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Introducing our Video Interview Simulator!

We've been working on a solution to help candidates better prepare for video interviews. \

Introducing our video interview simulator:

• It's the same software that many law firm use to filter candidates
• You'll be asked questions, adapted from real law firm interviews, under timed conditions
• We'll provide you with comprehensive question-by-question feedback
• We'll send you a recording of your performance and a copy of our video interview cheat sheet

Silver and Gold Premium members are able to book one session free every month!

Access it here: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/video-interview-simulator/

To kick us off, we're offering four free sessions to candidates who tag a friend on this LinkedIn post.

Just wondering if anyone has ever been to an AC at RPC and what your experience was? I've been given less than a week's notice of mine and as I've never been to one I'm not sure how to best prepare.

I know the day is made up of an interview & written & oral exercise. If anyone has done this or been to anything similar please post back or DM me. General tips are welcome! Thank you in advance!

I want to talk about my role as an adviser at a Law Clinic under the question: "What extracurricular activities and positions of responsibility have you undertaken and why?".

However, I also want to include it in my work history (as without it I have limited legal work experience).

Is it okay to have it in both sections (I'll be careful to not repeat myself and get across the range of skills I have developed)? Given the work history section is only 100 words, I feel I can use the positions of responsibility question to really expand on what I have learnt.

what are people's thoughts?

Has anyone done the VI for Bakers? Would really appreciate any help with the questions and about how much time we have to answer

Thanks!

Hi

I have just been invited to do a VI for DWF, and this is the first time I have done a VI!
Has anyone got any advice/ tips for DWF, and how to prepare generally.

Thanks!

Does anyone have any tips and guidance on the CRS video interview? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello,
I was wondering if it is stretch to talk about firm's expansion into African Market, as reason for your interest in the firm?

Hi there,
Has anyone had any previous experience with Peters & Peters at HR interview stage and beyond? My first-choice firm, so any past interactions I would greatly appreciate to hear about. Thanks!

Hi all,

I have a video interview with CRS to complete over the next 5 days. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how best to prepare for video interviews in general or specifically for CRS, in terms of format, etc

Many thanks!

Arun

Hi all,

I have recently been invited to an AC with BCLP next month. I have never attended an AC before so I was wondering if anyone could help me with any tips and advice in general, as well as BCLP's AC specifically?

Many thanks!

Arun

Before the interview, they would ask you to prepare in advance, three suggestions or event ideas to promote the brand of BCLP on your campus and also to prepare a two to three-minute elevator pitch, as if you were to give one to a student at a law fair, based on your knowledge about the firm. Think about events beyond the regular networking and canapes, e.g. networking events combined with a social aspect. You may refer to events held by previous brand ambassadors, e.g. ping pong networking event.

For the pitch, make sure to do your research and understand the culture of the firm inside-out. One thing that BCLP is famous for is their work on real estate and some of the deals they have worked on involved buildings you can easily spot in the London skyline, e.g. the cheese grater building. I also included brief mentions of graduate opportunities in my pitch, e.g. the opportunity for first-year students to join their spring scheme.

Aside from aforementioned, they also asked a couple of additional questions:

• What do you think are key qualities a good brand ambassador should have?
• What extracurricular activities have you been involved in during your interview?

The whole interview lasted for about 30 minutes.

From anonymous

There were two parts to the assessment centre: a senior associate interview (competency) and a partner interview (based on the case study).

Since Clifford Chance conducts CV-blind interviews, the first question in the senior associate interview would be “tell me about yourself”. My advice would be to give a brief skeleton of your CV, e.g. your leadership positions, work experience etc. After that, they will proceed to ask you competency-based questions. Some of the questions I was asked during the senior associate interview:

• A time when I pushed myself
• How I manage time
• Difficulties faced whilst working as a team
• Difficulties faced whilst being a leader
• A time I had to deal with a difficult client/customer
• What do clients look in a law firm
• How can I contribute to the firm
• Why law
• Why Clifford Chance

The interviewer also asked whether there are any other points I wanted to mentioned that were not covered in her questions, so I mentioned that whilst I have explained “why law”, I wanted to elaborate specifically on “why commercial law”, as I had prepared different answers for both questions. One advice I would give is to always structure your question with “firstly, secondly, thirdly…”.

Then, we were brought into a computer room, where we were presented with a case study and we were instructed to type our findings in the form of an email. Be sure to structure your email and write professionally. I wrote mine in bullet points, accompanied with full sentences.

Then, we were to bring the printed copy of our email to the next interview, which was conducted by a partner. The partner asked me to summarise the case study (this is where attention to detail comes in, so make sure you remember the key points of the scenario) and present to her my findings. She then asked specific follow-up questions on what I had written in my answer. They deliberately ask really hard questions on purpose! But just be cool and make educated guesses on some of the commercial questions if you don’t know the answer.

The things that they are looking for:

Competency interview

1. Leadership and collaborative skills: This is about whether you are able to provide convincing examples of situations where you had to manage a team, motivate and inspire individuals, work collaboratively with different team members and taking responsibility.
2. “Client focus”: This is essentially about your ability to identify the client’s needs and to build long-lasting rapport with your client. Times where you have had to hold difficult conversations or deal with difficult customers are examples of this.
3. Understanding the commercial environment and Clifford Chance: This examines whether you can identify the “economics of a law firm” (i.e. how a law firm interacts with the political, economic, technological and social environments). You should have an understanding of terminology and jargon commonly used in the commercial world, and also show interest in recent trends.
4. Understanding the work that lawyers do: This test whether you have general enthusiasm in becoming a lawyer. Examples of legal and non-legal work experiences should be raised here. You should also have an understanding of the common practice areas.

Case study

1. Written communication: Your case study report should be well structured and have little to no grammatical and spelling errors. I find that writing your report in bullet-points and in full sentences work.
2. Verbal communication: This examines whether you are able to hold up under pressure, whether you are able to support your stance despite being brutally questioned and whether you have confidence in verbalizing your thoughts. Also, body language is a plus point.
3. “Client focus”: Similar to above. Think about any potential “conflicts” or “benefits” that might affect your client, and the legal and commercial consequences of some of the actions taken in the case study.
4. Understanding the commercial environment and Clifford Chance: Similar to above. Also, do try to link any real-life knowledge of the firm to the case study, e.g. if it the case study is similar to any real deals that the firm has been involved with. It also sees whether your answer is thought through from a business perspective.
5. Innovation and business delivery: This sees whether you can think of creative solutions to aid your client. For example, consider any possibilities of price reduction or indemnities.

We're very happy to release our new Weekly News page, allowing you to easily dive into our previous commercial updates!

https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/weekly-news/

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:

Login to view embedded media
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).