agt.
- Antitrust, Competition & Trade – London office
Acquisition of UK company by private equity fund: drafting merger control forms.
European Commission’s investigation of technology company: market research re
competitor products and reviewing documents in response to the European Commission’s
request for information.
Participation in conference on the future of card payments.
- Litigation
Successful hedge-fund litigation against an administrator: interviewing expert witness and background research on parties to claim.
Onsite document review Geneva-based company: sole responsibility for producing analysis of new expert evidence to claim.
- Antitrust, Competition & Trade – Brussels and Washington D.C. offices
Airlines merger: meeting clients and European Commission officials, carrying out detailed market share calculations and legal research.
Sale of French manufacturing company: supervising a team of ten contract attorneys in a due diligence exercise.
- Business Development
Managing a speculative pitch to an airline; writing a capabilities statement and drafting a pitch document; and pitching to the potential client.
Other experiences include: Project leader with an NGO in South America that promotes secondary education; fundraised over 30,000. Secretary of university law society.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Relevant qualification: Candidate for IMC
Languages: English and Polish (native), German (advanced), Spanish (basic)
Leisure pursuits: Skiing, tennis, diving, politics and history, music (piano and violin), travelling
MBA ?
Count yourself lucky getting even graduate asset management offers which is bizarrely what you’re least qualified for. Your legal experience is pretty handy for dealmaking so PE/VC are natural moves apart from the fact you have little deal experience. A decent CV, would try and leverage you language skills. May try someone with an eastern Europe focus Renaissance? VTB?
IMC to spicy up your CV a bit
Will be very difficult nowdays – pre 2007 the best way was to move into banking and then learn the numbers side of the business that way. Currently you really have not much more than process experience. If you are interested in AM – I would be delighted with the grad position and take it – as you get more senior as a lawyer, it only gets harder to take the necessary step downwards to move out.
I don’t think you will get into vc/pe with that cv at the moment. Your cv is fine but you just don’t have enough deal experience. A few years down the track you might be able to move as inhouse counsel to a vc/pe house but I think you will struggle to move at the moment – those places typically don’t have big legal departments so (a) outsource much of their legal work; and (b) only recruit senior associate/partner types who can run transactions (with law firm support) by themselves.
If you want to leave law entirely then of course this is entirely possible and your legal experience at an impressive firm will look good to most recruiters. However, I still think you will be looking at entry level graduate type positions. I just don’t think your limited legal experience warrants anything more than that.
SJ Berwin is the name you need to know.
From there you can transfer. That is assuming you make it in to SJ Berwin. Structure a few top notch M&A deals there and someone with your legal background can move on…
If you want to join asset management from where you are. Take a number and get in line, (join all those who posted before me.)
forget previous comments. They don’t know what they are talking about. Leverage your language skills – sell yourself as an expert in Eastern European M&A. (if you are not already, I suggest you get started and familiarise yourself. )
If your dad runs a hedge fund then get him to get you a job with his pals. Otherwise, do as I tell you. forget the MBA CFA IMC route, every applicant who post here is doing it, it is overrated and won’t help you stand out.
trust me I know my stuff.
I got a graduate asset management placement with a 2.2 at a top 40 firm! So it can’t be that hard.
I work in asset management and I think your CV is good. Im not a professional recruiter but Im basing my comments on my own industry experience.
Theres only one lawyer in my office, but shes involved in all the deal process; however, when she arrived she had a couple more years of experience than you currently have. I think you have what it takes, but you should def go for the grad job!
you absolutely do not know what sort of candidates you are competeting with. IMC ? what crap I know people who have CFA 3 and working in the field having problems securing asset managemet jobs. And not to mentioned Masters from Top Tier university in Quantitaive subjects..
Not discouraging you , but this is reality
Without any financial analysis / modelling skills then a move to PE/VC is not possible. The competition in buy side is fierce even amongst investment banking analysts and associates so you would unfortunately not be the immediate choice. If you specialised in restructuring as a lawyer there is always potential to move to a distressed investment fund further down the line but as there are relatively few sizeable funds in Europe the same level competition will apply. Lawyers very rarely move to PE or VC in investor roles so be realistic. Many of the choices you made in academia will unfortunately now start to create the mould whether you like it or not. One obvious suggestion is network like crazy in the industry and you will start to create your own opportunities. You will be more likely to get a result through contacts who get to know you rather than a headhunter who is ultimately a transactor and is really only paid to find the best fit and not introduce people they like.
I’m a US trained and qualified lawyer who has been working in the UK for 6 years. I’ve worked for two firms advising on PE, M&A and am now with a bulge bracket as in house counsel. In short, the transition into finance is tough – whether it be PE/VC/Banking. While lawyers have a lot of skills, finance and modeling isn’t one of them – two skills needed for the junior roles.
My advice is to stay with a law firm to get a few years as a solicitor under your belt. The only experience you have is as a trainee solicitor, which is rather junior compared to your peers who are likely looking at similar moves. Your law firm experience will serve you well, just be patient. Stick with M&A, securities, and corporate law and opportunities will arise. And keep your ego in check – each time you move you will have to prove yourself regardless of your experience.
Why don’t you specialize in human rights? You could build a lucrative practice by defending PE / VC guys who get exploited and ritually abused by their bosses on a daily basis.
I second what amicus curiae says. I am a corporate lawyer working at a a large city firm and I have been struggling to transition to a finance role. I have found lots of opportunities to move in-house to banks or other financial institutions but only as a lawyer. I have found it far more difficult to move to a finance position.
That said, the transition is possible – I am about to start with a boutique bank as a corporate financier. Look for places with a track record of employing lawyers in such roles – they do exist.
Stay with your firm, of your own back build up your modelling skills, you have the A level maths so you really won’t find this rocket science, then try to get a secondment and when your on secondment throw yourself at the models. While few lawyers do make the transition from legal to finance roles, its equally true that very few people at the junior end of the market have a solid grasp of both the legals and financials of a transaction.
Alternately take the grad position, better than an MBA, an MBA will take you two years an analyst programme three, but you might get promoted to associate a little earlier. Of course the MBA will cost you whereas under the grad route you will get paid.
Even if you stay with law you’ll understand far more than many of your partners do about a transaction if you acquire modelling skills.
But do keep trying, as said, if you build both skill sets you will be quite a unique commodity.
Best of luck
I am a banker and would like to work as a lawyer, without retraining of course. How can I make that happen?
MBA might not be a bad option. One of my MBA classmates was a law partner in his pre MBA experience. During the programme he managed to obtain an internship wth a VC firm and transition into an investment role.
Those promoting MBAs are paid agents of business schools. Don’t listen to them, so many individuals have an MBA degree that it’s no longer as beneficial as it once used to be.