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Hi everyone, this was a unique question I came across when I was completing a Burges Salmon application 2 years ago. I was wondering if anyone has a tip on how to answer questions like these? what structure is best to cover everything I need for this question? Please leave your thoughts below, thank you!

I thought it would be a good idea to gather a list of firms that recruit through the traditional CV and Cover Letter. The ones I know are Davis Polk, Milbank, and Goodwin. Why do you think some firms prefer this model? Is it more difficult to shine when you only have one cover letter rather than several questions to answer?

Evening All,

With applications being the death of me (legit), I would love to hear about how everyone balances their time with apps -whether that means waking up early, sitting in a cafe or starting apps a week before the deadline (I do not do this) hahaha

Or what do you do to make the application process a lot more fun, enjoyable or less stressful ?

I personally like to prepare a hot cup of peppermint tea and date cake, call my mum for a prep talk on how positive I should be with the new cycle of applications and then off I gooo with my research and writing my apps

What do others do?

Hi all,

As many of you probably already know, companies on the high street are going through a rough patch at the moment, with many of them entering into CVAs.

My questions are mainly for Jaysen (but if anyone else has thoughts, please do share!):

1. How has the decline of the high street impacted firms, as a working lawyer? Do companies come in looking to pre-empt similar business consequences using law somehow?

2. This decline may be attributed to the PE firms that used to manage them (for example by piling on cheap debt, over-expansion). I was wondering are all your perspectives are on this matter?

Thanks!

Hello everyone!

Have you ever been asked the question: which other firms are you applying to?

Of course, whoever is asking this question knows they're not the only firm you're interested in. Instead, it's a way of finding out whether you know what you're looking for or whether you're shooting off applications in a random fashion.

I made the mistake of interviewing with Osborne Clarke and mentioning I was interested in American firms. At Jones Day, similarly, I couldn't confidently answer why American firms interested me as much as they did.

So, I've been trying to consolidate reasons for applying to the law firms that I am applying to. I usually lead with a sector-focused approach and target firms that are strong in my preferred sectors.

However, there are times when the culture of a firm or the breadth of work that a firm undertakes, are what has drawn me in, leading me to the conundrum: why am I applying to such different law firms? Should I simply not mention the diverse range I am applying to?

I wanted to collate some reasons for applying to law firms. I'd be very grateful to hear how everyone else is articulating their motivation for particular firms through these questions:

• Why do you prefer a smaller/larger intake of trainees?
• Why are you interested in applying to a magic circle/city firm?
• Why are you interested in applying to an American firm?
• Why are you interested in applying to a National/regional firm?

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd create this thread so people who are thinking of applying to Macfarlanes can bounce their ideas off each other.

I myself did an Insight Scheme at the firm last year and, as a result, was able to go through the application form in a fair amount of detail with the Graduate Recruitment team (GradRec) which was very helpful.

The form is the following questions:

1. Please provide details of any noteworthy achievements e.g. awards, prizes, positions of responsibility, particular exam marks and your position in your cohort. (500 words) - Refer to academic achievements here, using the STAR structure.


2. Use this section to provide details of your non-academic interests. (500 words) - Refer to Extra Curricular activities here using the STAR structure.


3. Please explain why you are applying to Macfarlanes and what your career ambitions are. (500 words) - the first part of the question seems fairly straightforward i.e. why Macfarlanes but how are you expected to know what your career ambitions are when applying for a vacation scheme? Not sure what to include on that end - would it be as simple as saying 'I want to be a partner in the Corporate/M&A team.'?


4. Please outline the qualities which you think you possess to be a successful lawyer at Macfarlanes. (500 words) - here one of the qualities that GradRec highlighted was teamwork due to the small deal teams that Macfarlanes have. However, other qualities that are listed in their brochure include resilience, determination and communication skills so using the STAR structure would be perfect here.

Then there is a cover letter (with no word limit) which, according to the form, is where you should 'include any information to support your application that is not included in any other part of the form' - Since the other questions are so detailed, GradRec said that it would be completely fine to just include 'Why law?' and introduce yourself here; it doesn't have to be long.

Thanks guys, I hope this is helpful for you and obviously if you agree and/or disagree with the above please let me know! Would love to hear your thoughts

Just saw BCLP is letting students try out virtual reality goggles!

https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/10/...of-trainee-life-with-virtual-reality-goggles/

What are you favourite law fair freebies??

I was told 5-6 is a good number, because otherwise the applications just get too vague.
What are your thoughts?

I am currently working on this question: What do you understand to be the most significant challenge facing the firm at this current time? What has made you choose this challenge?

I have identified a few points which I think relevant to the question.

However I am very unsure if they want me to actually criticise the firm (but who am I to criticise their business strategy) or do they want me to talk about more a general challenge?

Also I have identified a few challenges which I think big international firms face, however find it difficult to actually apply it to the particular law firm I'm applying to (for example: I don't know if they have hourly rates or offer 'package' prices).

I know @Coralin96 is busy this month so I'll create this thread for anyone to share links/summaries of commercial awareness topics for October.

This one is from Legal Week: https://www.law.com/legal-week/2018...lummets-as-brexit-effect-begins-to-take-hold/ (paywall).

Key takeaways:

• According to Mergermarket, UK M&A fell by a third during the third quarter (Q3) of 2018.
• The volume of deals fell by 32% compared to Q2.
• The value of UK deals fell by 66% compared to Q2.
• Suspected reasons: Businesses holding off investments for Brexit/few desirable UK assets.
• It can't just be the UK though as global deal values fell by 40% compared to Q2.

Hi guys,

Having just seen that Weil has opened their Vacation Scheme applications, I thought I'd start a thread to collate people's responses to their questions.

Their form seems fairly straightforward with no cover letter but these three questions.

1. Please explain why you have decided to pursue a career as a commercial solicitor and why you have chosen Weil. (300 words) [Fairly straightforward - I imagine mentioning their strengths in private equity, big clients e.g. Advent International and Goldman Sachs, recent deals, low trainee intake so large responsibility not a cog in the wheel etc. are things to mention here]

2. Please mention anything further which you think is relevant to your application. (300 words) [I imagine any ECs and positions of responsibility is fine here?]

3. Please note any specific questions you would like answered at interview. (300 words) [I've never seen in this in an online application before - is it a trick questions? What sort of things would you say?]

Thanks guys - look forward to reading your responses below.

Daniel

So there's a law fair at Bristol Uni today and tomorrow, and I'm sure there are more to come at other universities. It really depends on the people I speak to at the fair, but the answers I receive are only helpful half of the time. For example, I tend to ask the trainees specifically what attracted them to the firm when they were applying, and now that they are working in the firm, if they could tell me something (let it be nature of the work they undertakes, opportunities, cultures etc) that exceed their expectations. Answers I got from them are usually quite generic. Most common replies were 'I like the people I work with!'.

I understand they are being honest, and I could potentially say at interview I speak to this person at the law fair who told me about the truly collegiate work environment at the firm. But it does seem a little pretentious as I have not yet worked at the firm so very hard for me to say that it is mainly the people that attracted me there.

Would really appreciate any tip on how to make the most of law fairs! suggestions on what questions to ask to obtain insightful info. that you wouldn't normally be able to find in internet would be very helpful as well. Thanks guys!

More and more firms are heading towards a sector-based strategy. When I was in an Osborne Clarke interview, this was something they particularly emphasised. I have observed that this is also something Burges Salmon is beginning to display in their strategy. So I think it would be helpful to discuss and share your thoughts about the pros and cons of a sector-based approach. Comment below!

Here's some background, I graduated from Cardiff Uni with a low 2:1, my module marks have a mixture of 2:2 and 2:1, and went on to do my LLM in UoB. My A-Levels were pretty mediocre with an ABBB (doing four subjects actually saved me from a few applications because firms often want AAB) However, when it comes to applying to firms like Allen & Overy and Slaughter & May, which have a reputation of hiring trainees from Oxbridge or 1st class students from Russell Group unis with immaculate A-Levels results, I feel discouraged and wonder if there is much point in applying when I can focus my efforts on other firms.

Can anyone advise me if I should go on with my A&O / S&M application or my chances are still pretty high on gaining a vacation scheme spot with them?

Hi all,

I have come across several exceptional vacation scheme applications during my recent reviews. I have asked these students to share their advice on applications in this thread, so you can learn how they developed their application technique.

If anyone else wants to share any application tips, please feel free to post here also.

Thanks,

Jaysen

This is an honest question, I want to know what led you to this path and why you want to pursue law. I often find it interesting to hear people from different paths (especially GDL students) and interests that have ended up in the same destination as I am. I have met several people with crazy stories such as being interested in Medicine then Medical Law and they went on to do Masters and a GDL and eventually, Law.

So, let's have a discussion! Why do you want to do law?

I noticed there are 2 main types of commercial awareness questions:

1) tell us about a topic/ commercial news story you've been following and explain why it interests you
2) tell us about a topic/ commercial news story that interests you and explain how it would affect our firm

I'm wondering with respect to type (1) question, must I select a commercial story related to the firm I'm applying to and mention briefly how it would affect that firm anyway, even though they did not ask for such explanation in the question. Would this add value to my answer or weight against me as the person who screens my application may think I did not read the question carefully and answer something they did not ask for.

Really appreciate your help guys!

I was just wondering, could you please be able to give an me idea what this question means;

'Please tell us about a recent commercial deal that has captured your interest. If you could represent a side, which would it be and why?'
Its from the application form for Debevoise & Plimpton.

Also, 'Please tell us something that not many people know about you?' is this a trick question?


Thank you,
Chido

Hi guys,

I’ve noticed there have been a lot of sharing between the members on helpful commercial awareness resources. But it took me a long time to find out about them – I had to access thread titles that seems relevant and scroll through all the comments. I thought other people may also face similar problem so I collated a list of resources here, detailing the pros and cons (based on my personal experience and what I’ve gathered from TCLA members’ discussion) so you can make an informed choice of which source to go for. As some people have already advised, trying to read all of these can be extremely overwhelming!


Email subscriptions:

· Finimize (my personal favourite!)

o Pros: FREE daily emails (except for Sunday) of prominent financial/business deals and events, short yet fairly insightful read (3-4 minutes), serve as perfect starting point for further research. Finimize glossary page also gives simple, easy-to-understand definition of financial/business jargons - https://www.finimize.com/wp/glossary/

o Cons: quite short, requires further research to really understand all the issues

· Bright Network Commercial Awareness Updates:

o Pros: FREE, thorough and comprehensive summaries of key financial/business events (about 3-4 stories each update), weekly publication so focuses on macro events/deals that has wide industrial/market impact à Finimize is better if you wish to keep up-to-date with micro business events, suggest questions you should ask yourself at the end of each summary which you can try to answer to test how well you understand the issues

o Cons: relatively short, you have to create an account with Bright Network, check your spam inbox as sometimes the updates just go there

· Lexology:

o Pros: FREE, collection of law firm’s published insights of new case law and legislative developments, you can select the sectors and practice areas you prefer to receive updates on

o Cons: often discuss very technical legislative/ procedural issues so you have to do extra research on the background in order to understand the materials thoroughly

News outlet:

· BBC, The Guardian, Business Insider

o Pros: convenient everyday go-to for news updates, easy-to-understand, some people find it useful to read these sources for background then move onto The FT for more technical stuffs

o Cons: broadcast general news, state and explain the facts more than providing analysis, should use in combination of The FT and/ or the Economist

· The Economist:

o Pros: my all-time favourite magazine, weekly cover of all prominent political, social and economics events, easy-to-understand, very insightful, articles are categorised by world regions so you can select which to focus on, their special reports are amazing as they usually cover prominent industrial trends that gives you well-rounded information on the covered topics, gives a lot of opinions but be careful as you may very well treat them as facts! (I always have to remind myself to be critical when reading The Economist)

o Cons: Paid subscription required, otherwise you can only access up to 3 articles every week, but I think the £12 for 12 weeks deal first-time subscription for students are quite good. After that it’s £53 every 3 months (I think it‘s really worth the money!)

· The FT:

o Pros: daily coverage of all important financial and business news (it’s in the name isn’t it), contains insightful expert analysis and opinions, seriously the best resources that everyone should familiarise to in order to bolster commercial awareness. I've gatehred that some TCLA members have found the FT Due Diligence Newsletter quite helpful but they are limitted to Premium Subscription

o Cons: very technical, can be hard to understand initially but it’ll get better once you grow more accustomed to it. Best advice I can give is to pick and force yourself to read 3-4 FT articles everyday and use BBC for background info, and increase the number of articles as it starts to make better sense to you!

· The Principle:

o Pros: catered-to-student legal updates so very easy to understand

o Cons: focus specifically on legal rather than business news, published monthly so not a go-to for frequent updates, you have to subscribe to Allaboutlaw.com as they are the publisher of this newspaper

· Forbes magazine:

o Pros: I love Forbes magazines because they feature articles and discussions on trendy commercial, technology and social issues, but from rather original perspectives. Not only good to bolster commercial awareness but your general knowledge too!

o Cons: provides analysis rather than news coverage, discuss interesting but sometimes irrelevant topics to your commercial awareness interests

Websites

· Law Gazette, The Lawyer, Lawyer2b, Legal Week

o Pros: all good resources for updates on newest legal developments and law firms’ news

o Cons: the level of technicalities of these sources (with the exception of Lawyer2b) sometimes make me feel like they are more useful for qualified lawyers and partner levels rather than law students wishing to become trainees; The Lawyer require very expensive subscription lawyer2b is free and but updates are too infrequent in my opinion.

· For Legal tech: Legal Geek and Legaltech

o Pros: keep you updated on all latest legal tech trends

o Cons: can be quite difficult to understand especially when you do not have a tech background

Books:

· All You Need to Know About Commercial Awareness by Christopher Stoakes: very thorough, comprehensive introduction, the author puts commercial awareness into perspectives, which really helps me to start thinking about how this skill comes in to help solicitors add values to their client works. I recommend this book over Christopher’s first edition All You Need to Know About the City which to me is more of a technical guide to the Finance and Banking practice area.

I hope this help! And please feel free to add to the list guys! I’ll appreciate sharing of helpful podcasts (this is the one source I have yet tried out, would be helpful to play it while cooking or bathing)

Good morning all,

Having seen the great work that has been done on compiling the Winter Vacation Scheme list, I was wondering: Is there a First Year Open Day/Scheme equivalent? If not, I do not mind starting one. I have a list from some previous research that I had drawn up but it lacks the opening dates as it would seem that none have been announced yet.

I just wanted to check one had not been created already!

Thanks

Hello all,

Waking up to the new NAFTA deal, I was wondering if anyone could provide a quick insight into what the immediate/long-term consequences will be for US Law firms and beyond.

I will be looking into it today as more news develops, but if anyone has any immediate reactions, it would be helpful to post it here.

Thank you.

Hi all,

Has anyone previously applied for this? simply asked to send in a CV and cover letter. No application form.

How best should I go about doing this in terms of the content? there are no guidelines from freshfields and it feels bizarre that there is no application form to fill in.