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Hi all,

I'm currently reviewing my answer to this question. I'm wondering whether I should link points raised in answering to how that would make me a strong lawyer at x firm? So, rather than simply answer 'why you?', more 'how are you different to other candidates and why does that make you suited to a career at this firm?'.

Would be interesting to see how others go about answering this one!

Thanks

Which firms have the best brand ambassador programmes? If any of you have been brand ambassadors, can you provide us with some insight?

Hello!

I've been putting some thought into how I'm going to use my current job as a point of reference for where I've developed certain skills and competencies, in interviews. I've also been thinking about using it as an example of what I'm seeking to leave behind, e.g. :

• menial work where I don't get pushed much. Also, less responsibility than I want in a job
• a non-competitive market where the business doesn't necessarily try very hard to improve their service to clients

But, I don't want to come across as negative/slating the company in case they think that's what I'm going to be like at their firm OR as downplaying the skills I am picking up on the job (e.g. I don't want to play down any responsibility I do have by saying what I don't have).

Does anyone have experience with talking about full-time office work in legal interviews? Or, can give an outside perspective on the above?

Hi everyone,

I just have a quick query about assessments for verbal reasoning. This might be specific to CAPP but it might come up on other ones too.

Under the interpretation section the question is often phrased "Rank the following from the MOST positive to the LEAST positive". If this is an action (e.g. "Rank the following from the MOST positive to the LEAST positive" about going to the gym) then what do they mean by positive? Are we supposed to gauge the tone of the response e.g. if they say "how exciting, what a great idea", or are we supposed to gauge the likelihood of them taking up that action e.g. the difference between "yeah okay, I will look at my diary to see when I can come" vs. "that's a great idea but I'm not sure about the timing"? For me, "I will look at my diary" seems to be quite a positive, pro-active response, while "that's a great idea" is more positive in tone yet not really promising anything. Hope that makes sense?

Thank you!

UPDATE: I found some old notes I have which say:
"Positivity = consideration of the siatuation and the subjects interest (i.e. offering assistance or advice, having the addressee's interests as a concern) as well as support and enthusiasm"

So resolved, haha! Hope this helps anyone else who might be taking these tests.

Not sure if anyone saw this New York Times article last week: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/27/us/paul-weiss-partner-diversity-law-firm.html.

This is the LinkedIn post that caused a stir:

Hey guys!

So I am aware that many of you have applied to Latham & Watkins, so I just wanted to share a few of the notes I took during the mock assessment centre hosted by the firm for our university's law society. I personally did not apply to Latham (although now I wish I did!) but hope this is useful to all currently in the application process.

Nicola Fox (Grad recruitment coordinator) also said that they have not completed screening and deciding on all apps, so if you don't have a VI yet, don't lose hope!

So first, we had a talk by Deborah Kirk, a partner in the corporate department

• Deborah trained at Links, before joining Latham in 2010; she really emphasised the differences between U.S. law firms in London & the Magic Circle, explicitly highlighting the entrepreneurial feel at Latham, and the fact that the firm pays less attention to hierarchy than a MC firm might.
• This basically means that the work you will be given will not be on the basis of your level in the firm (e.g. whether you're a first seater or 2nd year PQE) but rather on your appetite for responsibility, and if you excel in the tasks given to you.
• One quote that really goes to the heart of this was 'At a MC firm, you are a part of a group of trainees. At Latham, you are a part of the team, from the day you join. It doesn't matter what level you are at, if you can prove that you do well and excel'.
• She stressed that the more 'managed' and 'structured' approach of the MC is not a negative one per se, but it is all down to your personal working style and preference.
• Kirk wanted to dispel the myth that there is no formal training done at U.S. law firms. While more responsibility is accorded to trainees, this is supplemented with a formal training programme designed by the learning and development team.
• London is not a satellite office for Latham, and it has been the centre of 'astronomic growth' since 2010. Similar to S & S, Latham is able to leverage its relationships with U.S. investment banks, multinationals and corporates, and offers credibility in both NY and English law related transactions.
• True to its Californian roots, Latham is often the port of call for many major technology companies, including the likes of Yahoo, Netflix, Expedia, and it also assists major PE houses on technology related transactions. Many trainees have the chance to do a seat in TTG (Technology transactions), which is quite unique to Latham.
• On the note of PE, PE is a particularly significant area of growth for Latham, and its largest client is Carlyle, with the likes of Blackstone & KKR in the list as well. (One trainee had completed a client secondment at Carlye, so if this excites any of you!)
• Unlike many other U.S. law firms in London, Latham is truly full-service; it offers the entire suite of services, from corporate/M&A and high-yield finance to IP and real estate. Their current strategy is now focused on expanding their volume of work, as opposed to their practice area offering.
• London is very important to Latham, and they don't think this will change after Brexit. It was emphasised Brexit could actually bring more opportunities, because clients need assistance on risk mitigation due to Brexit. Kirk said that this was the busiest January she'd seen in a few years!
• Latham is also a very human and welcoming place to work. Kirk emphasised that the firm does over 15,000 hours of pro-bono work, and pro-bono counts as a part of your billable hours on an unlimited basis.

Graduate Recruitment tips:

• Latham recruits 24 trainees every year and approximately two-thirds come from the winter, spring and summer vacation schemes.
• They emphasised that candidates should try and tease out all the skills gained from their work experience, instead of simply listing what they did. One student suggested a structure where they listed what they did, and then listed the skills gained from it, and grad rec were happy with that structure.
• As I am sure most of you know the process, the AC itself involves: an interview (commercial awareness related) one with two partners, followed by a presentation (they tell you the topic a few days in advance) and a final interview with two partners on your application form and your motivations for joining Latham.
• They want to see you perform consistently well across the day, despite the intensity.
• During the vacation scheme, you are set a research task which is done over the two weeks, and your performance in this is used when they assess you for a TC.
• They really appreciate proactive people at Latham. So if you reach out or email a supervisor who works in a practice area you are interested in, or you ask around to help others, it will bode well.

Hope you guys find this helpful! I am sure most of this is familiar from your research, but hopefully some of it might help.

Hi All,

With our recent success on the Reed Smith AMA live stream, the team and I are happy to announce that we will be continuing with future live streams, podcasts and transcripts with future trainees and partner organisations. We have trainees at Shearman and CMS who will be kicking things off for us all in due course.

In light of this, I want to know what you prefer most - livestreams/written interviews/podcast interviews, I would greatly appreciate it.

Please comment below and I look forward to seeing your responses

Apologies for sounding silly. Will sending a thank-you email to the GR team after an interview make me appear too keen, especially when my group of interviewees did shake hands and said 'thank you' to them in person? Many thanks in advance

Hey guys!

I’m applying to S&S and realise finance is their main practice area. I’m interested in this area from what I’ve learned speaking to trainees at other firms and from the AS semi finals at Travers Smith. However, I’m finding it hard to articulate why their finance practice appeals to me without having any practical experience in this area. Any tips or suggestions?

Is it more sensible to apply for a staight TC in May or wait unitil next application cycle and apply for the Winter Vac Scheme? I don't have a vac scheme in a UK-based office of a law firm, but I completed a two-month internship in one of Linklaters' closest alliances in a foreign country last summer. What are your thoughts?

Clifford Chance Training Contract Interview 2019

The day started with an intro session by a member of the Grad recruitment team. Just to go through the day and answer any questions.

There was a group of 8 candidates and we were each collected by our interviewers.

Competency interview

The first interview was a competency for everyone with two associates. Not sure if this has any impact on the weighting or was to get nerves out of the way. I had two associates.

Interestingly, I didn’t get the traditional why law or why CC.

As CC are CV blind, I had to provide an intro to myself. Questions were on teamwork, challenges, achievements, leadership and commercial awareness. I found the later a little difficult, as I was just a little thrown by the way they were phrased. The associates have a long list of questions which they can ask, so prepare for a very broad range of potential competencies.

The impression I got was that they would grade your answers from 1-5. So not sure how my answers will stack up or be judged. Felt like I was doing a lot of talking. Wasn't easy to build rapport in this interview as it was a back and forth, question and answer.

Case study interview

30 minutes to prepare a typed email to a Partner on a fictional acquisition. And then 10 minutes to present key points to the Partner.

Advice here would be to structure the email so that it’s easy to present. In terms of content, focus on practice areas and apply the facts to these practices to explain how they will be involved. The Partner interviewing me looked through the typed email, but for others the Partners didn’t. (Apparently the writing is not judged – but I find that hard to believe).

The Partner then follows up to clarify any points and to ask some more questions on the case study. These questions are just generally on common sense and how would you react in the situation. For example, client wanted the DD complete in a short timescale or you have conflict commitments. What would you do.

Once the case study element is over, the Partner then asks some general questions for about 10-15 minutes, why CC, and why law, etc. Again given the CV blind element, they asked about background and journey to this point. The Partner felt I had an interesting journey so we spent some time talking about this. In this interview it was much easier to develop rapport with the Partner and it felt more like a conversation. I actually enjoyed this interview, and almost wished it carried on for a little bit longer!!

No response yet, but they advised a timescale of one week.

Hey all.

I am trying to prepare an answer for a question asking 'why the London office' of a firm which has both other international and national offices (DLA Piper).

I think it is quite likely that I will get asked why the London office (As I did an Open Day at a different office) and am not sure how to approach this question.

Possible ideas were that the London office has more international and cross border work and works on the most challenging cases/ transactions - but the firm try to emphasise that they disperse work evenly throughout their offices so not sure if this is the best approach!

Any help would be appreciated!

When was your CMS assessment day?

January 2019

What was it for?

CMS Academy.

Please describe the assessment day at CMS.

The group was split into two (5 in each group) and given separate timetables for the day.

There were 4 exercises:
1. Speed networking with current trainees (6 minutes with 6 trainees). This was very informal and friendly - I think the key is really to be yourself, show interest in the firm and who you are talking to, but also demonstrate your own qualities and interests. The trainees had prompt questions which were very difficult questions - especially if you only had a minute to answer - so make sure to keep the conversation going haha!

2. Case study. You had to read all the information given, summarise your conclusion and advice on one side of A4, and prepare to present this in your partner interview. I'm not sure on what advice to give here - try to draw on commercial awareness/knowledge where you can (e.g. political environment, economy etc) but ultimately use your common sense.

3. Partner interview. Present your case study conclusion for 10 minutes, followed by 5 minutes in which the partner asks you questions about the case study/your presentation. This is followed by 30/40 minutes of competency-based questions. Make sure to use the STAR method and don't be too brief. There was no "Why CMS" or "Why law" question. Questions included:
- Talk about a recent change in legislation and how it affects us/our clients.
- Describe a time when you had to convince others of your point of view.

4. Group exercise. You had 30 minutes to prepare, 10 minutes to present, and 10 minutes in which they ask questions. The topic was very entrepreneurial driven so 30 minutes was quite short to brainstorm and prepare a presentation. Focus on what the question is asking and specifically what you need to answer - even though you are being watched by people it's not an opportunity to show off about how much you know generally.

What advice would you give to future applicants for the CMS interview?

All round it was an enjoyable, friendly and informal day. I had been advised by someone else (who had attended an assessment day at CMS previously) that CMS want you to do well and that they're not trying to trip you up - after my own experience I really felt this was true. Focus on being friendly and on being someone they would want to work with - although of course always be yourself.

I am currently inserting the work experience section of an application form. I don't whether my supervisor position needs be in a capital, see extract below:

As the sole Paralegal, I review and advise on all commercial contracts received by the business as well as providing legal support to the firm's Contracts Lawyer.

Does "Contracts Lawyer" need to be in capitals as my position being a paralegal is?

Hi!! Does anyone have any advice / know what the questions are like for the Simmons & Simmons video interview for their vacation scheme? Thank you in advance! ;-)

If you reach out to trainees via LinkedIn and they provide valuable info/speak to you over the phone, is this something you would mention in your application? Also, is there a good way of wording this without it sounding awkward or can I just say "after speaking to trainees....." ?

Thanks!

I'm doing an application in which the questions cover all the standard 'why law? why this firm? what skills?' etc. & also requires a cover letter so I'm a bit stumped re what to answer for "please provide us with any further information that is relevant to your application" -- and its compulsory !! any help would be appreciated, thank you! x

Currently, I’m redrafting an application and I don’t know whether to stick to numbers or words?

I know from past application reviews, comments have been made to amend the number to words. For example, “ instead of 9 offices” amended to “ instead of nine offices”.

However, where you have big numbers like 65 is it best to amend to “sixty-five” or shall I just leave 65?

Stupid question, I know. But I need clarity!

Hey guys!

If you had relatively brief experiences under the work section but there are 250 words available, do you always reach the word limit? I'm wondering if I'm being too short but also want to write concisely and not ramble on.

Are 150 words enough?

Thoughts?

Does anyone know how to approach:
What do you think Hill Dickinson LLP should be doing to stay ahead of its competitors?

Deadlines are coming! We are giving £10 Amazon gift cards to five aspiring lawyers today. To enter, simply like this post and tag a friend who could benefit from some application relief.

Happy Monday!

Application question: Please identify an issue currently in the mainstream media and explain how this is likely to impact the clients that the firm represents and/ or the type of work that the firm undertakes.

The firm:
- International law firm headquartered in London with offices in 14 countries
- Sectors such as aviation, heavy industry and engineering, transport and logistics, energy and insurance

Can I talk about a current issue which only really directly affects the UK market (so Uk based clients) or would it be better, because the firm is an international law firm, to focus on an international issue?

I recently completed a VS assessment centre, but realised that this firm’s scheme overlaps with one at another firm that I already formally accepted. I have a callback from the gradrec partner today. If I’m offered the second scheme, how would you recommend responding? Do you think it’s worth asking if they can accommodate me in some way (e.g. switching to the spring scheme, doing the first week of the scheme, or at worst just going direct to a TC interview)? The firms were essentially my top two choices, so I don’t want to burn bridges or make this a totally wasted acceptance if I get it. Thanks guys!

Hey, so I've (suprisingly) been invited to the Clyde & Co Assessment centre, does anyone have any experience of having attended? any advise would be appreciated