New Threads

Looking at the questions Norton Rose Fulbright ask on their application form, I was a little thrown by this additional bit:

Please use this section to provide additional information about yourself and/or your experience that is relevant to this application. (100 words max)*

It seems like it's a required section due to the star, but I know I can always put N/A and skip it. But does anyone reckon it is crucial to add something here? And if so, what could that be? Do I have to expand on my work experience/sell myself? Any thoughts or suggestions are much appreciated.

I just wanted to find out the likelihood of places filling up on vac schemes at certain firms. Earlier I saw mentioned that Jones Day's Winter vac scheme fills up by mid-October. I've also experienced Shearman & Sterling fill up their training contracts (and therefore stopped recruiting for their vacation schemes) by April/May.

Does anyone have a similar experience? I understand what a rolling basis process means but sometimes you don't trust it to truly fill up right till the last moment.

Hi, just wondering how you guys would suggest answering "Why did you not attend a higher ranked university? (eg: Oxbridge)" during an interview?

My LLB is from Cardiff University but I suppose this question could still be asked even if I am from LSE etc. Truth be told, I didn't apply to Oxbridge because my A Levels grades did not meet the requirements. But telling this to the interviewer is probably not a wise choice?
(Source of rankings: QS rankings and Shanghai rankings)

I'm inclined to answer the following:
1) University rankings are not everything. Skills and extra-curricular activities play important roles too in determining someone's ability to perform at work.

• Follow up: An interviewer who is from Oxbridge or another higher ranked university himself might not agree with my answer and thus have an unfavourable impression of me?

2) Financial reasons

• Follow up: Various financial aids are available. Why didn't you apply?
  • This again boils down to academic results...

3) Cardiff Uni is pretty great and it's in the Russell Group.

Any thoughts on my approach and/or any suggestions? And how would you feel if you were asked this question?

What do you guys think it will be? Can you suggest any reading on it?

I'm guessing blockchain technology (for smart contract etc.) are not developed enough to be in use by law firms in five years?

I’ve come across a few weird questions. Thought I’d put them out there to get views:

1. What motivates you.

2. How would you add value during a vacation scheme to the office.

3. If you could go back in time for a historical event, what would it be and why.

4. What rewards do you expect.

''Please type your cover letter below to be read by the Graduate Recruitment Manager. You do not need to address it to a person or to include your/our address.'' The word limit is 300 words.

Would anyone be able to shed some light on how to structure the Jones Day Cover Letter? In particular what questions I should be answering e.g. why law, why commercial law etc.

Any advice on this will be greatly appreciated.

I recently stumbled upon this question from a Sidley Austin application. "Why does a career in a city law firm interest you?" I know it is a straight forward question, but it as almost too straight forward, I was at a loss for words. A few things I can think of are a wide breadth of legal work, international clients due to London's reputation as a financial etc. But I felt that my answers are too generic and I was wondering if there are ways if I can tailor it better to Sidley Austin (they have an extensive expertise in finance, but I'm not sure what to mention to tie it to the question). Please let me know what I can do to make my answers better !

Here's a draft list of the law firms that do and don't recruit on a rolling basis. I say draft because some of them I will need to confirm with the law firm. The links in blue should be confirmed (although sometimes it's unclear whether it's a rolling basis for both vacation schemes and training contracts).

Law firms which recruit on a rolling basis:

Addleshaw Goddard (Facebook 2015)
Allen & Overy (website)
Ashurst (website)
Baker McKenzie (website)
BCLP (recruitment brochure 2015)
Bird & Bird (website)
Burges Salmon (website)
Cleary Gottlieb (2016-17 recruitment brochure)
Clyde & Co (lawcareers.net)
CMS (2017 twitter)
Dentons (website)
DLA Piper (lawcareers.net)
Eversheds (Wikijob)
Hogan Lovells (website)
Jones Day (Apply4Law)
Macfarlanes (website)
Mayer Brown - vacation schemes (confirmed by graduate recruitment)
MoFo (confirmed by a HR rep)
Mischon de Reya (website)
Norton Rose Fulbright (website)
Reed Smith (website)
Simmons & Simmons (website)
Slaughter and May (yes for training contracts)
Sidley Austin (website)
Travers Smith (website)
Weil Gotshal & Manges (website)
White & Case (rolling only for vacation schemes)
Withers (confirmed by graduate recruitment)

Law firms which do not recruit on a rolling basis

Clifford Chance (website)
Cooley (lawcareers.net)
Covington & Burling (website)
Davis Polk (job listing 2017)
Fried Frank (confirmed by HR rep)
Herbert Smith Freehills (confirmed by HSF brand ambassador)
Trowers and Hamlins (Twitter 2016)
Latham & Watkins (website)
Linklaters (confirmed by graduate recruitment)
Mayer Brown - training contracts (confirmed by graduate recruitment)
Osborne Clarke (confirmed by graduate recruitment)
Taylor Wessing (confirmed by graduate recruitment)
Kirkland & Ellis (confirmed by graduate recruitment)
Freshfields (confirmed by graduate recruitment)
Shearman & Sterling (confirmed by graduate recruitment)
Skadden (confirmed by graduate recruitment)
Watson Farley & Williams (confirmed by graduate recruitment)

Unconfirmed

K&L Gates
Pinsent Masons (possibly not rolling basis)

Do people have any advice or insight?

Just a blank box to write about yourself - positions of responsibility, employment/work experience, achievements, interests, personal qualities

Hi All,

Today is the last day to sign up to our fourth class on the financial crisis. You can find below a sample of our preparatory material for this session. You can book the class here.

Hi All,

I thought you might find it useful if I posted one story a week from our commercial awareness section in the TCLA Premium forum. Closer to law firm interview time, you can then scroll back through this thread and catch up with some of the important stories for each month.

Feel free to post your own stories/share links in this thread also.

Thanks,

Jaysen

I've spoken to a few people over the last days and I was advised not to apply to certain firms (Macfarlanes, Clifford Chance, Slaughter May, ...) are those firms are mostly interested in Oxbridge students and I would simply be wasting my time. (I am a law student at non RG university)

How do you guys feel about the advice I got?

Hey guys,

Just a new member here.

I have to to join an organisation which helps law students get training contracts etc as you all know there are a few out there.

I have to write an answer to Why do I genuinely want a Training contract?


I am really confused - is this asking me why I want to be a solictor? Or is it asking me why I am choosing a career in commerical law?

Any opinions on this please be so helpful.

Just wanted to get some other views or comments on this.

How would you go about answering: what skills can you bring?

I think this is getting at transferable skills ... teamwork, communication, time management, etc.

Before I write up the wrong answer wanted to double check.

How would you weight the answer between skills and examples?

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??