Best Comm/LLB major, if you want to be a lawyer. (1 Viewer)

[SurferNerd]

hmm

I have already done 2 out of 8 subjects towards an accounting OR finance major, but after this semester I'm not so sure whether to continue or start Economics instead (done 0/8). I've done all the core subjects, HD in all.

For someone who is going to be a lawyer, would Accounting, Finance or Economics be better?

 

[2010grad]

im doin econ comm double and nearly finished my majors in economics, finance and acct. reflecting on what ive gained from each major, id definitely go for finance or economics if ur looking at a career in law. the number of units ive had to endure to get a major in acct is not commensurate with the additional knowledge and understanding ive gained- looking back most of the important stuff is learnt in first year acct.
dats just my opinion having studied at one go8 uni. good luck!

 

[Cookie182]

Hmm this is a question many people would love an answer to, but I have never found an in-depth answer.

Anyone have any solid advice, pro's/con's of each IN THE CONTEXT of having an LLB.

 

[Cookie182]

Bump no. 1

 

[Studentleader]

Need to be more specific than saying 'lawyer' if you want an efficent answer. I.e. Finance would be better for a corprate lawyer etc.

 

[Cookie182]

Well for me, I have several areas of interest:

Human rights + work with a multinational organisation ie UN, World Bank etc

Property/Conveyancing (But not forever)

Possibly criminal law

Or even academica

What commerce major would be the most flexible? I thought doing accounting and possibly becoming a CA would make you highly qualified, but could be wrong.

 

[Studentleader]

Well for me, I have several areas of interest:

Human rights + work with a multinational organisation ie UN, World Bank etc

Property/Conveyancing (But not forever)

Possibly criminal law

Or even academica

What commerce major would be the most flexible? I thought doing accounting and possibly becoming a CA would make you highly qualified, but could be wrong.

For human rights I would definetly do economics. I recently had a lecture from BHP's enviromental sustiability vice president and he stated the reason he got to where he did is because he had an economics degree as opposed to an enviromental science degree. The difference is that an economist who is pashonant about the enviroment will understand that a firm wants to be efficent while an enviromentalist will consider the enviromental impact to be the one and only priority. If I was hiring a human rights lawyer I'd rather have one that knew about economic wellbeing rather than some arts hippy.

I'm not sure what property law involves but again I'd suggest economics as housing prices varie with the business cycle or perhaps management.

Criminal law I would either do management (for the sake of doing it) or an arts degree instead, majoring in some kind of sociology/psychology.

The most flexible would be finance/economics I'd believe.

 

[Cookie182]

For human rights I would definetly do economics. I recently had a lecture from BHP's enviromental sustiability vice president and he stated the reason he got to where he did is because he had an economics degree as opposed to an enviromental science degree. The difference is that an economist who is pashonant about the enviroment will understand that a firm wants to be efficent while an enviromentalist will consider the enviromental impact to be the one and only priority. If I was hiring a human rights lawyer I'd rather have one that knew about economic wellbeing rather than some arts hippy.

I'm not sure what property law involves but again I'd suggest economics as housing prices varie with the business cycle or perhaps management.

Criminal law I would either do management (for the sake of doing it) or an arts degree instead, majoring in some kind of sociology/psychology.

The most flexible would be finance/economics I'd believe.

That is quite good advice. I think i ruled economics or accounting as generally > then finance. Eco would certainly suit a human rights role, it gives you that anyltical perspective to analyse situations etc and has interesting overlaps in terms of legal analysis.

In terms of accounting, I wonder what doors open up, even if you dont pursue CA? Tax law would come to mind??

 

[Studentleader]

That is quite good advice. I think i ruled economics or accounting as generally > then finance. Eco would certainly suit a human rights role, it gives you that anyltical perspective to analyse situations etc and has interesting overlaps in terms of legal analysis.

In terms of accounting, I wonder what doors open up, even if you dont pursue CA? Tax law would come to mind??

I personally don't know much about accounting - the legal and/or analytics is what I'd enjoy doing but I only did the one unit on it.

Have you considered doing a CFA? That will give you atleast a background in accounting, finance and economics. I'm not sure if you will be able to sit your CFA I exam in your pentultimite (sp) year of your commerce degree, if you can then you have your CFA by the time you graduate from law school which would be pretty specky.

If you put a gun to my head and told me I had to pick one I'd do accounting. The reason why is because I personally enjoy economics and finance as a hobby. I recall an interview with an extremely successful hedge fund trader who stated that the magazine 'The Economist' gave him information for most of his trades: in these economic times I think as financial markets start to draw themselves out of this crisis they will change as new policies are implimented; this ultimately means university syllabuses will be outdated and this opinion was shared with the enviromental sustainability VP of BHP, a senior lecturer from one of europe's top MBA schools and a senior lecturer from Curtin University in a leadership development day I attended.

Think about where you want to be in 15 years though - if you think you will be in an executive position I believe that finance or economics would be alot more appropriate.

My $0.02 anyway, for what its worth.

 

[rubin]

I am a Commerce (Accg) and Law student. The great benefit of this combination is that you can choose two very different and rewarding career paths once you have finished. Accounting majors are always in demand - its probably one of the only degrees where virtually every company is looking to hire these graduates. There is also overlap - you can work in tax departments of the large professional services firms and a law degree is highly regarded. I was lucky enough to have the option of choosing between a summer clerkship or vacationer program last year.

The downside to accg is that many of the courses are quite boring, and I got the feeling some firms during the summer clerkship application process may have seen it as a negative because of sterotypes about the kind of people who are accountants (although I have no evidence to proove this).

I can see a finance major as a positive because one of the larger departments in most large law firms is 'Banking & Finance'.

Ultimately I think you should really choose what interests you most, because if your heart is set on becoming a lawyer, then your marks will count and people tend to go better in courses that they have a genuine interest in. You may also have to justify to prospective law firm employers why you chose your second degree and it will probably sound more genuine if you chose it for the right reasons.