Marc Luber: Hey everyone – welcome to JD Careers Out There – where we get you career
advice from fellow lawyers and non-practicing lawyers – to help you find success and happiness
in your career.
I’m Marc Luber – and today we’re exploring the career path of Investment Banking.
We’re talking to my old friend and college roommate, Eric Klar, who was a managing director
at a major global bank where he spent 10 years in Investment Banking AFTER practicing law
for 5 years at an international law firm.
He tells us all about the path of IBanking and making that transition from the legal
world.
Here’s a little look at our discussion where I asked Eric about the Lifestyle of IBanking
careers as well as what level a JD would come in at when joining a bank…….So I remember
that the hours for you, when you were there, were very, very long and intense.
Tell us about the lifestyle of this kind of a path.
Eric Klar: Sure.
I mean first, the lifestyle at a large law firm as a junior associate is a grueling lifestyle
as well.
Long hours, it’s a big commitment.
As an investment banker, it’s no different.
When you’re an analyst and a junior associate, you are working, very often, 7 days a week,
long hours every day.
That’s the nature of the job.
I wouldn’t recommend that anybody get into this profession without having that expectation
and being prepared to make that type of commitment.
There are plenty of people who come out of college thinking, “I want to be an analyst
on Wall Street.
I’ve read about it, I’ve seen movies about it and I want to do that,” and it’s not
for them.
It’s not for everybody.
And you need to make that commitment in order to be successful and work your way up through
the ranks and hopefully get promoted from analyst to associate to vice president to
director to managing director.
Luber: And so, when someone’s coming first out of a law firm after having worked for
a few years, are they an analyst?
Is that the title?
Eric Klar: No. if you’ve been a practicing attorney, depending how senior you are, most
people I knew often came in as an associate, whether it was a second or third year associate,
because you do bring, unlike someone who’s coming out of college, that’s generally
the analyst ranks.
You’re bringing…you are adding value and you do have X number of years of practice
of law, you do have a law degree, so they generally bring you in as an associate, and
that’s where you start.
And you work with the analysts, who are primarily responsible for the initial drafts of most
materials as well as the modeling.
Luber: OK.
And the roles would be pretty similar to what you were describing earlier when you were
talking about your role as a managing director – there you have a little bit more business
development responsibility it sounds like, but otherwise the day-to-day tasks that people
are going through are still pretty similar?
Eric Klar: Yes, but when you’re a managing director, your responsibility is no doubt,
at the end of the year they’re checking the box, what was your revenue generation,
how many deals did you work on and close and how profitable were those transactions for
the firm.
But, on the flip side, it is your responsibility to ensure that all time lines are met internally,
that the credit process is done as efficiently as possible, because it’s your client relationship
that you’re working to manage.
So you’re responsible both for internal and external processes that have to be managed.
Luber: OK, you can all watch a full episode of Eric and I going more in-depth into Investment
Banking careers - and you’re gonna learn more about what it’s like, what it takes,
how your JD applies, and how to break in - how to transition from the legal world to the
banking world.
And if you’re a finance idiot like me, you’ll actually learn about how IBanking works too.
That’s all gonna happen at JDCareersOutThere.com – or JDCOT.com for a shortcut.
If you’re already at the site, you can scroll down to the full version – be sure to become
a MEMBER so you can watch the full interview and get access to lots more exclusive content
filled with great advice.
Thanks again for watching everyone – I’m Marc Luber and look forward to seeing you
again soon.
Take care.