New York Lawyer
March 19, 2002

Q:
What kinds of jobs are available to a judicial clerk with a JD/MBA -- both inside and outside the law field?

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A:
The combined JD/MBA degree is a funny critter. It should and does represent a powerful combination of ingredients: the analyzing, ordering, enabling and risk-reducing skills of a lawyer with the strategic, operational and entrepreneurial perspectives of a businessperson. Moreover, the degree says something to the world about your motivational level and work ethic, because it's a hard row to hoe.

In practice, however, the job market doesn't quite know what to make of the JD/MBA unless it is tied to some prior experience or laser-sharp employment objective that suggests how it is to be interpreted. The question is: "What was on your mind when you decided to get this joint degree -- do you want to be a business lawyer who knows a lot about the needs, functions and operations of the business he or she serves, or do you want to be a businessperson armed with a bunch of analytical and risk-reduction skills, or do want a role where somehow you combine the disciplines and activities of lawyer and executive?"

See, here's the conceptual rub: Even when they are acting as counselors (as opposed to technicians), lawyers are deemed to be specialists -- people who self-select into careers where their "product identity" is framed in terms of subject-matter expertise. General managers, on the other hand, have decided to pursue generalist roles, where they may manage and integrate a lot of functional areas without having to have deep subject-matter expertise in any of them. In addition, the MBA supports career paths in line management roles geared toward creating revenue and profit. The JD supports consulting or corporate staff roles that are essential -- but which cost the company money.

Therefore, the issue facing joint JD/MBAs is not whether they are smart or what things they know, but what directions their motivational map points them toward. Your clerkship is going to suggest to the job market that your bias is toward legal/judicial activity and roles -- that you are preparing yourself for a lawyer's life. The market value of clerkships is that they suggest breadth -- that is, that you've spent some time in a role that gives you a broad perspective over the sorts of issues and controversies that find their way into court. Presumably, that provides you with more judgment and, possibly, a better sense of direction when the legal profession subsequently forces you to start specializing (which it invariably does).

Law firms don't mind JD/MBAs, but they accord them no particular extra credibility. You're probably no less marketable to a firm than a straight JD, but probably not much more attractive, either. If you're gonna be a lawyer, you need the law degree. Other stuff is just surplus. On the other hand, the corporate world gets a little freaked by JD/MBAs who say they want to go into management. Isn't an MBA enough?, they think.

In fact, however, if you exercise enough personal hustle and magnetism, just about any damned job you want is open to you with your JD/MBA, provided it is in the private sector. You simply have to be able to communicate clear career objectives and focus, and this is a task unrelated to your degree. Your joint degree will, theoretically, enhance your marketability, but it will not establish any particular career path in and of itself.

I recently led a fascinating career development session with the JD/MBA candidates at the Darden Graduate School of Business of the University of Virginia. Interestingly, they all were originally trained as engineers -- chemical, electrical and information technology. All were "knowledge junkies�. Part of their motivation was to learn everything they could about everything they could. They all were fiercely goal-oriented. And most thought they knew what they wanted and how their joint degree would help.

A couple were absolutely entrepreneurial. They were going to start and build businesses, and the entrepreneur's role valued both their technical legal expertise ("I'll write that lease myself and document my own financial closing" ) and their business training in marketing, finance, production and operations. In short, for them the MBA pointed to "what" and the JD pointed to "how."

A host of others had targeted one realm where the "what" and the "how" intersect: the world of the business deal. Several said they absolutely positively were going to be investment bankers. Despite the shaky state of the industry, a couple of more still were interesting in becoming venture capitalists. Several expressed strong interest in M&A -- in doing deals that shaped enterprises. And a couple were focused on international business, where the ability to learn and understand other legal systems and regulatory approaches was an essential life skill.

In sum, your JD/MBA can serve you very well, but you must be able to explain what was on your mind when you chose to pursue it. One way to clarify your focus is to get the names of previous joint-degree graduates from your school (or any other, for that matter) and call 'em up. Get some real-life input about their lives, roles, opportunities and barriers. Find out all you can about how the degree functions (or doesn't) in the real world. Then use the information to conduct what a doctor would call a "rule-out diagnosis," bagging unattractive, unproductive or frustrating career directions. Then focus your career development efforts on what's left -- in terms of sector, industry, enterprise, position, job functions, colleagues, geography and, of course, compensation.

Sincerely,
Douglas B. Richardson
President, The Richardson Group