Prestige of an MBA vs law degree (JD)

I caught the tail end of quite an aggressive discussion on the businessweek forums yesterday- Law (JDs) vs MBAs. This caught my attention since I had just spent the weekend with an undergrad friend of mine in Bristol who is a trainee lawyer and we often discussed our work, in addition, I seem to hang around and have many friends in the legal profession, I even have and a sister who works in law.

Prestige factor, I tend to respect lawyers a lot more from the perspective of work they do, they seem to put in a huge amount of hours and have even heard of some big city firms even having beds for some of those staying late night and continuing to work early the next morning! I respect anyone who can cope in such an environment regardless of pay. As for the degree itself, there seems to be vastly more courses available in the law degree, particularly the US, and hence the 3 year long course. It certainly fairs better than the MBA in terms of intellectual stimulation.
However, I tend to find law very dull as far as job satisfaction and variety is concerned- the friends I have here in the UK seem to spend most of their time drafting documents, writing letters rather than getting in on the action of the courtroom. I know in the states, lawyers will prepare cases and go to court, whilst in the UK the two functions are separated into solicitor (who litigates) and lawyer (drafts cases). I find the US model much more exciting.
In comparison with the MBA, there is one striking difference between the two degrees; the sheer amount of job variety the MBA offers. No one would argue against the fact that it opens more doors to more careers across more borders than anything else. However, lawyers with great leadership skills can enter politics and make a great impact and be well on the road to becoming the next president or prime minister rather than MBAs. The JD/MBAs would be a powerful combination, but far too much work for the likes of me. In my current plans, I’ll probably take a few courses at the Stanford Law School related to intellectual property (IP), since in my current high-tech job we always seem to be having issues related to IP on a regular basis.

I do need to say something about my core discipline. Engineering s*cks as far as prestige goes these days, especially in the UK. As a natural engineer, I wish I was born in the 1800s during the industrial revolution, in the days of Isambard Kingdom Brunel- the pioneer of mass public transport, in particular the railroad/railways. Those were the days, engineers where highly respected. In my weekend in Bristol, I still couldn’t stop but marvel at Brunel’s classic- The Clifton Suspension Bridge. Somehow the British don’t seem to appreciate technological advance as much as they used to- maybe it’s due to decline of manufacturing in this country. At least in the US, a background in engineering still holds some prestige factor.