Todd Koretzky, J.D./M.B.A. Class of 2006
Associate, Banking & Finance practice, Allen & Overy, New York, NY
When Todd Koretzky graduated in 2006, he joined the ranks of an elite group of Vanderbilt JD/MBA graduates. Although Vanderbilt Law School and the Owen Graduate School of Management are separated only by a small courtyard, as Todd notes, the cultural gaps between business and law students mirror the gap between executive managers, who typically have a background in finance and accounting, and their legal counsel, who typically focused on the liberal arts as undergraduates.
Now an associate in the Banking & Finance practice of Allen & Overy in New York, Todd sought an education that would enable him to bridge the gap between law and business. He chose Vanderbilt’s JD/MBA program after graduating from the University of Georgia because “Vanderbilt is a perennially top-ranked school with a national draw and national placement, preeminent faculty and exceptional facilities.”
The expansive scope of Vanderbilt's Career Placement program was important to Todd. “You’ll find Vanderbilt graduates in every notable legal market,” he says. “The nation’s premiere corporate firms regularly recruit Vanderbilt law students to their practices in New York, Chicago, D.C. and California.”
Although his law school and business school experiences were distinctly different – “like many MBA programs, Owen emphasizes working in teams,” Todd explains, “while most law professors employ the Socratic method” – he discovered important cultural similarities. “Mutual respect is a pervasive cultural element in the classrooms and the commons,” he says. He founded the JD/MBA Society to strengthen ties between the two schools and enable students in the four-year joint-degree program to provide mutual support.
