Areas of Law for People Good at Maths

[TheHungJuror]

I am admittedly going into 1L this fall, so this is more out of curiosity than anything.

But, I was wondering if there are areas in law that people who are good in math excel/can still use their skills in. I (and I'm assuming many others) spent a considerable amount of time in undergrad and other places learning to do fairly advanced/complex math, stats, and data analysis. I actually kind of enjoy having to use that analytical part of myself from time to time, and I was wondering if there are fields where that is an advantage in, and kind of bridge the gap between law and math.  

 

[QueensDenning]

Tax comes to mind? I also assume a good math background would be beneficial in areas like M&A, insolvency, securities, malpractice law maybe. I don't really think any area of law would require any sort of advanced/complex math/stats/data analysis, but I imagine you would be more effective working with teams of accountants/bankers than lawyers without it. Keep in mind I just finished 1L, so this is more of a guess than anything. 

[TheHungJuror]

2 hours ago, QueensDenning said:

Tax comes to mind? I also assume a good math background would be beneficial in areas like M&A, insolvency, securities, malpractice law maybe. I don't really think any area of law would require any sort of advanced/complex math/stats/data analysis, but I imagine you would be more effective working with teams of accountants/bankers than lawyers without it. Keep in mind I just finished 1L, so this is more of a guess than anything. 

I definitely had M&A, securities, and maybe corporate finance in mind. I was also wondering about competition, but I honestly don't even know what competition lawyers do in terms of actual work.  

[Darth Vader]

Do a LinkedIn search, but the only area of law that I see a lot of mathematics grads going into is tax law. It won't matter for M&A, securities, corporate finance, competition, etc. If you want your math background to help you secure a job in the legal field, then I would focus on tax. 

[Skweemish]

How do you feel about multiplying things by either 5, 13, or 15%?

[Rashabon]

On 6/23/2021 at 12:07 AM, Darth Vader said:

Do a LinkedIn search, but the only area of law that I see a lot of mathematics grads going into is tax law. It won't matter for M&A, securities, corporate finance, competition, etc. If you want your math background to help you secure a job in the legal field, then I would focus on tax. 

Having a math background can definitely give you a leg up at times in M&A, securities and corporate finance. Not all day, absolutely not required, but there are areas in which to differentiate yourself, make yourself more useful, and contribute better, if you know math or how to work excel.

Tax can benefit you if you're a math whiz for sure, but it is accountants and auditors doing most of the actual math on any given day.

Competition isn't so much math as it is economics.

[TheHungJuror]

21 minutes ago, Rashabon said:

Having a math background can definitely give you a leg up at times in M&A, securities and corporate finance. Not all day, absolutely not required, but there are areas in which to differentiate yourself, make yourself more useful, and contribute better, if you know math or how to work excel.

Tax can benefit you if you're a math whiz for sure, but it is accountants and auditors doing most of the actual math on any given day.

Competition isn't so much math as it is economics.

Technically, I have an economics background, not a math background per se, but I had to do multiple years of math and want to try and find some type of field where I can use it/keep it relevant.  Do competition lawyers tend to work in anti-trust type of cases? I know the basics of what the field is, but I have no idea what most of the work in competition actually entails. 

[Rashabon]

31 minutes ago, TheHungJuror said:

Technically, I have an economics background, not a math background per se, but I had to do multiple years of math and want to try and find some type of field where I can use it/keep it relevant.  Do competition lawyers tend to work in anti-trust type of cases? I know the basics of what the field is, but I have no idea what most of the work in competition actually entails. 

Yes. Competition is the Canadian name for anti-trust law. Most competition lawyers also double as foreign investment lawyers, but the Competition Act is the Canadian anti-trust act. So they are often engaged on large mergers to calculate various economic things (I've avoided the area since being a student so that's about as far as I can get you). 

Here's the 2019 Competition Law moot problem to give you an example of the type of work:

https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/04476.html

A good chunk of the competition lawyers my firm tends to hire have economics degrees. It's a mixed transactional/litigation practice, high intensity, long hours, rewarded well and well regarded.

[historicaladvantage]

Family law and Tax. 

Edited June 24, 2021 by historicaladvantage

[Rusty Iron Ring]

A couple of my engineering buddies put their math/analytical skills to good use in tax law. Other than that, I'm not aware of anything that needs you to apply any particularly advanced math skills. 

But being able to understand somebody else's math can be handy in, for example, commercial litigation or even some of the more complex civil litigation, where you need to understand what your forensic accountant is trying to explain to you about the other side's financials, and how you need to attack the other side's accounting evidence. 

[TheCryptozoologist]

On 6/24/2021 at 11:14 AM, TheHungJuror said:

Technically, I have an economics background, not a math background per se, but I had to do multiple years of math and want to try and find some type of field where I can use it/keep it relevant.  Do competition lawyers tend to work in anti-trust type of cases? I know the basics of what the field is, but I have no idea what most of the work in competition actually entails. 

Afaik I think an economics background is broadly useful e.g. its very useful to understanding something like securities law or to understand the purpose behind alot of market rules.  You'll certainly be well prepared for competition law but honestly not sure how niche the field is. Regardless, from what little I've seen, they tend to work closely with analysts and economists as colleagues (if government) or expert witnesses.

I think math though is just going to be handy in general. I was bad at math and didn't do it beyond undergrad first year so don't take my word for it, but lot of the same deductive and analytical processes not to forget working memory skills carries over to law. Friends who did math heavy degrees I knew usually did very well since you learn to think logically and linearly. Had a prof who did math or physics degrees before law essentially teach like how you can imagine a physics prof would teach physics. 

[Rashabon]

Economics has almost no use whatsoever to a securities lawyer.

[TheCryptozoologist]

2 hours ago, Rashabon said:

Economics has almost no use whatsoever to a securities lawyer.

Mostly just pointing it out from a classroom context. I am also using the term in a loose sense to refer to areas that also include basics of accounting and finance. We learned barebones concepts almost the first day in that course and tax law e.g. time value of money or P/E ratios and so-on.

[BlockedQuebecois]

With a few exceptions, your undergraduate degree isn't going to do much to actively help your career once you're practicing. 

If the topic is sufficiently easy that you're not consulting an expert, it's something you don't need an undergraduate in to understand. You'll learn those things on the job. 

If the topic is sufficiently difficult that you need an undergraduate degree to understand it, you're going to be consulting a professional either as a consultant on the transactional side of things or as an expert on the litigation side. 

No half decent law firm is going to not alert the competition bureau about your deal because a lawyer with an econ degree crunched the numbers and formed the opinion that it wasn't a notifiable transaction, nor will it let you wander into court to challenge the scientific validity of an expert report because it doesn't line up with what you learned in Microbiology 300. They're going to have the experts figure those things out. Your job as a lawyer is going to be applying the law to the factual circumstances, which will include expert opinions/reports. 

Your degree might save you a bit of time by avoiding some of the "learning on the job" work you have to do, but it's not going to magically make you a better lawyer or alter your career in any substantial way. 

Edited September 8, 2021 by BlockedQuebecois

[VeritasTruthEmet]

Being a CPA is useful for Tax. Either before or after. Math? Nah