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Hi Guys,

I made this thread for Winston & Strawn vac scheme 2020 application.

I was wondering if anyone can please give me tips on how to approach this application form question:

Winston & Strawn London LLP is a firm where you cannot hide in the crowd. We recruit those who we believe have the potential to rise to a challenge, are self-starters, take ownership of their work and who can roll up their sleeves and get stuck in for the benefit of the team as a whole. Why do you believe that you have the skillset to thrive in our environment?

Any tips, guidance would be appreciated! Many thanks

Hi,

I couldn't find a general thread for assessment centres, so I thought I'd start one.

My prep will consist of further researching the firm and brushing up on business/political news for commercial awareness questions.

Does anyone have any more tips for preparing for an assessment centre and for standing out on the day?


Thank you.

Hi guys,

The first question for RPC's Summer Scheme application is "Tell us about your interests, including any positions of responsibility held. (400 words max)".

For this question would you recommend explicitly linking anything I mention back to how the skills/interests involved are transferrable to commercial law? Or is that not entirely necessary. Similarly, should I therefore not mention any interests that are not that relatable to a legal career (e.g. music). I'm unsure because they do talk about how they look for 'personality' and 'individuals' in their applicants, so maybe they are looking for interests/skills broader than those useful to law.

BTW: The other questions are "Describe why a career in commercial law appeals to you. What factors and influences have affected your decision to become a lawyer? (250 words max)". " What are your reasons for applying to the RPC Summer Scheme?" (250 Words). "Identify a current commercial issue which is relevant to a City law firm. Please explain why you consider it to be significant to the stakeholders involved." That may change what is relevant to the first question.

Thanks!

I am based out of the UK, short on funds but big on dreams, I know HSF runs a vac scheme program especially where it pays for everything including airfare, and since most websites aren't very clear on this, can you help me out with this?

Hey I have received an assessment day invite from CC and I am worried that I won't perform as well in the assessment day because I didn't attend their open day (I was rejected). For example when answering 'why CC' I feel like my answer will be generic because it is mostly based on what I researched about them online and the brief interaction I had with them last year at my uni law fair. Will I be at a great disadvantage because I haven't had proper interaction with the firm? And how can I strengthen my answer to the question 'why CC'. This is my first assessment day so any tips will be much appreciated!

Hello everyone.

can someone help me or provide tips on how to answer the first question of Dechert application?;

Dechert is frequently retained to work on the most challenging matters, and prides itself on its ability to deliver premium legal services and sound business judgment to its clients. In your opinion, other than the above, what are the three key reasons why our clients instruct us?

I would highly appreciate you time and help.

I was just wondering how much weight recruiters put on academic results.

In my first year I got 32 in a module as I stupidly missed an exam that made up half the marks. Thankfully, first year didn’t count towards my history degree so I was fortunate enough to still be able to achieve a 1st overall from a decent RG university. I was just wondering if this would be a massive red flag when people come to read my application. (The rest of my first year marks were low 2:1s but as a result of that one module I got a low 2:2 overall).

Also, during my GDL I got a low commendation with some fairly awful marks in certain areas (50 in contract and Con and Ad).

I’m currently finding it hard to motivate myself to do vacation scheme applications as I feel that the results above will ensure anything I submit won’t be taken very seriously. Any clarification on this would be much appreciated!

Currently doing my DLA Piper application and it seems to only ask for a 250 word news story and then there's a section to upload a CV and 'other documents'

What have other people uploaded at this stage?

There's been no section to talk about work experience and extra-curriculars or even why DLA Piper - is it acceptable to write a document (longer than a cover letter) talking about all of this?

Seems very unclear...

So I'm doing my LPC and unfortunately don't have a training contract lined up (). So this means I'll (and lots of others) will have a two year gap before a tc commences.

However, there doesn't seem to be any clear information on how to get a paralegal job. So I was wondering if someone could explain the best way to?

Is it by signing up to agency, or using certain websites (e.g. Indeed) or contacting law firms direct?

Having searched a bit, the one issue I see is that all want prior experience, or, are aimed at people who have secured training contracts. As it stands, I have neither...

Would be grateful for any help, and feel like this is an important topic!

I've read that US firms often have less structured/ more on the job training, however would it be appropriate to describe the training programme like this when discussing motivations for the firm?

Given that we are coming to the time of year when most people are going to networking dinners, open days, interviews etc., I figured I'd link this article which I think many people who find networking a bit of a challenge would appreciate.

https://hbr.org/2016/05/learn-to-lo...inkedin&utm_post=elevate&src=linkedin-elevate

Let me know what you guys think! Equally if you have any other tips that have worked for you please feel free to share

There is a separate 250 words question which asks how Ashurst is different from other firms apart from a 1000 word cover letter. Cover letter specifically states that I should use that space to tell about myself. So is it fine not to include why Ashurst part of general cover letters in this cover letter?

Hi All,

@Harry Clark has kindly shared the below commercial awareness guide with you guys. I hope you find it useful!

Best,

Jaysen

Hi All,

I have been really struggling to answer this question at interview. On the application I usually struggle just because my answer requires more than the usual 200-300 words and when I condense it, for me it seems very staged but it appears to not be an issue bypassing the application stage.

However, at interview on both occassions the feedback has been that the partners have not been convinced. I want advice on how to structure and best answer this question. I know why I want to do law but its obviously not convicing enough and I want some advice on how I can go about changing this.

Thought I’d leave this here:

https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-l...e-win-in-uk-means-january-brexit-near-certain

Nicely summed up piece from Pinsent Masons on what the new government will mean for certain sectors

i have done averagely in my first half of law school but during the other half i have done decently well, what are my chances now

I know this is quite a common interview question, particularly for video interviews and I'm wondering how best to structure it, would you mention basic information such as 'I'm a third year LLB undergraduate at..' or go with more of a selling yourself approach e.g. mentioning work experience, achievements etc?

Thanks in advance to any replies!

Hey everyone!

The two questions for the Fieldfisher application I am currently working on are:

1. Why do you want to train as a solicitor at Fieldfisher? (300 words max)

2. What interests you about a career in commercial law? (300 words max)

Usually when it comes to questions like no.1, I would split the question into two, i.e. , 'Why do I want to train as a solicitor' and then separately answer 'why at X firm'. However, because the second question asks about why I am interested in commercial law, I do not want to put all my motivations for being a solicitor in the first question.

Would it be better to focus q1 on my reasons purely for applying to Fieldfisher or should I answer the question the way I usually do?

Thanks so much!

Hey everyone,

So I’ve been keeping an eye on Aramco’s IPO listing and the value has rocketed to £1.9tn. With this, there have come talks of the investment fund utilising a greenshoe option. I want to explain what I think this means and hopefully someone can tell me if it’s right!

Essentially, a greenshoe option is an agreement with an investor to allow for up to 15% of additional shares to be sold to a specific investor. The idea is that this enables the share price to be balanced out against the influx of demand which has caused shares to trade above expected value. The idea, then, is selling additional shares will balance out the demand and stabilise the price.

From a law firms perspective, the work comes from drafting this IPO to include such a clause.

Is this correct?

Thanks!

I was wondering if I could discuss the 2019 general election and debate surrounding stability to the political landscape of the country.....The hope of greater stability to financial markets and investment.]

But I'm not sure how to structure this into a strong answer? Help!!

Hey all,

I am a couple of years out of university, with a (demanding!) full-time job on a consulting grad scheme while also studying part-time for exams. Because I also try to have a social life when I can, I really do no extracurriculars apart from a volunteering day here and there through work, so I'm really struggling to answer application questions related to these. When at university I held society and charity positions, but that was almost four years ago now so doesn't seem relevant - is anyone else is a similar position?

Hi! I've just been accepted onto the NRF Open Day 2019 and wanted to know if anyone had any tips? Also, how long do open days typically last as I need to book a train home!
Thanks

One of the questions on the Irwin Mitchell application is:

"What are the main challenges you anticipate you may face as a trainee solicitor and how would you approach them?"

I have to admit I am struggling a little with this. Would it be appropriate to include something along the lines of adjusting to the workload or interacting with clients? Any thoughts would be welcome!

The DLA Piper vacation scheme application requires you to fill out a section titled "your education" and also submit a CV. The education section appears to have no section for individual module grades. I would put them on the CV but I don't want to exceed two pages and it is unusual for a CV to list every single module and the grade.

Are they just not interest in seeing individual module grades? Should I put them onto my CV?

Hi everyone,

I am currently working on my Vac Scheme app for Macfarlanes and was wondering if anyone had any advice on: Please explain why you are applying to Macfarlanes and what your career ambitions are. (500)

Thanks so much!!