was an investment banker at a bulge-bracket, went back to law school, will be going BigLaw for at least a little bit. would not say it's a no brainer to go BigLaw -> banking as a lateral

• your pay is a little better in banking (I made ~$250K all-in my first year as an IB associate, but I was top-rated. most did not), but more variable and increasingly non-cash

• your hours are as bad or worse. depending on the bank/BigLaw firm, potentially much worse. friend at STB who did M&A was working like 10-7 or 8pm M-F, maybe 5 hours weekends. I worked 10-2am M-F, 15 hours weekends.

• you're gonna face the same "up-or-out" phenomenon that BigLaw associates face - the vast majority of your associate class will be gone within 4 years.

• your exit options are kinda lousy, honestly. people talk about PE and hedge funds or whatever - that's very uncommon, frankly. investment banking analysts get those jobs. buyside recruiting is looking for pre-MBAs to work for a few years, get burned out and leave. for post-MBA stuff, they'll hire from HBS or whatever. you're likely looking at business development roles at a corporate client as a post-banking associate, and you'll take a pay cut - like there's no real path to making $500K. by comparison, some V10 associate who gets pushed out can go to a V30/V40 for partner track and that's a very real possibility. potentially more.