Securities Law Background

[Pompous101]

I was wondering what kind of background is needed for securities law in terms of undergraduate study?  Does it matter or is it irrelvent?

[lincolnsgrandson]

Undergrad degree is probably not relevant to getting a job in securities law. 
See if you can look up law firms that allow to search lawyers by their practive.  Check if they typically list their undergrad major (as the IP dept often does.)
Let me know what you find out.

[lincolnsgrandson]

Did you find anything?
And can you help me out?  I'm taking Securities Regulation this fall and I don't know jack about securities.  My corporations professor wasn't very good, so even though I did well there I didn't feel that I really learned it.
Can you recommend any reading (non-legal books) that will help me get a better understanding?  Assume that I'm intelligent and capable of learning the scheme; I'm just ignorant.

[squarre]

Not sure if you want a general book on investments but The Intelligent Investor By: Benjamin Graham is a great book.  It is not about the law but will teach you a lot about securities in general.  It was first written in the early 70s and has been revised several time.  The edition I have was updated sometime around 2002 with notes and commentary added on each chapter.  The book is quite long so if you want just a general overview this may not be what you are looking for.   

[lincolnsgrandson]

Thanks for the suggestion.  My law school is connected to its grad school, so I can probably find that book in the other library.
I'm really just looking for essentials of what I should know about securities, assuming that most of my classnotes will know more.  Perhaps I'll get one of those Idiots' Guidebooks. It helped me brush up on economics when I took antitrust.

[Pompous101]

I took your advice and checked out some profiles of lawyers at well-respected firms in my area. 

I came to find that approximately half of them had business degrees and that of this group roughly 70% had undergraduate business degrees.

[lincolnsgrandson]

Clearly, the business degree is crucial.
Is it essential?  Check in particular the young associates.  If every associate with a JD from the last three years has a business degree, then it's fair to assume it's basically a requirement. 

[Pompous101]

I don't feel that its necessarily a "requirement" so to speak. 

As a matter of fact, some of the firms that I looked at, I'd venture to say roughly half of them, had managing partners who had no business background, this even includes an economics degree.

I was curious to find out other people's opinions on the topic though.

[lincolnsgrandson]

I think you're missing my point.  The credentials of the partners do not reflect the firms' current hiring standards.  That's why I recommend looking more carefully at the young associates.

To compare - IP departments at big firms (or exclusively IP firms) are so desireable now that the standards for being hired have become much more rigid.  It's nearly impossible to get an IP job without a science degree, and that's reflective of any associate with a JD in the last three or four years.  That's the standard I'm up against when I'm applying for jobs, and that can't be changed by a pep talk from Career Services.

by the way, I think I'm going to pick up the Graham book, and also Veale's Stocks, Bonds, Options, Futures. My first Securities Regulations class is Monday. 

[lincolnsgrandson]

For what it's worth, my securities regulation professor had absolutely zero background before practicing securities law.  He started at a big law firm doing something else, and when he told them that is was boring they suggested he try securities. He told us he didn't know anything about it before he started, and now he's been doing it for more than twenty years.
Great professor, by the way.