I am a 26 year old lawyer working in a US law firm in Shanghai as a junior associate. I have 1 year work experience and focus on M&A. I also have sort of a business background. I studied business as an undergraduate in Europe but did not get a degree. I intend to move into a management position in Asia sometimes in the future, this is why I am considering doing an MBA (part-time or full-time). On the other hand I had a look at some postgraduate law programs that focus on Business Transactions in Asia, which would be interesting for my current practice. However I doubt that it would be a good idea to go back to school to study law after already gaining some work experience.

What do you think: Would an MBA make sense in my situation? Do you think I could land a job in a management position right after finishing an MBA program? Or would you recommend to continue working in the law firm job and try to make contacts to companies in my job?

I would not apply to an MBA program in your current situation. In most international law firms associates can go on secondment after some years of practice. I would use this opportunity to work in a company that interests you (one of your clients?).

If a secondment outside your law firm is not an option in your case I would still not go for an MBA right now. One year of work experience is not enough, neither for your CV (looks like you didn't "survive" your first job), nor for the top business schools.

If a secondment outside your law firm is not an option in your case I would still not go for an MBA right now. One year of work experience is not enough, neither for your CV (looks like you didn't "survive" your first job), nor for the top business schools.

Thanks for your input! In my law firm you can go on secondment after 3-5 years. I think it is common to do the secondment in a US office or in a foreign office of my law firm or a partner law firm. I will try to find out more about that. I would really prefer to move on to another job or start an MBA as early as possible. However, I see your point re work experience.

Any other input would be welcome!

Have you seen the following discussions:

http://www.find-mba.com/board/3094
http://www.find-mba.com/board/3116
http://www.find-mba.com/board/2116

Might be worth a try to contact the lawyers in these threads about their experiences.

You can also search the message boards on the LLM-Guide website. I remember reading some discussions about LLM vs. MBA. This is one of them:

http://www.llm-guide.com/board/7197

One option may be to combine an LLM from Northwestern with a certificate in business from Kellogg. NU also offers an Executive LLM in Korea.