New Threads

Hi all,

I've just received a video interview invite from Royds Withy King - I've got until Wednesday to complete it. In the description they've just said that they'd like to know more about me through the interview - I haven't done a video interview before, I would appreciate some tips on how I can prepare.

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone.

I know I said I’d do this back in March but then the final few months of my LL.B kicked into gear and I hibernated from life, mostly in the library. All done now, so thought I’d get around to writing this brief guide up on some of the tech magic circle firms are working on in-house or in collaboration with other companies.

Allen & Overy

A&O recently kicked off the second cohort intake of Fuse; an incubator for lawtech firms (by the way don’t be worried about phrases such as incubator and accelerators etc. Firstly, they don’t seem all that specific and thus if you use one in an incorrect fashion, I doubt anyone would really mind care that much. Incubators seem to be more for tech firms in their infancy, giving them access to the kind of work that allows them to change or test their products in a relaxed, collaborative kind of environment. Accelerators seem to be more for companies in the next stage of their life-cycle, those who are moving from adolescent stage to adulthood and often seem to be a way of hosts to choose which company it may invest equity in. They seem to be for a fixed time period and seem to finish in a demo day for investors to watch. But again, there don’t seem to be strict definitions to what each is).

The first cohort of Fuse seemed a success and led to three of those companies being invited back again to continue working within it:

Nivaura – A fintech startup that is developing cloud based startup for the issue and administration of financial instruments. I believe they recently oversaw two automated bond issues. A&O have also made an equity investment in them and a partner from A&O has joined the board. They seem pretty invested in Nivaura as a company.

Avvoka – A digital platform that incorporates contract creation, workflow and analytics. Essentially a cloud based platform that enables businesses to create, sign and store contracts to streamline the process of generation contracts.

Legatics – automates a whole load of things in the region of banking practices; automated Conditions Precedent, deal bible creations, issues tracing processes etc which people think will save a ton of time and cost for the firms. After the first Fuse incubator, A&O’s banking practice adopted the Legatics platform.

The second cohort of Fuse has also added five companies to it:

Bloomsbury AI – Focuses on natural language understanding and machine learning to try to create virtual assistants that can read and communicate (They have one called Cape at the moment which can read text and answer questions on it) https://alpha.thecape.ai/#/

Kira Systems – Machine learning technology for document review and analysis (they think there is a lot of work to be done around saving time on due diligence and also saving time on contract review)

Neota Logic – Drag and drop AI platform that looks to automate legal processes, documents, expertise… whatever you can throw at it. The drag and drop aspect means you don’t need a tech background to build your own processes, merely a bit of training

Renosys – Fintech again – looking to change regulatory compliance approach of industry

Signal Media – AI business intelligence – BI is the software which helps companies make decisions. It covers a whole range of software such as analytics, reporting and generally plugs into a data warehouse and integrates with it to create reports or analytic tools that allow companies to make decisions. Sainsburys, for example, will use BI to try to stock in a smarter manner. i.e. they know how many oranges were bought in each time period last year via their data warehouse, their BI software allows them to make smarter decisions about how many oranges to send to each store so as to allow them not to run out but also to reduce waste. Signal Media, uses machine learning and AI to create a BI tool that can monitor news and events to create information updates for the company using it.

Fuse II has a focus on legaltech (tech supporting law firms), regtech (tech supporting reg compliance) and dealtech (tech transforming how companies negotiate and complete deals).

Outside of Fuse, A&O also have a big investment in MarginMatrix a digital derivatives compliance system – it has a focus on the OTC derivatives market and MM allows the process of drafting complex documents to satisfy regulatory requirements to be automated – Financial Times reported that this tech allows drafting time of documents to go from 3 hours to 3 minutes.

A&O and Addleshaw Goddard have also both announced new career paths - “training contracts” for those looking to work in a tech space.

__________________________________________________________________

Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance partnered with Kira Systems back in 2016, way before a lot of other law firms even considered Lawtech as a viable option. They’ve been somewhat ahead of the curve on that aspect (although of late the other big firms have caught back up).

Some of the tech companies they work with/use in their offices include:

Neota Logic – As mentioned above. They’ve created the MiFID toolkit which is to help financial institutions assess and address the impacts of the MiFID2 regulations which were implemented in Jan 2018.

Kira Systems – As mentioned above

Elevate – Produced Cael (Latin for Sky – because you can’t take the lawyer out of Lawtech) which is a cloud based series of software tools such as Cael Vision which creates reports based on any metrics required and Cael BillPrep which streamlines the area of billing to save time for Partners.

Litera Microsystems Contract Companion - A contract drafting tool that sits in Microsoft Word Toolbar which assists you in analysing contracts and drafting them too.

Tech for Integrity (t4i) – Not a tech company as such, t4i run, in conjunction with Citi, IMF and others, a tech accelerator with a focus on creating developments that put public trust back into tech. Clifford Chance award “Clifford Chance Legal Advice awards” to some of those companies that have a legal focus and thus help their tech come to light. Examples include AID:Tech – a platform that uses blockchain to ensure that beneficiaries receive social welfare and other aids directly to their digital ID.

___________________________________________________________________

Freshfields

Freshfields run a lot of things out of their legal services centre up in Manchester; the Manchester LCS has a mandate to optimise the firm’s processes around six key areas (AI, blockchain, smart contracts, smart documents, tech expertise and automation). I don’t know that much about what is going on in there but it seems a lot of their tech focus is there.

Outside of that in the company they use:

Kira Systems – As above – document review and due diligence

Neota Logic – As above. No idea what they’re developing, can’t find any information about it.

Leverton – AI data extraction for corporate documents such as real estate.

_____________________________________________________________

Linklaters

iManage (Previously RAVN) – A massive

Nakhoda – Pretty exciting as it is Linklater’s own home-grown tool (in conjunction with Eigen Tech). They’ve just announced a partnership with ISDA to create a platform to automate significant areas of the derivatives documentation and improve regulatory compliance for derivatives contracts.

LinkRFI – Rapidly classifies financial institutes that match the definitions of new legislation – i.e. It saves humans a lot of time by rapidly sifting through massive external databases to isolate client names for banks – it can process thousands in a few hours whereas the average time for a solicitor is around 12 minutes/name.

______________________________________________________________________

Slaughter & May

Luminance – S&M actually invested in this AI company and use it for transaction due diligence. They came to the decision by running a competition between the tech and a group of associates over who could best complete the same due diligence exercises.

S&M also run a Fintech incubator but have announced interest in fintech, insurtech, lawtech, regtech and blockchain (which I’m sure feels left out without a tech suffix).

_______________________________________________________________________

I'll continue adding to this to keep the list up-to-date and will also begin to add other law firms on (MDR for example have an absolute ton of Lawtech to mention). I'm pretty sure this may be useful to know whilst applying to any of these law firms

Thought I'd re-post the introduction to AI and the legal profession here. We hope to do a guide in the future, but in the meantime, here are Jaysen's draft notes on a live webinar hosted by the European Legal Tech Association (ELTA)).

And thanks again to Jonty - I understand that you spotted the webinar in the first place!

Speakers: Richard Tromans, founder of Artificial Lawyer and Dr Francisco Martin, co-founder and CEO of BigML

Draft notes:

Introduction

• People underestimate machine learning. That's what we should look into in the short-medium term (machine learning is a form of AI where a program is designed to learn on its own).
• Machine learning can be used to solve complex problems i.e. NDA Lynn: automatically determines whether you should sign NDAs, which sentences are deal-breakers or not acceptable.
• Many tasks performed by lawyers can be automated and it’ll be used to achieve human-level performance at a higher speed for a cheaper price.

The current state of the legal market

• Lawyers in most law firms complete their work manually with the help of IT for a range of tasks like document management, communication, billing and virtual data rooms etc.
• There are some new developments in assisted technology. For example, contract express, but this is more to do with automation.
• The growth of machine learning and natural language processing (allowing a machine to understand natural languages) will have a dramatic impact on lawyers and in-house teams. The whole business relationship will change.
• For example, in M&A due diligence, natural language processing can help lawyers look for specific clauses or evaluate the risks.
• Expert systems like Dealogic (which I’ve used at my law firm) uses inputs from lawyers to form a machine. That alters the way in which lawyers work because the data is available immediately at all hours.
• Some companies are entering the litigation prediction space.
• Automation increases efficiency and productivity, its great for big law firms, and if small law firms can afford it, it will likely level the playing field.
• It’ll allow lawyers to focus on high-level work.
• It’ll affect the cost– typically a client will pay a fixed fee for a due diligence exercise, if you have an automated system such as Slaughter & May’s Luminance which reduces cost - you can increase profit margins.
• AI can also give new value, for example, traditional tasks which weren’t worth doing because the risks didn’t justify the costs could be made possible: this can create new and improved client relations.
• One of the speakers, Richard Tromans, was speaking to Google yesterday. Google performed a test where AI beat lawyers in their document review analysis/predictions. It was interesting to hear how lawyers overestimated their abilities!
• Lawyers/law firms not using AI may be in a riskier position or simply less accurate.
• Law firms need to think about how they’re using data. They should start collecting it and consider how it can be automated. Every time you a lawyer reviews a contract, all that knowledge can be used in machine learning to automate tasks or check clauses.
• Lawyers may need to change their mindset. They could start looking at contracts as data rather than about its textual meaning.

Practical examples

• A 2017 survey of the UK 100 law firms found the top 30 are using an AI/machine learning system – either for fully paid client work or in a pilot.
• Davis Polk in the US is now using Kira to do due diligence. Clients – investment banks – are reluctant to pay associates for this work and want a better solution. When a firm like Davis Polk, one of the best law firms in the world does this, that sends a message to the market.
• This is happening all over the world, Europe has interesting AI companies like French-based Predicted (litigation analysis), German-based Leverton (real estate AI). This extends to Singapore, China and Australia.
• It’s growing really fast. Two years ago, about 5 law firms in the world were using machine learning for due diligence, risk review and compliance, now it’s a huge number (and many aren’t speaking about it!).
• There’s a huge market for automation and a big commercial case, including with small law firms. Soon that cost will go down, and they can specialise in a certain area if that firm, for example, doesn’t offer M&A.
• Smaller firms are also thinking creatively about they can use technology to add value, for example, one firm hard-coded an interactive legal bot. There’s also simpler areas that they can automate such as standard contracts. The higher you go up – that’s where machine learning applies – if you want a like-human capability.
• It's likely that legal innovators – usually 2 or 3 partners at firms will lead this change (as well as external parties pitching). Some firms, such as A&O have already adopted innovation departments.
• Some clients have started to ask law firms about AI systems and how they will benefit the client.

Risks of AI

• Not using the right data or using biased data. Tromans mentioned a US case where a company designed an algorithm to work out whether a person should be given parole. It was found to be completely biased against minorities as the designer had misunderstood data. The problem is the court in America started using it – so caution is needed about who are designing these systems and what data is used.
• Subjectivity can be dangerous if applied to litigation suits etc. To overcome these problems, algorithms need to be trained to make fair decisions and a human should still check the final end-product.

Where will AI lead us?

• Fully automated law firms will pop up and they will be unbeatable in performance/speed/cost: "the Amazon of the legal services".
• Fully automated back-ends for new companies i.e. corporate matters/financing/NDAs/agreements/terms and conditions.
• All major law firms will adopt AI review systems, litigation systems, for at least 10% of work in the coming years.
• Technology will continue to develop and become more sophisticated.
• It’ll vary based on practice i.e. IP v corporate may use it differently.
• The biggest mover has been M&A and the biggest transactional law firms have now created a new standard: within 18 months every major law firm will be using it – from Davis Polk to Freshfields to Jones Day.
• Litigation prediction tools are also being developed by established legal services like Lexis Nexis.
• Clients will get great value. For example, an insurance law firm can use AI to predict the likelihood of litigation suits, that will help insurance firms to predict their costs and they will significantly benefit. Alternatively, lawyers can offer to review sales contracts/service agreements for clients using natural language processing, and determine what type of customer agreements are most profitable/what will get challenged letter and what the probability of that is.

I asked a question about what students going into the legal profession should consider – in relation to AI. They said:

• Trainees and junior associates might want to consider getting involved in hackathons or groups in cities.
• Many legal AI companies, such as Neota Logic, are currently working with universities around the world.
• Paralegals are likely to get hit first, junior associates may be just enough to get by provided they have enough expertise. There will be a market for legal entrepreneurs.
• Law students at Columbia Law School have already been working on machine learning training.
• Some equity partners may think broadly about how many areas to automate, it may get to the point where – through expert systems and natural language generation – all documents will be automated, and only partners will look at the final documentation: this could be in the next ten years!

Hey guys,

It's mental health awareness week and I came across this interesting article from Legal Week: http://www.legalweek.com/sites/lega...-long-working-hours-on-lawyers-mental-health/, but it's under a paywall!

So I wanted to summarise some of the findings because I think it's really important that this kind of thing is open at an early stage. 130 lawyers were surveyed by Legal Week for this.

Legal Week - "Burnt out: new research highlights impact of long working hours on lawyers' mental health"

• They found that "91% believe long working hours are negatively impacting their mental health and physical health".
• Over 37% "regularly work more than 60 hours a week" and 15% do over 70 hours a week.
• "virtually all respondents" work a minimum of one weekend a month, almost half work do "two or three" weekends of the month (this one surprised me!).
• About 40% said "they had experienced mental health issues" while working as a lawyer. Of those 98% said work stress contributed to that.

I hope I don't scare you guys and I think it does vary a lot (the survey includes responses that vary from a lot to a little in the numbers), just something we can be aware of .

Hey guys

I used to find it helpful to write down all my extracurriculars/answers to competency questions, which I could then review before telephone, video and face to face interviews.

If you want to do the same, we created a ready-made PDF for you to use. You can access it here:
https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/thecorporatelawacademy/Law+Competency+Interview+Plan.pdf

Nicole

Hi peeps,

This is a bit late has anyone seen Allen & Overy's new legal tech training contract? http://www.allenovery.com/news/en-g...cheme-launched-by-Allen--Overy-in-London.aspx.

I thought that was pretty cool, looks like they'll be more and more non-lawyers at a law firm and they'll also get to do a similar training contract structure.

Thoughts?

Hi Jaysen,

This is my first time applying to the law firms - so I am actually quite new to all this process and it has been a rather daunting process as I see for every place there are approx 70-80 applicants.

I was currently looking at DWF as their deadline is in June so it gives me time before I apply for MC/SC firms in late July.

I have been struggling with my research - I just do not know how to find the competitors of the law firms.

You have suggested looking at Legal500 and Chambers Partners rankings - but a firm has offices in so many regions - Where do I even begin with finding who the competitors are - Which regions do I need to compare - Which areas of practice do I look into - HELP !!

Is there a particular structure that you implemented to find out who the competitors were?

Hi I just realised I'm going to have a really short time frame for training contract applications this year and so I need to preparing now. Do you have some tips on what I can do to make my training contract application stand out? I have admittedly been applying for a long time but I haven't really nailed it down yet

Hi everyone, I thought I'd start a new thread for the May posts like before.

Thank you @Nicole and @Jaysen for helping me to explain/tidy these up! I think they will also be sending these out in the next newsletter.

Trump withdraws from Iran nuclear deal

• The story: Trump announced that the US is withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw Iran accept restrictions on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international sanctions.
• Impact on law firms and clients: When sanctions were lifted, many investors and international businesses entered Iran. France’s Total signed a $4.8bn deal to develop South Pars, the world’s largest gas field, whilst other European companies, including Airbus, Boeing, Peugeot and Renault, secured lucrative deals in the region. But unless these companies can seek an exemption, they’ll be forced to scale back their operations and find alternative trading partners, or they risk falling foul of US law. They’ll need legal advice regarding their exposure to US sanctions and their ability to exit contracts and exercise termination clauses over the next 3-6 months. For those companies that do not comply with the sanctions or choose to circumvent the restrictions, it remains to be seen whether they will be targeted by US penalties.

Strong US dollar

• The story: Confidence in the US economy has led to a rising US dollar, but this has had rippling effects throughout the global economy. Argentina has been forced to raise interest rates three times – to almost 40% - in the span of eight days to stabilise its falling currency, whilst Turkey has summoned an urgent meeting to save the tumbling lira.
• Impact on law firms and clients: Many emerging market countries and companies borrowed in US dollars during the record-low interest rates. Now, as the US dollar strengthens, it has become more expensive for these companies to pay the interest on their debt. Law firms operating in these regions can help clients prepare for defaults on emerging market debt. Banking and litigation teams may negotiate terms or proceed with enforcement to help lenders recoup their funds, or corporate, restructuring and banking teams could work with borrowers and devise plans to help them pay their debt.

All-time high for private equity

• The story: In January 2018, a record number of private equity funds were operating in the market, raising a total of $744bn, according to a report from the Boston Consulting Group.
• Impact on law firms and clients: It’s boom time for private equity firms at the moment. Money is pouring into funds as investors search for a better return on their investments. But some are warning about the state of the market. Lawyers have helped private equity firms negotiate aggressive deal terms in riskier ‘covenant-lite’ loans, which are now at record highs. These loans, which are used to fund many private equity acquisitions, offer few investor protections and allow private equity firms to load debt onto their target companies. If the market takes a wrong turn, many companies will be in trouble.

Trump tax cuts KKR

• The story: KKR, one of the biggest US investment firms, is converting from a partnership to a corporation in response to the new US tax code.
• Impact on law firms and clients: Private equity firms tend to be structured as a partnership for tax benefits, where tax is only paid on an individual level. But since Trump cut the US corporation tax rate from 35% to 21%, a corporation structure is now a viable option for private equity firms. It also opens the doors to new investors because corporations can be included in stock market indexes, which could potentially boost its value. Most big commercial law firms are also structured as partnerships, but with their growth in size, debt, technology and global reach, there may be a time when it’s better to be structured as a corporation.

Those applications were rejected.

As a word of warning, if you find yourself describing a law firm in a way that could be applied to a number of other law firms, chances are it's too generic.

I know first-hand that tailoring an application is difficult because firms – despite saying they’re all different – often describe themselves in the same way.

So here is what I then did to find out what made a firm different:

Step 1. Research

I’d copy/paste all the relevant information I found about a firm into a word document. These are the sources I used:

Starting point

• Chambers Student Guide: Useful to get a sense of what the firm is like from an internal and external perspective. It provides a useful overview of the firm, any recent developments or achievements, and an insight into the firm's biggest practice areas.
• Roll on Friday: The profiles for the ‘firm of the year’ can be a very useful – and informal – outline.
  
• Lex 100/Legal Cheek: Can be a helpful insight into the culture of the firm.

Deals/awards/strategies

• The Lawyer: Useful for profiles, recent developments within the firm and insights into a recent deal. I’d usually go back 3-4 years if I found lots of information, sometimes even more. (Note, this is less useful now as much of the content has been moved behind a paywall).
• Legal Week: You should get access to 5 free articles or the opportunity to try a free trial (14 days). Good information on deals, lateral moves, firm strategy and international plans.
• Firm’s website: The graduate page will give you a sense of what the firm is looking for in candidates. It may also discuss the training programme, secondments and the kind of work you'll be doing. The main website is useful for finding out about any awards, recent deals or new investments.

Practice areas

• Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners: Useful for an insight into a firm’s strongest practice areas and how it compares to competitors – check the top tiers.

Step 2: Condense

After compiling the information, I would split my screen with the material on one side and a fresh word document opened up on the other side (alternatively you can print out the research document). I would then condense the information in my own words.

By doing this, you’ll not only come out with a useful file containing firm-specific information, but you’ll also start to pick up themes, remember facts and really understand the firm. This will be very handy when it comes to the interview.

Step 3: Sorting into themes

I would then group the topics into themes. Some of the ways a firm may differ include:

• International reach - presence in the US/Asia/Europe/Africa
• Practice area strengths
• Culture
• Financials - Size/profits per equity partner/growth
• Important deals
• Clients
• Management structure or management change
• Partner promotions
• Leadership strategy
• Recent mergers
• Training or development
• Lateral moves and recent partnership moves
• Growth (internal and external)
• Recent profit figures
• Innovation
• Mergers
• Brand reputation
• Trainee retention
• Technology
• Alternative service delivery - offshoring/nearshoring
• Size of intake
• Competitors

Step 4: Writing your answer

By this point, I would have a better understanding of the firm. I would pick one of the themes/areas above that interested me and then write down a few sentences (there may be a couple of points here) about why it did.

Once I completed a few, I would have a sense of what makes Firm X different from Firm Y and how it sits against its competitors.

Hi everyone

We're going to move the 'trainee advice' page to this section so that the posts are easier to sort through. I'll be updating each one as I add them in so they're worth a look even if you've checked out the page before. The plan is that we'll also add more answers over time.

For those that haven't seen it, the page was adapted from my "ask me anything" thread in The Student Room, where students asked questions about applications, interviews, vacation schemes and the training contract.

Thanks!

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could explain the GDPR briefly? I've seen this mentioned a lot and I've found it confusing to understand what it means exactly. Thanks

Hi guys,

Do any of you who are trainees already know what companies law firms use for background checking? How does the process work, what do you have to provide and how long does it take? Also, how do they check the extracurricular activities one has done? For example, if I did volunteering and it was on an ad-hoc basis, I would not be in their database, so how can I confirm I actually did that charity work?

Thank you!

M.

GD1995 said:

Hi Nicole,

Could there possibly be a feature giving more insight into how a law firm works as a business, the way it generates profit and gets work from clients. As well as the role of lawyers in commercial law firms and how they tackle different business crises? (if possible!)

Thank you!

Click to expand...

Nicole said:

Hey GD, I love the suggestion, it's something I used to struggle with! I've spoke to @Jaysen and he said we can get the guide started this weekend and aim to get it out next week (depending on how deep we go).

So just a tentative outline:

• How is a law firm structured?
• How does a law firm make money?
• Profits per equity partner (PEP) (this is used all the time to refer to law firms but it can be quite confusing and it's also controversial!)
• The role of lawyers in commercial law firms
• How do lawyers tackle different business crises?

Is there anything else you'd like us to add? We'd be very happy to do so! Also, when you mention business crises, were there any in particular that you had in mind?

Click to expand...

Hey,

I'll answer these questions over the next few days. Starting with the first -

How are law firms structured?

Most large commercial law firms operate as a limited liability partnership or "LLP". An LLP, like a company, has a separate legal personality. It can enter into contracts, incur debts and conduct business in its own name. If things go wrong, the members of the LLP - the partners - are only liable to the extent agreed (or as stated in the members agreement).

A majority of the large commercial firms have moved to an LLP. In the UK top 50, Slaughter and May is the only general partnership. As a general partnership, the firm is not obliged to register or file accounts with Companies House, so it's good for law firms that want to keep their financials private. But it's not so good if things go wrong because the partners in a general partnership have unlimited liability - so each partner is personally responsible for the debts/liabilities of the firm.

The partnership - whether an LLP or general partnership - is a structure that has been used by law firms for decades. The equity partners own the law firm and have a right to share in the profits once the firm's expenses are paid. They're flexible vehicles that can deal with changes to the partnership and compensation. As owners of the business, partners get a say in how a law firm is run, although the overall law firm strategy is often delegated to an executive committee.

Hi Jaysen

I have an interview coming up at Slaughter and May, I would really appreciate any advice that you have.

Thankyou

Some of you have shared some very interesting articles and I thought we'd collate them (and future ones) here.

To kick us off, The American Lawyer just released its US law firm rankings for 2018. Here is the chart for revenue:

https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2018/04/24/the-2018-am-law-100-ranked-by-gross-revenue/

To summarise:

Revenue:

1. Kirkland
2. Latham
3. Baker McKenzie (verein)
4. DLA (verein)
5. Skadden

Profits per equity partner:

1. Wachtell
2. Quinn Emanuel
3. Kirkland
4. Paul Weiss
5. Sullivan & Cromwell

A couple of interesting conclusions from Legal Week:

• The 100 largest US law firms have revealed strong growth figures, but these aren't out the reach of UK firms.
• The data shows the "underlying stability" of the legal market in the US despite uncertainty.
• The biggest US firms are pulling away from the rest.
• 16 US firms have an average PEP over $3m and 22 over $2m. Only 9 UK firms had PEP over £1m last year.

Hey all,

Please find attached the second case study, you'll note that it's a fair bit chunkier than the last one.

This case study mirrors the style of a real written exercise I had during an assessment centre. It's testing, among others, your ability to analyse large quantities of information, structure your writing and form an opinion.

Kindly note, unfortunately we lack the capacity to provide individualised feedback any more, but you can find a sample points to note within our M&A Course.

Good luck!

Jaysen

Hey all,

This is the first in a series of mock case studies, please see attached.

The case studies are here to help you prepare for the written exercise at assessment centres. This one focuses on your ability to analyse complex information and form a solution.

To simulate a real written exercise, we recommend that you print out the materials, time yourself and hand-write your answer. Try to work in a quiet environment with no distractions. Kindly note, unfortunately we lack the capacity to provide individualised feedback any more, but we encourage you to use this for practise!

The case study has been designed to take one hour to complete.

Best,

Jaysen

Hi everyone

I came across this helpful guide about how law firms operate as a business and thought I'd share. It covers things like:

• how law firms are structured
• how law firms charge clients and make money
• how law firms use leverage and working capital
• how law firms compete
• the future of law firms

It's a few years old but most of it should still be relevant. Here's the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yyz-u2rJ5U-uwj86T0WVd_rXo1Hz-YAt/view?usp=sharing

Selma95 said:

Have you tried Finimize?

Click to expand...

Nick said:

Hey guys,

I know that Jaysen's made a case study guide on M&A transactions. However, I just came across this article on private mergers and acquisitions in the US. Though its private M&A and tailored to the US legal/regulatory framework, many of the fundamental principles are universal. Two of Shearman & Sterling's M&A partners wrote the article - so its quite detailed.

https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreut...ontextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true&bhcp=1

Click to expand...

KS94 said:

I've really enjoyed the commercial awareness updates.

Aside from the usual sources (FT. Economist, etc.). Are there any other particular sources which can give a strong foundation for understanding macroeconomics to the level required for firms? Or is this something you pick up through wider reading and research?

Click to expand...

Hey all,

If you don't mind, I'd like to bounce an idea off you guys.

I would say the most common question I get asked from students is 'how do I develop commercial awareness?'. It's a completely fair question to ask; I had the same problem when I was applying, and it's not typically taught at university.

At the moment, I would say the FT and The Economist are good for developing a broad commercial understanding of the world, and as some of you have suggested, Finimize is excellent for breaking down business news and financial terms.

We would like to add another resource to the mix by producing our own commercial awareness briefing. The idea is that we'll develop your ability to think commercially by breaking down the topics that feature in commercial interviews.

Because they're bite-sized emails, I should be able to tackle a range of topics about the legal market, business and finance. For example, some of you may have seen the list I drew up late December on TSR. These are some of the topics I hoped to tackle:

Case studies:

• How a company is formed: structure and decision making
• Acquisitions: asset v sale purchase
• Raising capital: equity v debt finance
• Public companies: why list?
• Private equity: from forming the fund to IPO
• Security: types and priorities
• Inflation, interest rates and derivatives: a basic intro

Commercial:

• The impact of Brexit on law firms
• Trends: M&A to Energy
• Looking forward to 2018
• Looking back to the financial crisis

Legal:

• Inside a law firm: from structure to profit
• Competition: what makes a law firm different?
• The difference between US and magic circle firms
• The future of law firms: technology and its consequences
• The biggest challenges facing law firms

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this idea - the good or the bad. Please also feel free to make any suggestions about the bite-sized topics you'd like covered and whether you'd prefer a daily or weekly update. @GD1995 and @Denisa Olaru - apologies for not getting to your suggestions sooner, but I hope to cover them in these emails.



PS: I attach a teaser for what to expect


Many thanks,

Jaysen

Hi everyone!

I'm drafting an answer to the question: Which areas of law are of special interest to you and why? In my answer, I'm focusing on specific areas that I'm interested in such as charities/private client/property but I was wondering if I should take a broader approach as the firm seems to describe its practice areas under three strands : commercial, private client, personal injury & clinical negligence.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Hi Jaysen

I hope you are well.

I was wondering if you may have any advice when it comes to written exercises. I've been told that the written exercise I will do at an AC this Monday is likely to be business-related. For example, candidates are given 4 companies to choose from and then have to compare them and then pick one to advise their client to invest in. It may be that candidates are given a criteria from their client to base their decision on. Obviously this depends on who the client is, etc, and at the end of the day the firm won't care which company you choose as long as you can demonstrate your analytical skills and justify your decision. But I was wondering if you may have any advice on how best to go about analysing businesses? For example would it help if I applied frameworks such as SWOT, and if so which ones should I be aware of?

I've been trying to find case studies to practice but they are severely limited! I think I know how to analyse and justify but I struggle in the context of business case studies. In my last AC I failed on the written exercise and I'd really like to improve this time!

Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards
Y

Hello,

I have an assessment centre coming up with CMS Cameron Mckenna and I was wondering if anyone has any advice/experience please?

Is it possible to set up a mock interview through the Corporate Law Academy please?

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone,

I wonder quite a lot whether I spend way too long on applications and I think that means I don't get enough done. In January I only managed to send out 3-4 because of this. It takes me at least a week and sometimes long to research a firm and write up. I think a lot of that is because i take forever to write and constantly scrap my sentences. For example I spent the whole day on one application today and have literally written a paragraph...

Any tips/thoughts would be great

Networking is very common on vacation schemes and I know it doesn't come naturally to most people (including me!). I thought it would be useful to share another post from @Jaysen on this:

I watched a partner in my department network at a client’s drinks and he’s what I’d call an effective networker. It looked more like he was talking to old friends than networking. He was having fun, people wanted to be around him and almost every time I looked he was deep in conversation with someone new. There was a lot to take away from that; mainly to shift the dialogue away from ‘networking is so bad’ to ‘just talk to people’. Here are some further tips I've learned over the years:

• Make a point to remember people’s names at the start. This is specifically for me because I’m terrible at names and that can lead to some awkward situations down the line.

• Be genuine. Sounds cliché and obvious I know but I think it’s worth emphasising. It’s obvious when you speak to someone and they’re not being sincere, or they’re trying to sell themselves too hard, or they’re trying to flatter.

• It’s good to strike a balance between conversations about work and other things. That can make it easier to bond with the other person, especially as it’s often a chance for them to have a break away from work for a short time.

• People like to talk about themselves. Quite simple this one, if all else fails, ask questions. Especially helpful if you’re in a situation where you don’t know what to say.

• -Ask appropriate questions. Certain questions will be appropriate for graduate recruitment v trainees v partners. E.g. It’s not ideal to ask a senior partner about LPC funding.

• Follow up. I can’t say I did this much as a student but now I notice the students who do so. If someone at the firm suggests that you email them then it can offer a lot of opportunities later down the line.