Hey all,
I'm a local law grad, projected to grad with high 2nd upper (currently easily above the 20th percentile) in 2 years or so. Lately I've been thinking of starting out in a non-law industry for the following reasons:
1) The legal job market is an employer's market. I estimate around 800 law grads (from local and UK unis) competing for around 300 spots in big4 and reputable medium firms by the time I graduate. What this translates to is relative difficulty in picking the right firm and right practice area.
2) I never had an interest in law. This means that I'm driven to law primarily by the ROI. Unfortunately, the ROI in law isn't as good as people may think. The hours in big4 corporate are extremely long (9am - 12am + weekends) and the pay is ~6k starting. The progression is something like ~1k increment and 4-6 months bonus PA. Thing is, I only know of IB and
MBB consulting that can beat this kind of pay.
3) I really enjoyed finance and consulting. I did a few finance modules and I quite enjoyed them as I found they made much more 'sense' than law modules. I've also done consulting work for actual companies and found such work to be very enjoyable as well.
So here comes the questions:
1) Are my impressions of the legal/non-legal job landscape accurate?
2) What other industries/specific jobs that I have a reasonable chance to enter, and that will provide a better or comparable pay package? I'm open to most industries, but was looking at IB, consulting, and management assoc programmes.
I've been asking round my contacts and career counsellors but would like as many perspectives on this as possible. Thanks so much for reading through this post!