Here you go:
“In terms of the assessment day, they usually start with the presentation and, since that's the prepared piece, if you can nail that it will make a really good first impression.
From memory it's the interview next. This will either be with just Susan Cooper or with Susan and Elizabeth (a consultant who helps with the professional development side of things and happens to be my mentor). They should start by asking a few follow-up questions on your presentation and will then delve more into your CV, experiences, why Accutrainee, why law, where else you've applied in the past (for training contracts), what went wrong in those experiences and what you think your main areas for improvement are...those last two bits sound daunting but I realise now that the reason they ask is because they are actually looking to identify how they can help you if they take you on as a trainee. I found also that if you have non-legal experience as well (after graduating from uni) then they may challenge you on why you departed from the legal sector etc. Susan is notoriously stern / confrontational in these interviews (although I didn't find her to be) but don't be put off by that; she's just testing you and isn't really like that in real life. It's also not a reflection on how well the interview actually went (e.g. I didn't feel that my Accutrainee assessment day was my best by any means, but it ended up bthe one that landed me the training contract).
The next part is the written exercise. This is usually where you're given a business question (e.g. what strategies you can use to help increase profits / cut costs) to answer on paper. From memory I think the time limit is half an hour. After that the final bit is a more attention-to-detail-orientated exercise where you mark up a draft contract for basic non-legal errors etc. I don't remember it being particularly difficult.
That's pretty much it - Susan should then get back to you about a week or so later. They call some candidates back for a final interview if they feel they need some more assurance before potentially taking you on, but don't feel you're at a disadvantage if they do that to you - from talking to other trainees it actually seems like most of them were in that boat.
Hope it goes well next week!”
