Anyone here start out in PA and leave to go to law school and come back? I’ve been contemplating leaving and going to law school for years. I have 3 years of advisory experience primarily in financial services/ tech implementation/ and restructuring. Bs Accounting with a 3.2 gpa MBA with a 3.89gpa. Would love to hear advice on what I should consider.

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Why law school? It's expensive, long, and draining. Unless you really want to switch over to tax or law, I'm thinking this should be a no. Even with experience, you're going to start from scratch career wise if trying to go into law or tax

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Very well said KPMG 3 ⬆️

Just want to emphasize what others in here said. Your chances of getting into Big Law are very slim unless you go to an elite school (USNWR #1-14). Even then, it’s competitive. To boot, even with a high salary, get ready for an intense environment with long hours (~2000+ billable hours) and frequent burnout. I personally wouldn’t recommend law school to anyone, even moreso if you’re not in tax. And not to be a Debbie downer, but most attorneys I know are absolutely miserable so be sure to find the one area of law you really enjoy and don’t settle for less.

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I couldn’t agree more. Anyone considering law school needs to have a real idea of what they want to do with the degree. Either that or be okay with practicing in ANY area of law at any sized firm (and your salary will most likely be less than in public accounting). And no one truly understands the competition of law school. You’re competing against a bunch of other straight A type people to land at the top of a forced curve - people hear the word “curve” and think it’s the same curve they’re used to from undergrad, and it’s not that at all.

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If you wanted to go into big law, I would say that you should go for it because so long as you got good enough grades, the experience you have in big 4 would likely make you an attractive option for them when recruiting. Comp wise, lowest big law salary I’ve seen for 1st year associates is 170k with most closer to 200k. If you wanted to go back to PA it would give you some new options but probably wouldn’t be worth your time financially depending on what you were doing.

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Just be sure to go to a T14 law school if you want in Big Law. Your chances of getting in Big Law (regardless of your Big 4 experience) are really, really low from a lower ranked school. Big Law firms don’t recruit as heavily outside of T14, and even if you happen to get an interview you’d still need to be solidly at the top of your non-T14 law school class. And that’s harder to do than it sounds due to the forced curve where your law professors are only allowed to give As to 2% of the class.

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I’d only recommend this if either (1) you want to practice law, in any area of law, and you don’t necessarily mind whether or not you work in Big Law, or (2) you want to practice in tax in either a Big 4 firm or a law firm, and again, you don’t mind if it’s not Big Law. I’m a CPA/JD and work in Big 4 M&A tax. I can’t see a reason to go to law school to then just go back to advisory.

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Would you want to go back to advisory? I work in tax and what you are describing is a pretty common career progression in tax.

My advice for anyone going to law school regardless of background - know what you want to do with it and what you want to get out of it. Don’t go just because it will look good or give you more opportunities. Have a goal in mind.

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Have had this same thought in the past and for me it came down to opportunity cost. I’m in M&A tax and at the time was already at 200 TC so for me taking 3 years off plus coming back to the same if not lower salary wasn’t worth it. I would give some thought to part time JD though without quitting your current job.

I’m still thinking about the part time gig but did my MBA part time while working full time and it was brutal. I have the financial means to step away from work so I’m leaning towards full time law school.

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