General Discussion Thread 2020-21

[D95]

sorry if this has already been asked - what recruitment agency did you use? I'm also looking for some paralegal work to start once my exams are over

I'd recommend trying with the following agencies:
- Strictly Recruitment (law firms)
- Graff Search (in-house)
- Pure Search (in-house)
- DMJ Legal (in-house + co-sec)
- Jameson Legal (law firms)

Probably goes without saying, but they will mostly advertise for London only.

 

[S87]

Guys do you know if Akin Gump only hires from VS?

@Daniel Boden you had an AC with them, do you have an info?

Thank you

 

[Alice G]

Guys do you know if Akin Gump only hires from VS?

@Daniel Boden you had an AC with them, do you have an info?

Thank you

I am not 100% certain re. Akin Gump, but most US firms I know of do tend to recruit from vac schemes predominantly. They have a much lower intake than many UK origin firms who have a higher capacity, therefore, to recruit through VSs and TCs unless they explicitly state they take from just VSs, like HSF.

 

[S87]

I am not 100% certain re. Akin Gump, but most US firms I know of do tend to recruit from vac schemes predominantly. They have a much lower intake than many UK origin firms who have a higher capacity, therefore, to recruit through VSs and TCs unless they explicitly state they take from just VSs, like HSF.

Hi Alice,

Thank you for your response. Would you mind telling me to which US firm are your referring to? I will create a post later this week after a deep research.

 

[Alice G]

Hi Alice,

Thank you for your response. Would you mind telling me to which US firm are your referring to? I will create a post later this week after a deep research.

I know that Latham and Shearman tend to recruit mostly from vacs. In fact, I want to say that Shearman might now recruit exclusively from vacation schemes. Am I right in thinking this @Paul - Shearman & Sterling? I thought I saw something in the Monday Q&As a while back though I might be mistaken!

I also know Kirkland favour vacation scheme participants, as do Weil and Gibson Dunn I believe. Are you able to confirm the latter two @Daniel Boden?

I think White & Case could possibly be slightly different but they have a very sizeable intake each year versus the other US firms so this probably explains that though. I think they do still mostly recruit from vacs but can't be 100%, maybe someone else is better placed to advise on W&C specifically.

 

[Samar]

Does anyone know when Macfarlanes are doing their TC ACs this year? Think there is an earlier one and then one after all the vac schemes are complete but not sure if the first one has already happened

 

[S87]

I know that Latham and Shearman tend to recruit mostly from vacs. In fact, I want to say that Shearman might now recruit exclusively from vacation schemes. Am I right in thinking this @Paul - Shearman & Sterling? I thought I saw something in the Monday Q&As a while back though I might be mistaken!

I also know Kirkland favour vacation scheme participants, as do Weil and Gibson Dunn I believe. Are you able to confirm the latter two @Daniel Boden?

I think White & Case could possibly be slightly different but they have a very sizeable intake each year versus the other US firms so this probably explains that though. I think they do still mostly recruit from vacs but can't be 100%, maybe someone else is better placed to advise on W&C specifically.

Thank you very much @Alice G

 

[Daniel Boden]

Guys do you know if Akin Gump only hires from VS?

@Daniel Boden you had an AC with them, do you have an info?

Thank you

I know that Latham and Shearman tend to recruit mostly from vacs. In fact, I want to say that Shearman might now recruit exclusively from vacation schemes. Am I right in thinking this @Paul - Shearman & Sterling? I thought I saw something in the Monday Q&As a while back though I might be mistaken!

I also know Kirkland favour vacation scheme participants, as do Weil and Gibson Dunn I believe. Are you able to confirm the latter two @Daniel Boden?

I think White & Case could possibly be slightly different but they have a very sizeable intake each year versus the other US firms so this probably explains that though. I think they do still mostly recruit from vacs but can't be 100%, maybe someone else is better placed to advise on W&C specifically.

Thanks for your message @S87. Akin Gump basically solely recruits from VS - they only hold TC interviews if it doesn't get the desired amount of trainees from the scheme. Weil and Kirkland have the same approach but Gibson Dunn only recruits from VS barring exceptional circumstances. Hope that helps!

 

[S87]

Thanks for your message @S87. Akin Gump basically solely recruits from VS - they only hold TC interviews if it doesn't get the desired amount of trainees from the scheme. Weil and Kirkland have the same approach but Gibson Dunn only recruits from VS barring exceptional circumstances. Hope that helps!

Thank you so much @Daniel Boden

 

[Alice G]

A&O have been hosting 'trainee takeovers' on their Instagram account and think the final one is tomorrow. Just seen on Linkedin they are inviting people to submit questions for some trainees to answer on tomorrow's takeover - the account name I believe is @aomadeformore. Think this is a really great way to engage with the firm and learn a little bit more about corporate law more generally so please do make the most of firms offering these kinds of things guys! Nothing stopping you writing what you learn from these virtual interactions in your apps for next cycle...

 

[Changes]

Have a virtual workshop with Lewis Silkin on Wednesday (was originally 3 days with some time spent sitting with a team but not yet sure of the format other than knowing there will be presentations and networking opportunities). There will be a chance to ask questions so planning to do some more in depth research on the firm for research.

Anyone else attending? Anyone have any tips for preparing for things like this?

 

[Alice G]

Have a virtual workshop with Lewis Silkin on Wednesday (was originally 3 days with some time spent sitting with a team but not yet sure of the format other than knowing there will be presentations and networking opportunities). There will be a chance to ask questions so planning to do some more in depth research on the firm for research.

Anyone else attending? Anyone have any tips for preparing for things like this?

This sounds great! I hope you enjoy it in terms of prep I would genuinely just say try to think about what matters to you from a firm and make sure you ask those questions so you can better gauge how suited you feel to them, this really is a two-way street after all even though it doesn't feel like it sometimes. Make sure you research really well and ask the questions which truly cannot be found online. Otherwise, check out the video interview tips thread here: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/video-interviews-tips-and-tricks.2324/, as this gives what I hope are some handy dos and don'ts for virtual interviews and video conferences.

 

[FutureCity]

am I the only one who hasn't heard anything from Reed Smith since they decided to postpone/move online their assessment centres?

 

[003]

am I the only one who hasn't heard anything from Reed Smith since they decided to postpone/move online their assessment centres?

I got an email earlier, VS delayed until autumn (2 x 1 week schemes instead of 2 x 2weeks) and they're reviewing using online platforms for interviews ​

 

[FutureCity]

I got an email earlier, VS delayed until autumn (2 x 1 week schemes instead of 2 x 2weeks) and they're reviewing using online platforms for interviews ​

Yeah, got the email right after I posted it.

A delay in vacation scheme dates doesn’t work for me unfortunately

 

[Paul - Shearman & Sterling]

I know that Latham and Shearman tend to recruit mostly from vacs. In fact, I want to say that Shearman might now recruit exclusively from vacation schemes. Am I right in thinking this @Paul - Shearman & Sterling? I thought I saw something in the Monday Q&As a while back though I might be mistaken!

I also know Kirkland favour vacation scheme participants, as do Weil and Gibson Dunn I believe. Are you able to confirm the latter two @Daniel Boden?

I think White & Case could possibly be slightly different but they have a very sizeable intake each year versus the other US firms so this probably explains that though. I think they do still mostly recruit from vacs but can't be 100%, maybe someone else is better placed to advise on W&C specifically.

Hi @Alice G - yes, spot on! We recruit exclusively through vacation schemes. We take on around 12-15 trainees per year and run 4 vacation schemes.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[Daniel Boden]

Thank you so much @Daniel Boden

Pleasure!

 

[thecorporatelawyer]

Hi All, I've recently read on some websites that Baker McKenzie's video interview is composed of strength based questions. I'm a bit worried as I've mainly been preparing for competency/commercial awareness based questions. Besides that one website that said BM uses strength based questions I cannot find any other place where it says that. Can anyone whose done the VI let me know if it was a more strength based interview? Thanks!

 

[hopelesscaseofwhat]

Hi All, I've recently read on some websites that Baker McKenzie's video interview is composed of strength based questions. I'm a bit worried as I've mainly been preparing for competency/commercial awareness based questions. Besides that one website that said BM uses strength based questions I cannot find any other place where it says that. Can anyone whose done the VI let me know if it was a more strength based interview? Thanks!

I thought we'd only be asked competency/commercial awareness based questions as well, could somebody please weigh in on this?

 

[Changes]

Hi All, I've recently read on some websites that Baker McKenzie's video interview is composed of strength based questions. I'm a bit worried as I've mainly been preparing for competency/commercial awareness based questions. Besides that one website that said BM uses strength based questions I cannot find any other place where it says that. Can anyone whose done the VI let me know if it was a more strength based interview? Thanks!

Mine was competency based. Personally think strength based are easier though as you can just think logically about it, rather than being thrown off by having prepared quite a rigid answer.