What’s going on, peoples. The following email is from a consultant at Accenture that I met at a networking event a couple of months ago. His question is about JD/MBA programs and, while my answer is short, I posted it anyway because I thought it was an interesting question. I welcome folks to post their own opinions to his question as comments on this post because I’m interested in seeing what others think about it.

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E wrote:

“What’s up Marquis,

I believe we met briefly at the COCO/Accenture networking social at Sugar.

I was just researching the web (don’t remember which keyword I used)
when I happened to come across your web blog. It’s great to see the
advice you provide to complete strangers.

So I’ll take this opportunity to ask for you thoughts around JD/MBA
programs. Most of the people I’ve spoken with generally question the
value of an MBA with a law degree. One went as far as to mention that
he questions the long term career objectives of job applicants with
both MBA/JD degrees. Any thoughts around this?

Thanks!”
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My response:

E,

What’s going on, man. I definitely remember you from the COCO/ACN event a while back. It’s good to hear from you and find that you’re thinking of making the grad school love…that is, assuming that I’m making the correct assumption based on your question. I’ve thought a bit about your question over the years because one of my uncles has been trying to get me to pursue a JD for years. When it comes to the JD/MBA, I wouldn’t go as far as the person who questioned the long-term career objectives of applicants with both degrees. But, I have never really understood why someone would feel the need to pursue both degrees.

I can’t think of any careers that require one to have both a JD and an MBA and the extra expense could be $50-65K for each additional year of school required to get both degrees. If one wants to practice law and has an interest in business, he/she could just take a few B-school classes while pursuing the JD, right?. And, conversely, if an MBA student was interested in law, couldn’t he/she just take a from courses in law while in B-school? I don’t doubt that folks who pursue a JD and an MBA have good reasons to do so, but I just don’t get it myself.

Recently, I made a blog post about joint degree programs in general and, in it, I stated that a good reason for doing one is the desire to build one’s knowledge on the topics studied. If someone REALLY wants to do a deep dive in law and business, then he/she would do great in a JD/MBA program (or pursuing the degrees separately), but he/she would have to ask whether this interest is worth the time, expense, and opportunity cost of an extra 1-2 years of grad school.

Aside from the time and financial considerations, one must also think about the career path implications of getting both degrees. The big question is whether one needs both degrees to reach his/her career goals…and, as I alluded to above, there aren’t many careers that require both. Plus, I’ve heard that a JD grad almost HAS to jump into a firm (or a clerkship) right after graduation if he/she wants to be on a law firm partner track. I have been told that many JD/MBA’s start off their careers in business and then transition to corporate counsel roles later when they’re ready to return to law. Also, I’ve heard that some JD/MBA’s start off on the law firm path and then leverage their MBA background when striking off on their own to launch a business or their own firm. So, there are creative ways to make both a JD and an MBA work together over the course of a career, but figuring out and pursuing these options don’t seem non-trivial. In general, more education certainly won’t hurt, but, depending on a person’s desired career path, the second degree might not be necessary.

I’m looking over all that I wrote above and realizing that I gave you a really long answer to a short question, so I’m sorry for having run on for so long. What I’ve said above is just how I think about it, so I’d recommend talking to some other folks (particularly a few JD/MBA’s) to get more perspectives on your question. Take care and I hope to catch up with you at the next COCO event.

-Marquis