Taking Care of Business
Experienced in the world of commerce? A legal degree can take you where you want to be.
If you are thinking about law school with experience in business, congratulations!
Many law school grads with business degrees find that their dual expertise is warmly welcomed in the business world. According to NALP, The Association for Legal Career Professionals, the number of law school graduates with jobs in business and industry in the 2007 class was just over 14 percent*.
Law school graduates run Fortune 500 companies, manage startups, operate movie studios, and serve as in-house counsel for a wide variety of organizations. And those are just a few of the opportunities available.
Go to the head of the stack
The fact that you’ve made it through three or four years of a not-for-the-faint-of-heart
law school curriculum tells prospective employers that you’ve got the requisite
amount of stick-to-it-iveness, higher-order thinking skills, and writing and speaking
savvy to make the grade.
While it’s widely known that lawyers can function well in the business world, the reverse is often not true.
In short, a law degree can be a great vetting tool for business, one that will get your resume moved to the top of the stack more often than not.
How do law skills transfer to corporate America?
Just ask M.S., Concord JD 2005, a senior vice president of sports content for a national cable network. An avid sports fan, Mike spends many of his days negotiating on behalf of the cable giant for broadcast rights to professional sporting events. He had a business degree and experience in sports management at companies such as CBS and ESPN before enrolling in Concord to pursue his law degree.
He uses his legal education on a daily basis, he says, and it has been key to his success.
"It’s been very beneficial to my career to be able to talk to attorneys and speak their language," he says. "Now instead of saying 'here’s our deal, you guys figure it out', I can walk them through the fine points of how the deal will impact our business legally. Then, I can take the deal points and turn them into a well-thought-out legal document.
"The result is that all my deals go through much more quickly and painlessly."
Transferable skills
Where in the business world might your experience and legal skills take you? Even
if you aren’t a member of the bar or your resume doesn’t include traditional
law firm experience, your business prowess coupled with a legal degree may facilitate
a career change or a move forward in a variety of business arenas**:
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Banking and Finance
- Contracts, Procurement & Grants
- Energy & Natural Resources
- Environmental Careers
- Ethics/Professional Responsibility
- Healthcare
- Human Resources
- Insurance & Risk Management
- Intellectual Property
- Intelligence/Security
- International Affairs, Trade & Investment
- Labor Relations
- Legal Administration
- Legal Documents/Information/Research
- Legislative & Regulatory Affairs
- Litigation Management/Support
- Management & Administration
- Marketing & Development
- Media & Entertainment
- Real Estate/Housing
- Taxation
- Transportation
* NALP, Jobs & JDs: Employment and Salaries of New Law Graduates ? Class of 2007 Report. NALP surveys graduates of American Bar Association approved law schools only. Concord Law School is not an ABA approved school.
** Source: Where the EJD Jobs Are, Georgetown Associates, LLC.
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