Lev fin / distressed lawyer seeking buy side job - help!
Hi - I was hoping to get some advice; I am seeking to break into the buy side but my background is pretty unique so I am having a hard time going about it. I'm a lev fin lawyer by trade, but I work with an organization that works directly with many buy side shops, including some of the biggest. I have a lot of leveraged loan, HY bond, and distressed debt experience, and so I have been trying to parlay that into a role at a credit or distressed shop. I know that some funds hire attorneys for desk lawyer roles, but have only come across a few positions like that. Does anyone have any advice for someone like me? Also I am Ivy undergrad, top-40 law school graduated at the top of my class, and worked at a top-10 law firm prior to my current job. I've been trying to use alumni and professional networks and have had a few calls but nothing definite so far. Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks!
How much legal exp do you have?
Over nine years, primarily with bank debt but also a fair amount of HY. I've been doing my current work with funds for the past four-plus years.
If you don't really have insolvency experience distressed firms will not care that you've copy/pasted/find/replace a bunch of indentures and credit agreements.
From my experience, most investment firms will focus on what they are good at -- the investment analysis -- and outsource the legal work. If you're not primarily an insolvency lawyer and don't have the finance/accounting skills, you're pretty much useless.
Curious - what has the feedback been reaching out to your network?
I think you're right to a degree. I know there are funds, typically bigger ones, who have a "desk lawyer" role whose job it is to assist the analysts in reading and understanding legal docs. I've only come across a few funds who have those roles though. If I could go back I'd have started in straight bankruptcy instead of finance, though what I do is less copy pasting and more walking through specific transactions with investors to analyze the company's ability to do whatever they're trying to do, for instance what can company X do with proceeds of the asset sale they recently announced, things like that. I cover a lot of distressed credits primarily before they hit bankruptcy so I do have exposure to that mindset, but yeah I'm not an analyst and don't have modeling skills. So I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do; thought about taking the CFA if that might help thought I don't think I can commit to the time required. Right now I guess I'm just holding out hope that there's a need, but I do hear what you're saying.
The other post was actually me, I accidentally posted from a separate account. Reposting:
I think you're right to a degree. I know there are funds, typically bigger ones, who have a "desk lawyer" role whose job it is to assist the analysts in reading and understanding legal docs. I've only come across a few funds who have those roles though. If I could go back I'd have started in straight bankruptcy instead of finance, though what I do is less copy pasting and more walking through specific transactions with investors to analyze the company's ability to do whatever they're trying to do, for instance what can company X do with proceeds of the asset sale they recently announced, things like that. I cover a lot of distressed credits primarily before they hit bankruptcy so I do have exposure to that mindset, but yeah I'm not an analyst and don't have modeling skills. So I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do; thought about taking the CFA if that might help thought I don't think I can commit to the time required. Right now I guess I'm just holding out hope that there's a need, but I do hear what you're saying.
In est eum optio optio. Enim omnis architecto autem in voluptatem. Non voluptatibus ut quidem in. Quo exercitationem sit deserunt accusamus.
Error est aliquam nesciunt modi a dignissimos. Veritatis voluptatem consequatur rerum fugit eos.
Velit quos et et blanditiis. Repudiandae repellat deserunt magni delectus ipsum quae neque. Error ipsa possimus quidem a illum non. Consectetur vero eligendi id ut exercitationem ex ratione dolores.
Consequatur repudiandae commodi eaque id neque veniam. Recusandae cumque impedit ab rerum assumenda et. Laborum consectetur ab blanditiis saepe sit deleniti aperiam. Sit doloribus culpa occaecati officia.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...