I NEED HELP, Deciding on an MBA or Law Degree

[Laythesmack23]

[color=green}


I have an option to attend Southwestern School of Law, I'm a Junior in College, and They are allowing me to start on a 3 year plan, that would give me my BA,MA & J.D. in negotiation, conflict resolution & peace keeping.I'm currently declared as a business major, I'd personally like to major in Economics or Entreprenuership/Finance.

In the time I would spend trying to obtain a BA, MA & J.D, I could graduate with a degree in Economics, and go to a decent Business School, here or overseas, and be done with in 3 years.

My line of work has been Commercial & Industrial Real Estate, I'm extremely good at negotiating in writing, and verbally. I write my own contracts, LOI's, Binding & Non Binding. Of course, I'm no where near the accuracy of a trained attorney, but my contracts are solid.

I'm having problems deciding on what would best for my future. As an attorney; selling businesses & commercial properties, how can a law degree help me to increase my strategic way of operating and running my own business, while mainting profitability.    

One of the things I like about becoming an attorney, is that I'll know the law. The Cons, is that I don't want to work as an associate for anyone if and when I do graduate; and be dragged to a 40 hour job, that will turn to 60-80 hours a week.

MBA, It would be my Safest thing I can do to double or tripple my income.

Do any of you guy's regret going to law school. I've heard some friends say they wish they Would Have attended business school instead, too much debt vs. little pay. Let's face it. 60K starting is crappy.

Any Ideas, Please Share.


Thanks. 

[nevird]

i hope this was a typo --> "heard some friends say they wish they would of attened business school instead"

Would HAVE

sorry but this is one of my pet peeves

[Laythesmack23]

You see that's why they are going to pay you the big buck's one day!

[officeguy]

[color=green}


I have an option to attend Southwestern School of Law, I'm a Junior in College, and They are allowing me to start on a 3 year plan, that would give me my BA,MA & J.D. in negotiation, conflict resolution & peace keeping.I'm currently declared as a business major, I'd personally like to major in Economics or Entreprenuership/Finance.

In the time I would spend trying to obtain a BA, MA & J.D, I could graduate with a degree in Economics, and go to a decent Business School, here or overseas, and be done with in 3 years.

My line of work has been Commercial & Industrial Real Estate, I'm extremely good at negotiating in writing, and verbally. I write my own contracts, LOI's, Binding & Non Binding. Of course, I'm no where near the accurary of a trained attorney, but my contracts are solid.

I'm having problems deciding on what would best for my future. As an attorney; selling businesses & commercial properties, how can a law degree help me to increase my strategic way of operating and running my own business, while mainting profitability.    

One of the things I like about becoming an attorney, is that I'll know the law. The Cons, is that I don't want to work as an associate for anyone if and when I do graduate; and be dragged to a 40 hour job, that will turn to 60-80 hours a week.

MBA, It would be my Safest thing I can do to double or tripple my income.

Do any of you guy's regret going to law school. I've heard some friends say they wish they Would Have attended business school instead, too much debt vs. little pay. Let's face it. 60K starting is crappy.

Any Ideas, Please Share.


Thanks. 

Only go to law school if you want to Practice Law. If that is not your #1 interest, then you should probably look elsewhere.

[RobWreck]

Only go to law school if you want to Practice Law. If that is not your #1 interest, then you should probably look elsewhere.

TITCR.

Don't waste the time, effort and especially money if you don't want to practice law...

[Matthies]

I was in commercial real-estate for about ten years, mostly large multifamily residential or commercial properties, sales, leases, and property management. I did it all with just a real estate license. I don’t really see how the JD would help you much, even now as a law student in my final year I would not try to do the legal parts of any of these deals, I don’t have the expertise or want the liability. The MBA may teach you more about how to run your own business, especially if they have a real-estatean  focus. But to be good at commercial real estate you only need three things: contacts, salesmanship, and in-depth knowledge of the market, all of which can be done without any degree.

[bobbykurva]

i hope this was a typo --> "heard some friends say they wish they would of attened business school instead"

Would HAVE

sorry but this is one of my pet peeves

Don't forget to mention the random capitalization, misspellings, and improper use of commas and semicolons.

[I am the Lorax]

"MBA, It would be my Safest thing I can do to double or tripple my income."

So not true.  My fiance has an MBA and he said it was the biggest waste of money of his life.

[k0em9u]

A few points to keep in mind. The employment rates for MBAs are lower than for JDs (that is for an average year, not talking about this year of doom for banks which makes it even worse for MBA grads). Starting salaries are lower for MBAs than JDs.

The one caveat MBA people have had, is the fairly insane pay increase scale that investment banks offered. Investment banks do not exist anymore, they 100% certainly will not in the next 8 years, and I would be very surprised to see this model of "banking" ever returning. The current downfall has simply shown too many of the faults and risks.

I was in commercial real-estate for about ten years, mostly large multifamily residential or commercial properties, sales, leases, and property management. I did it all with just a real estate license. I don’t really see how the JD would help you much, even now as a law student in my final year I would not try to do the legal parts of any of these deals, I don’t have the expertise or want the liability. The MBA may teach you more about how to run your own business, especially if they have a real-estatean  focus. But to be good at commercial real estate you only need three things: contacts, salesmanship, and in-depth knowledge of the market, all of which can be done without any degree.

Just one thing I do wonder about here. By being in real estate, do you mean as a realtor/agent? If that is the case, I would agree, a JD will not offer anything substantial. I guess it adds some weight to your resume that might be worth it if you end up as a high end broker for some very fancy firm, but in general terms, I agree with Matthies, little value.

However, if you are looking more into the real estate entrepreneur, investor, developer, owner side I would absolutely feel like a JD would be very important. This is where I spent my pre-law career, and while a lot of the skills needed here are sort of the "innate business savvy", a strong command of the law and making contracts would be very valuable. That being said, this is a "career" that you either need to have some serious starting capital or a very long term perspective to.

[Denny Shore]

Cheaper and easier to get an MBA.
Takes less time too.
If you don't want to practice, why go to law school?  You can make just as good a living going to a good b-school and save yourself a lot of headaches and torture.
My ex went to b-school.  She would talk about the things she was learning and the only thing that I wasn't comfortable is the math.  Which is why many of us go to law school.  Math.