- Adrian Teh secured a job offer with a top UK law firm in August 2023, two years before graduating.
- But instead of taking a break, Teh interned at a US bank during his last summer off.
- He secured a return offer and is now opting for a career in investment banking instead.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Adrian Teh, 24, a double-degree student in law and business at Singapore Management University. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified his education and employment history.
Before I entered university, I wanted to be a lawyer.
I didn’t manage to get into any law schools in Singapore because I didn’t do well enough for my A Level examinations. Instead, I decided to go to business school, where I developed an interest in finance.
However, I was given the chance to take a second degree in law after doing well in my freshman year. I took up the offer, and that’s how I ended up doing two degrees as an undergraduate.
Looking back, it was a blessing in disguise that I didn’t get into law school earlier. I wouldn’t have discovered finance — which I’m more interested in now.
Landing a job from a “magic circle” law firm and an internship with a top US bank
In August 2023, I received a training contract offer from one of the UK’s top five law firms, also known as a “magic circle” firm.
For most people, that would have spelled the end of one’s job hunt.
But that wasn’t the case for me — I was also in the running for a summer internship with a US bulge bracket bank. I secured that investment banking internship as well.
While I could have chosen not to spend my last summer break in college interning, doing nothing just didn’t make sense to me.
I had never worked in a large investment bank, and I thought interning there would allow me to gain exposure. Plus, I figured that even if I did end up practicing law, I could still apply what I learned about investment banking to my future work.
And I figured it wouldn’t hurt to build up my network since corporate lawyers work closely with bankers on deals.
Giving up law for banking instead
Spending my summer interning gave me a better sense of what I wanted to do.
During my internship, I learned that bankers are ultimately closer to the action when mergers and acquisitions deals take place.
Bankers are essentially the ones running the transaction for the clients. They drive the entire process while coordinating between commercial due diligence providers, consultants, and lawyers.
Seeing this up close made me realize I didn’t want to be pigeonholed into reviewing term sheets or contracts.
Separately, I thought the skills one can gain from being an investment banker were more transferable. That was a prime career consideration for me. I wanted to keep my options open — so that if I ever decided to take on a corporate or management role down the road, I’d have some idea of how things work.
In comparison, I thought working in a law firm offered relatively fewer exit opportunities. If I pursued that path, I could either expect to stay in a law firm for the rest of my career or eventually transition to working as an in-house counsel.
So when the bank gave me a return offer to join them full-time in 2025, I accepted.
Both the banking and legal fields pay well. I think the long-term earning potential I might have as a lawyer is just as, if not more, lucrative than what I’d get as an investment banker.
That said, pursuing finance doesn’t mean that my time at law school has gone to waste.
While interning, I noticed that the managing directors are usually well-versed in the legal aspects of a deal as well. Sometimes, they would even propose and work with lawyers on contractual terms.
Looking back, I’m glad I did the internship because it gave me clarity for the road ahead. For now, I’m going full steam into the world of finance.
Read the full article here
