The Indiana Unversity School
of Law—Bloomington is in the process of streamlining
its JD/MBA program with the Kelley
School of Business. The overall goal is to encourage
more students—whether they "start" on the law-school
side or the business-school side—to undertake the joint
degree program by integrating the curricula more fully and
promoting more collaboration between the schools’ respective
faculties.
Since
joint degree programs involve a larger commitment of time and
money by students, the relevant empirical question is whether
these programs generally produce greater career mobility or
higher lifetime earnings.
Some of our preliminary
research suggests that there is a strong and growing demand
for JD/MBAs. For example, several prestigious law firms,
including Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis, and Milbank-Tweed,
now offer $10,000 to $20,000 bonuses for new associates with
both degrees. These incentives are quite comparable
to the bonuses given to young associates who join the firm
following a judicial clerkship.
The importance of
business acumen in law firms—which is not news to readers
of "Adam Smith, Esq."—is further evidenced by the recent collaborative
partnership between Reed Smith and the Wharton School of Business
at the University of Pennsylvania. Specifically,
Wharton has agreed to provide ongoing executive education for
Reed Smith practice managers, office managing partners, and
other firm leaders (see Bruce’s August 13th post, Blindingly
Obvious.)
In many respects,
readers of "Adam Smith, Esq." are the ideal audience for assessing
the value of the JD/MBA degree. Therefore, I would welcome
your comments and observations on two specific topics:
First, does the JD/MBA
degree produce a better business lawyer, or at least speed
the ascension up the learning curve, thus producing a payoff
for the law firm and, presumably, the associate in terms of
advancement? Does anyone have any anecdotal evidence
that JD/MBAs have a better grasp of client development and
rainmaking?
Second, Northwestern
University School of Law and the Kellogg School of Management
have mitigated the time-money tradeoff by pioneering an accelerated three-year JD/MBA
program that
charges a higher tuition than the regular three-year JD. Is
this program the wave of the future? Alternatively, should
law firms be wary that the emphasis on business has compromised
a young associate’s legal training? Or is the MBA
curriculum ultimately a better use of the second or third year
of law school?
My contact information
is here.
