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Hi. Does anyone have any advice on this question ? I have been racking my brain and am a complete blank....thanks.

Hello

I’m preparing for an interview and wanted some advice on how you would bring this topic up into your discussion in an interview, if not specifically asked about the future of legal services for example.

The application forms often will include a question which allows you to discuss this. However, in the interviews I have attended they have tested my skills (eg team-working/ communication examples) through competency questions so I have answered accordingly.

I am aware it’s important to stand out but unsure how you can if the interviewer is not directing you to talk about this issue and others affecting the legal industry.

When and where have others brought this into the discussion? Have you been specifically asked questions or have you managed to discuss your knowledge another way?

Thank you

Hey guys!

Currently doing a Vac Scheme. Would like to know if it's possible to sue just one party under an unincorporated joint venture (with two parties). Did some searching online but could not find anything particularly useful. Plus, having never studied that, I find it difficult to understand...

The context is that there is an incident relating to the JV project and the claimant wants to sue a party in the JV.

Thank you so much!

I'm doing the Latham & Watkins application, and am a bit unsure as to the best approach to answer the question.

First, is it better to have breadth or depth? I'm unsure whether to talk about 2 or 3 skills, and then demonstrate where I have developed these skills. I'm leaning towards depth as there is the extra-curricular section in which I can demonstrate further skills.
Secondly, do you think its necessary to use a sentence or two to explain how a Trainee may use these skills, or would this be wasted words?
Finally (and most importantly), to best determine the skills I have looked at the website/ brochure etc. to see the skills that keep popping up. I have noticed that being able to take responsibility pops up alot, as does teamwork/collaboration. However, I feel as if teamwork is bit cliche, and was wondering whether commercial awareness may be more appropriate, especially given the global nature of L&W. What are peoples thoughts?

The Aspiring Lawyer's Guide to Brexit - COURSE 3 IS NOW LIVE!

Brexit is messy. It’s large in scope, complex and in constant flux. It’s contentious and everyone has an opinion on it. It’s also not leaving the minds of businesses and law firms any time soon.

That makes Brexit a great topic for interviews, especially group interviews, debate-style questions and as a means to test your broader commercial awareness.

Our third course, the Aspiring Lawyer's Guide to Brexit, is a roadmap to what you need to know about Brexit for your interviews. It’s structured through a series of interview questions based on the impact of Brexit on businesses and law firms.

But this course also goes beyond the interview. It’s designed to provide you with a richer understanding of how commercial events impact law firms, both directly and indirectly through their clients.

Watch the promo video:

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You’ll learn how uncertain events can rock businesses and the financial markets more broadly and you’ll understand how law firms can respond to these scenarios and continue to add value to clients. You’ll learn how the role of a lawyer isn’t limited to mitigating risk, that they serve a crucial role in helping businesses obtain a competitive advantage.

You’ll come away with an understanding of what financial services firms and corporate clients care about, and how they respond to market events.

You’ll also learn our top tips for preparing for and handling debate style questions as well as interview interrogations from partners.

Note: This course is FREE for TCLA Premium subscribers!

This course covers all the following and more:



To help teach you the course, we've partnered with Peter Watson, who worked as a stockbroker for 13 years in London and Tokyo, and advised some of the world’s largest financial institutions on investing in the UK, European and Japanese stock markets. He also worked across four recruitment agencies.

Hi!

Anybody else been invited to an interview at Dentons for their TC?

Cheers

**Will buy a drink for anyone providing information which leads to a successful TC offer!!

Hi Guys,

I have been granted a gift from the heavens and invited to a final stage interview with Slaughter and May.

I was wondering if anyone has experienced the interview before, or know of people who have done.

1) The partner interview

• what kind of questions will I be asked about my CV/cover letter
• are they likely to throw curve ball questions
• how should I prepare for the newspaper article exercise? how would you approach the analysis?

2) Written exercise

• What is the best way of analyzing the data and putting it together
• What headings do you guys use in written excercises? i.e. "cut costs", or "create value", or "potential risks"

Any other general advice would be welcomed too!

I have been to interviews before and failed, I really want to execute this PERFECTLY

Hi All,

I’m starting a vacation scheme soon and they’ve sat me in Tax - which has made me nervous since tax is meant to be notoriously hard and mathematical. I was wondering if anyone had done a vacation scheme in Tax (or sat there as part of your training contract) and could give me a rough idea of typical tasks you do, so I can prepare? For instance, what kind of maths will I need to know (e.g. percentages)? Can you recommend any resources to help me get to grips with it? (I wanted to buy a Tax law textbook but they’re £100+!)

Any help would be much appreciated!

Hello everyone,

I have been trying to draft an answer to the following question, which is one of the questions for Paul Hastings training contract application.

The question is "Please give details of any extracurricular activities and responsibilities. Describe any personal achievements and your level of involvement."

I am struggling to write an answer to this question because since university, I didn't do any extracurricular activities or take on any responsibilities. If I am not at university, I am mainly working and that meant I don't have anything to say.

Now, I have considered talking about my part-time work but I didn't think there is anything impressive.

So, the next thing that I do is to consider activities that I have done after university, i.e. while working. I attended law firms networking events, volunteered for Pride in London, but there is nothing substantial in that. It's mainly just me being an attendee with nothing much to contribute. I did joined the Aspiring Solicitors Commercial Awareness competition. While I did manage to get through to semi-finals, I don't feel that it is an achievement.

I am doubting myself a lot and would be great if anyone could share how they would approach this question.

There is one thing that I do two years ago that I learn a lot from. It's not a personal achievement but it is a valuable learning point and that is when I tried to set up a company but failed miserably because my business partner "socially engineered" me into transferring the money from the business to him, leading me in quite a financial trouble. There is no way to talk about this without me sounding stupid. What do you think?

Any ideas, advice, comments or feedback will be appreciated.

Another unrelated question, how do you deal with jealousy? I stopped checking in LinkedIn because I keep on seeing people getting a training contract. While I am happy for them, it makes me feel like a loser.

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the first commercial news update for July.

Happy reading!

Commercial News Update: 3rd July 2019

Topics covered this week are:

1. The bid for British Steel and problems facing the Steel Industry (@bugsy malone)
2. US-China Trade Truce at the G-20 Summit (@Jaysen)
3. Rise in Gold Investment (@Sairah)

1. The bid for British Steel and problems facing the Steel Industry (by: @bugsy malone)

The Story:

On Sunday evening the deadline for bids to purchase British Steel past. The company collapsed in May after its owner, Greybull Capital, failed to secure a government loan of £75 million. If a buyer is not found then the company will be wound up. Although, an official announcement of the bids is yet to be released, newspapers have mentioned companies such as Liberty Steel, India’s JSW and China’s HeSteel group are interested in purchasing the entire company. Whilst others are interested in purchasing parts of the company. For example, Network Rail have confirmed an offer for the rail section (as most of the steel used on UK railways is made by British Steel (97%) and they buy around 100,000 tons per year). Although, Network Rail said “our overwhelming preference is that a purchaser for the entire business is found”.

Impact on Businesses and Law Firms:

For the long term future of British Steel, bidders’ investment intentions and what the government is going to do in terms of helping that investment (e.g. business rates) will be important. As the steel sector is massively capital intensive, companies have to make a lot of investment year in year out. The UK steel industry faces much higher costs than other European competitors such as France and Germany whose electricity prices are 50% less than the UK. Also, there is massive global over capacity. For example, in 2018 China made 100 million tons more steel than they needed, in turn we have seen an increase in exports, which could flood the UK market in the future.

Although, Brexit uncertainty has been spoken of as massive for the steel industry, this does not seem to be putting off foreign buyers as the products British Steel makes for rail and construction have seen growing demand.


2. US-China Trade Truce at the G-20 Summit (by: @Jaysen)

The Story:

Last Friday and Saturday, world leaders met to discuss pressing global economic and financial issues at the annual G20 summit.

The summit ended with the US postponing further tariffs on Chinese goods and lifting some restrictions on Huawei. In return, China agreed to buy more US agricultural products.

Impact on Businesses and Law Firms:

The markets are happy. Stock markets around the world rose sharply, with the S&P 500 closing at an all-time high. They had feared Donald Trump would keep to his word and impose tariffs on the $300bn in goods that aren’t already covered by existing US tariffs. With the ban lifted on Huawei, US tech stocks rallied; they can now get back to selling high-tech equipment to the company provided there’s no national security risk.

The trade truce is a positive sign, at least in the short term. The US-trade war has caused global organisations, such as the IMF and the World Bank, to cut global growth forecasts. It has caused investors to move to safe haven assets and likely exacerbated China’s slowdown. China’s growth has made it a crucial player in the world stage, which is why a fall in demand from China impacts everything from European shoe giants to Australian mining companies.

Is it worth it? Perhaps. You might argue it’s a necessary cost to tackle China’s lack of market access, discrimination against foreign companies and technology transfers. Alternatively, you might suspect Trump is trying to sabotage China’s attempts at competing on the global stage.

What we do know is Trump’s re-election campaign is underway. In the first Democratic primary debate, four of the 10 candidates identified China as the biggest threat facing the US. If Trump secures a weak deal, it will be used against him. In other words, the market should be wary of celebrating too quickly.

For the law two years, I have been applying to vacation schemes and training contracts, but have failed to get anything.

I feel like the one thing holding me back is that I am unable to point to anything of substance that demonstrates my interest in commercial law. During university (which i have just finished) I took part in Law Society competitions, managed to get a place at the Law Clinic (not that this even applies directly to commercial law), attended open days etc. Likewise, I have had numerous part-time jobs, played sport at a national level, and am able to talk about the transferable skills obtained from these on my applications.

However, it's clear I don't have any experience of working in a commercial law firm, or even experience in a corporate firm in general. I do not have any family/friend connections to even get me informal work experience.

Does anyone have any advice as to how I can seek to demonstrate my interest in commercial law? I believe I am able to demonstrate transferable skills from the things discussed above, but this does not appear to be enough. I also feel as if I am not the only person with this issue!

At this stage I am desperate, am questioning whether I even have a shot at being a commercial lawyer. Thank you in advance for any ideas/advice.

I realised I hadn't shared this in the forum, so let me re-post it here. These are just suggestions and not exhaustive:

What can you do right now to prepare for summer training contract interviews?

1. Develop your commercial awareness
A. Spend 15 minutes every day to read highlights of the top business news stories.
B. Spend 30 minutes every week to read summaries of the key updates relating to Brexit and the US-China trade war.
C. Read 1 opinion piece every week on a news story that you find interesting; research any technical terms you don't understand.

2. Improve your writing
A. Write 250 words every week about an extra-curricular activity, work experience or position of responsibility. B. Review your writing; focus on improving your clarity (are you using short sentences and simple language?) and selling your experiences as best as you can (is your writing personal and specific?).
BONUS: To improve your technique for written case studies, follow the above, but write about a commercial topic.

3. Improve your interview technique
A. Organise a 30-minute weekly meeting with a friend to discuss a commercial topic, pick opposite sides of a story to debate and then switch.
B. Practice 1 challenging interview question every week, record yourself under timed conditions and review. BONUS: Learn how to tell better stories (STRIVE has an excellent article on this: https://lnkd.in/gjpcnJ5).

Hi guys,

I have two assessment centres on Thursday and Friday of this week and I’m stressing out a bit!

How long on average would you say it takes you to prep for an AC?

Also does anyone have any advice for a Weightmans AC? There doesn’t seem to be much info online about what to expect.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,
Has anyone filled in an application for Irwin Mitchell at all?
I was unsure whether they want all our grades for our degree on the application or just our final degree grade?
I tried contacting them on wednesday and I still havent had a reply.
Any advice would be very helpful!
Many thanks

Hello everyone!

Rather than thinking of any one employer in particular, I've been reflecting on what it is graduate recruiters want to see on applications generally. I feel there are a few main points to satisfy. Obviously, there are various degrees to which it is necessary to satisfy them, depending on the firm (I imagine a firm like Latham & Watkins will set a higher bar than a regional one).

Therefore, by way of discussion, the general idea I'm getting is that there are three main 'pillars' to the application process. Do feel free to correct me on this, as I'm far from experienced... this is just what I've glued together from my own applications and the experiences of friends who are further along than me:

1) Meet the academic requirements. Every single firm whose A-level requirements I did not meet rejected me. I had hoped that the shortcoming would be discounted based on the strength of the application in other areas, but that is seemingly not how it works. Competition is brutal and exceptions look to be non-existent. I imagine the absolute same goes for university grades. Avoid having below 2:1 in any module.

2) Have a solid (legal) CV. After academia, I imagine the next point grad recruitment scrutinizes is the work experience. If you have legal/commercial internships, your application will receive a massive buff. If you've only worked in retail for the past year and done nothing more specific (or transferable) to law, I can see how it wouldn't exactly be a competitive application.

3) Have the professional and personal aptitude necessary. This is mostly tested at ACs and face-to-face interviews. The job is challenging and not everyone has it in them to succeed. An applicant needs to have a solid commercial and legal knowledge base, and have a fair idea of the demands placed on the business a law firm conducts. Further, innate people skills, true motivation and interest in the field, and simple likability go a long way.

In my case, my ABB grades have limited my options, but you play the hand you're dealt.
As for the CV, I've worked extensively in administrative/receptionist positions. While helpful, I do think my CV could use some diversification - a point I'm working on at the moment with various placements.

I'm curious as to which of the above problems other users have experienced, and how they've worked on them. Feel free to share!

Hello everyone,

I'm working on a training contract application to Paul Hastings and I'm having a bit of trouble with one of the questions. The question is 'Why are your skills/attributes suited to a career at Paul Hastings? Why should we offer you a Training Contract?'

On the surface, it seems fairly straight forward but after thinking about it, its a little more difficult than it appears.

I thought about highlighting a few of the firm's standout characteristics and explaining why certain skills I have developed would be suitable and relate to their firm - and then evidencing these skills with things I've done. For example, the firm executes many complex multijurisdictional transactions. Therefore, organisation skills are needed to keep up with legal developments and to be able to manage and prioritise heavy, complicated caseloads. I would then back up my organisational skills with something I've done and then hopefully I would have covered the 'why are my skills suited' part of the question.

I'm pretty lost on how to tackle the 'why should we offer you a training contract' part of the question.

To add to the difficulty, you only get 200 words!

Any advice with be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

Hi Guys,

I am currently drafting my personal statement and I was wondering if someone could tell me what structure they followed.

I usually use this structure when it comes to cover letters: why commercial law, why that firm, why me.

Should I use the same approach?

Hey Im sure this has been asked somewhere- but what are people's thoughts about mentioning an upcoming VS at another firm in a TC app- (mainly because can't guarantee conversion from VS to TC). I was thinking maybe in the cover letter dropping in a line along the lines of "and looking forward to learning more about x in my upcoming vacation scheme at".

Open to all thoughts and suggestions- thanks!

I have completed my app for Freshfields but wanted to amend one last thing in my cover letter and cannot seem to do it, as the review button only allows me to access my profile. Has anyone else come across this? I contacted Grad Rec who are busy with VS starting tomorrow but I hope they will reply soon. Amy help appreciated .

Hi All,

I thought it would be interesting to see where our members are heading to this summer. A couple of trainees have also asked me if any TCLA members are heading to their firm this summer, so I can give a heads up. Feel free to also include the dates of your scheme.

In the meantime, you may find the following helpful:

• Convert your vacation scheme into a training contract: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/convert-your-vacation-scheme-into-a-training-contract/
• Vacation Scheme Guide 2019: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/the-vacation-scheme-guide/
• Vacation Scheme Diaries: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy....official-vacation-scheme-diaries-thread.1430/
• We are also currently posting daily tips on our LinkedIn page.

Hi guys,

Bit of an unusual one but having won a competition, I have an upcoming lunch with two of BCLP's American partners.

I'm currently awaiting the outcome of my application with the firm so would obviously like to make a good impression whilst ensuring I strike the right balance in terms of formality (as it's a lunch not an interview).

Any advice/tips on how to prepare, questions to ask etc?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine recently recommended a podcast to me called 'Wake Up To Money' on BBC Radio Five Live which is available every weekday. It is recorded really really early in the morning and covers all the big commercial news stories, whilst only being about 40 mins long. I have been listening everyday for a couple of weeks now and it is really easy to follow and incredibly useful. I figured that it would be a great idea to hear if you guys have any podcast recommendations that might help with commercial awareness as well! If you have any to share I would be so grateful to hear of them in a post below

Thanks everyone and I hope you are all having a lovely week so far!

Hi everyone,
Does anyone know where I can find the list of factors which could be considered to answering the question "Why this firm?"
Many thanks - I just remember there being a long list of things we could mention in our applications which was really helpful but I cant seem to find it anywhere!
A link to it would be amazing!

Many thanks