I am a current law student, and while I don’t know much about JD/MBAs, I do have a few classmates who are doing it.
It seems to me that the idea is rarely worthwhile. Here is why:
Both JDs and MBAs can work in one of two ways – they can open new doors to you, if you go to certain top schools, and they can provide you with skills that will help you maximize the opportunities you already have, like if your uncle has a law firm and will hire you, or if your family has a business (or you’re an entrepreneur) and you want the lessons of the MBA. But in either instance, it doesn’t seem likely that the two will work well together – whether you graduate from Columbia Law and, like eighty percent of their students, get jobs in big firms, or you graduate from your local state law school and get a job doing closings or local-type practice, it doesn’t seem like an MBA would help.
Add to that the limited number of top schools in business and in law, and the fact that they don’t always coincide. Also, if you go to a top law school, you’re paying about $200,000 for the x% chance of a six figure job. Does an additional $50-75,000 raise the odds or the salary?
That said, I have heard that UPenn now offers a three year JD/MBA, and in the case of Penn, both the law school and the business school are highly regarded.