If you have built up a name in this business, if you are well-connected and you are excellently networked, you are probably among the few who are well-positioned to establish a so-called "boutique" investment banking practice. However, unless you have a legal background, it would pay for you to have a good in-house counsel who can help you navigate the treacherouswaters of deal-making. Here's a slightly edited joke from http://www.banknetindia.com on one such investment banker screening lawyer-applicants:
An INVESTMENT BANKER decided to go out on her own. She was shrewd and diligent, so business kept coming in, and pretty soon she realized that she needed an in-house counsel. The investment banker began to interview young lawyers.
"As I'm sure you can understand," she started off with one of the first applicants, "in a business like this, our personal integrity must be beyond question." She leaned forward. "Mr. Mayberry, are you an honest lawyer?"
"Honest?" replied the job prospect. "Let me tell you something about honest. Why, I'm so honest that my father lent me $15,000 for my education, and I paid back every penny the minute I tried my very first case."
"Impressive. And what sort of case was that?" asked the investment counselor.
The lawyer squirmed in his seat and said, "My father sued me for the money."
(Clipart credit: Barrysclipart.com)
