Ask 3 future trainees (Magic & Silver Circle, International Elite) ANYTHING! *New TCLA Team Members*

Dheepa

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  • Jan 20, 2019
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    Hi guys, I was wondering if you might know of any useful resources to understand how legal technology operates in practice? :) I am really interested in learning more. While I know it facilitates more 'cost-efficient services', I am not sure how contract review and everything works, and how firms are developing this technology. I have been sifting through a lot of information on the internet but there are also a lot of repetitive 'buzzwords' that I don't really understand. Would really love to hear your thoughts on this, thank you so much. :)

    Hi Intrepid,

    I'll confess that I'm not an expert on legal tech at all. :oops: One thing I found really useful when applying was this (hyperlinked) podcast by A&O and their Fuse platform.

    In terms of the more technical side of exactly how contract review works, beyond the basics of understanding that there are platforms that use data from existing contracts to pre-determine information that needs to be inserted/deleted in other standard form contracts, I can't imagine that any interviewer will push you further on the technicalities. If you haven't actively mentioned your interest in these technicalities in your applications/interview, I don't think it will come up in the detail you're imagining.

    To answer your third question, most firms are developing this technology through tech incubation platforms. Essentially they invite legal tech start-ups to pitch their product/service and if the firm deems that start-up to be worth the investment, they are provided with the financial + logistical support to develop faster (in addition to obviously benefiting from having the firm test their actual technology for them)

    If you could be more specific about exactly what kind of buzzwords you're confused about perhaps myself and of course Jacob and Naomi can offer a bit more insight. :)
     

    Jacob Miller

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  • Feb 15, 2020
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    Hi,

    I am currently a paralegal at a magic circle firm and have an AC the week after next with a non-magic circle firm for a summer internship.

    At the interview, are they likely to push me on motivations for not wanting to pursue a training contract within the firm I work for?

    I am struggling for what to say against that, I don't want to seem critical of my employer and I really enjoy my work there.

    Would I steer the conversation instead to what stands out to me about the firm I would like to intern at?

    Hi Lauren,

    Great question! The girls have already given some great advice, I would personally approach a question like this very much as Dheepa suggests.

    The one thing I also discussed in a 'why this firm' answer (I would tend to say that your situation is just a slight variation on this) is that it's important to be pragmatic and part of that means spreading your wings further. It wouldn't be pragmatic to only apply to one firm, irrespective of the ties you already have there, due to the fact that, at any one time, you're competing with top graduates and students in a highly competitive industry. Although this is less of a 'political' answer than other elements, I personally always found it relatively well-received as it showed a greater degree of maturity and insight into the legal job market.
     

    Lauren

    Legendary Member
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    Nov 16, 2018
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    Hi Lauren,

    Great question! The girls have already given some great advice, I would personally approach a question like this very much as Dheepa suggests.

    The one thing I also discussed in a 'why this firm' answer (I would tend to say that your situation is just a slight variation on this) is that it's important to be pragmatic and part of that means spreading your wings further. It wouldn't be pragmatic to only apply to one firm, irrespective of the ties you already have there, due to the fact that, at any one time, you're competing with top graduates and students in a highly competitive industry. Although this is less of a 'political' answer than other elements, I personally always found it relatively well-received as it showed a greater degree of maturity and insight into the legal job market.

    Thank you all for your advice!
     

    Helpme12345

    Valued Member
    Nov 19, 2020
    120
    418
    Hey everyone,

    Looking for some general advice as I’m feeling super overwhelmed. I have an AC with HSF next week and I was so excited but I’m finding it so difficult to fit in preparation around my full-time job. I pretty much work 8-7 most days and while I can keep up to date with general news stories at work, I’m always exhausted when I get home. I guess my question is where would you concentrate your preparation and what are some of the things you did to prepare? Thanks for your help!
     
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    Jacob Miller

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  • Feb 15, 2020
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    Hey everyone,

    Looking for some general advice as I’m feeling super overwhelmed. I have an AC with HSF next week and I was so excited but I’m finding it so difficult to fit in preparation around my full-time job. I pretty much work 8-7 most days and while I can keep up to date with general news stories at work, I’m always exhausted when I get home. I guess my question is where would you concentrate your preparation and what are some of the things you did to prepare? Thanks for your help!

    Hi @ES123456
    First off, congrats on the HSF AC!

    I feel you! This is very similar to my own experiences of the application season between studying and owning a couple of businesses. Unfortunately, there's no real way around the fact that these periods are exhausting and can be draining from that perspective. I also found I really had to cut out peripheral activities etc for a while to get through everything- it's never pleasant, but, in my experience, is necessary.

    I can also thoroughly recommend investing in a good coffee machine... best money I've ever spent.

    On a serious note, I think structuring your week as a whole is helpful as well as breaking down each day. Assuming you have a five-day working week, that would leave you two days a week that could become your AC prep days. This is where you'd focus on the substantive content of responses etc. Focus part of each day on each area of the AC (i.e., competency interview/ case study and CS interview/ (edit:) scenario interview).

    Within each working day, look at how you can maximise each period of that day. Personally, most days of my week are broken into 30-minute or 1-hour slots, 15-minute slots on days where I'm particularly busy. Personally, I'm a night owl, so I would tend to focus more on working late rather than being up early- if you're tired after work and have to be up for it the next day, though, you might find that sleeping early and being up early is better. Try and factor in, say, 30 mins or 1 hour before work where you can read the news/ work on an answer/ etc. In the evenings, if you've got a tendency to watch Netflix for an hour before you go to sleep, try and switch that out for something like watching the news or listening to a commercial awareness podcast (I think either @Dheepa or @Naomi U might be able to recommend a couple).

    Depending on how you commute, there are various ways you can use your commuting time to work on your prep. There are a couple of revision card apps (e.g., Quizlet) that you can use to test yourself if you commute via public transport. If you drive, maybe switch the radio onto a news channel rather than Spotify, for example. You could even pre-record yourself speaking and then play the audio in your car to learn by hearing it.

    Another thing I did was to actually look at my life as a whole and see whether there were areas that I could cut out time to make things easier for myself. For example, I cook for my fiancee and I every night- for the period we were prepping for AC's, I batch cooked lunches and dinners on a Sunday evening instead which saved me a lot of time. Maybe look at using a grocery delivery service rather than having to travel to the shops for stuff- you'd be surprised how much time you can actually make up by trying to be more efficient elsewhere.

    The final thing I would mention, which helps both in respect of not overloading your brain and also actually making your responses more natural at ACs, is to not to try and learn a script. Instead, memorise the key points and examples you need to hit for each part of each answer - it gives you less substantive content to stress about memorising and also means that, in the AC, you don't seem as robotic and aren't thrown 'off script' by a follow up/ interrupting question etc which can cause you to fumble more.

    Hope this helps, fingers crossed for you!
     
    Last edited:

    Dheepa

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    Junior Lawyer 43
  • Jan 20, 2019
    853
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    Hey everyone,

    Looking for some general advice as I’m feeling super overwhelmed. I have an AC with HSF next week and I was so excited but I’m finding it so difficult to fit in preparation around my full-time job. I pretty much work 8-7 most days and while I can keep up to date with general news stories at work, I’m always exhausted when I get home. I guess my question is where would you concentrate your preparation and what are some of the things you did to prepare? Thanks for your help!

    Hi E,

    Huge congrats on the HSF AC (personally have always felt like they are one of the toughest firms to get to AC to so you've really done incredibly well!)

    I think the most important thing to stop yourself from being overwhelmed is to break down the AC into parts and systematically work through the things you feel like you need to prep for. Listing things I needed to get done always helped me make the AC feel more manageable. That being said if I were to focus on some aspects it would be:

    For the case study:
    Naomi has already given some fantastic advice here that I really don't have much else to add to https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/hsf-assessment-centre.2899/#post-46369

    For the competency interview:
    Mine was incredibly short (around four questions max) and prepping simple answers to basic competencies would make you more than prepared. Competencies I would focus on: teamwork, time management/conflicting deadlines, working with a difficult team member, managing conflict, leadership and tell me about a news story that you're interested in (not a competency but it's always good to have one ready to go)

    For the scenario interview:
    Naomi has also touched on this in that post I linked you to but just to add to that, in some ways the fact that this is a feature of the HSF AC reduces your prep quite a bit because there really is no way to prepare. The best thing you can do for this is reminding yourself to ask lots of questions to clear up confusion around the scenario and also just working through your thoughts logically with the partner.

    In terms of fitting this prep around your schedule, I agree with everything that Jacob has already said. Rather than reading news stories, while boiling the kettle or making your morning toast, listen to news podcasts. I used to this myself with the FT News Briefing podcast on Spotify and it was more than enough to help me get by in interviews. The other thing I would recommend is if you record your answers to some of the competency questions or expected questions like why law/why this firm you can also listen to these while eating lunch or taking a walk. That way you won't need to stare at a computer screen or piece of paper trying to remember your points. My other tip can be pretty hit or miss depending on the person but taking short naps when I was exhausted really helped me maximise my time. I worked in retail part time alongside uni and during AC season I'd come home at 9/10 pm and nap for about an hour before doing prep for one/two hours after that.

    Other than that, I think its important to remember that ACs are kind of like exams. No matter how much you prepare you are never actually going to feel prepared enough. There's also no way to be 100% prepared because to some extent the point of these interviews and case studies is to test how you think on your feet so there's always going to be quite a few things that you could have never prepared for. I know that was the case for me. And anyway, if you do get asked a question you haven't prepped for, it's more than okay to either say "Can I have a minute to think about that" or to sip on some water while thinking. Being able to handle those kind of catch you off guard questions confidently is something I think a lot of firms do look for as well. So it might seem counter-intuitive but try not to stress yourself out thinking about how prepared you are just so during the AC your mind doesn't jump to "Oh no I didn't prepare for this." instead of "Okay, let me think about this logically."

    I really hope some of this helped, and wishing you lots of luck for the AC! I'm sure you'll smash it! :)
     

    Lauren

    Legendary Member
    Junior Lawyer
    Nov 16, 2018
    139
    73
    Hi,

    I was wondering how to tackle more personal strengths questions such as 'how would your friends describe you'. I was thinking of using words like loyal, supportive and trustworthy.

    However can I use personal examples to evidence these?

    For example, I was the first person to visit my best friend after her breakup with her long term boyfriend.
     

    Jacob Miller

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
    Forum Team
  • Feb 15, 2020
    897
    2,389
    Hi,

    I was wondering how to tackle more personal strengths questions such as 'how would your friends describe you'. I was thinking of using words like loyal, supportive and trustworthy.

    However can I use personal examples to evidence these?

    For example, I was the first person to visit my best friend after her breakup with her long term boyfriend.
    Hi Lauren,

    Great question. Personally I think it's really important to be authentic here - I mean, within reason, of course (I think some of the adjectives my mates would use to describe me might be unsuitable for an interview...). The answer should be a genuine reflection of how you feel about yourself, and I would then personally ensure I had examples for all of those too.

    Personally, I think these questions are a great time to display soft skills and emotional intelligence, so I would consider how you can best display those, but I think the overarching thing should be authenticity. I personally wouldn't use examples like seeing your friend after a break-up (I personally just don't feel it's super appropriate- others may disagree though), but examples that are more personal than what you might use elsewhere, I think, are fine.
     

    Jacob Miller

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
    Forum Team
  • Feb 15, 2020
    897
    2,389
    Hey guys, does anyone if the deadline for Osborne Clarke's online test is the same as their application deadline? I can't seem to find anything on their website.

    Thanks,
    Hi Tarnjeet,

    I'm not super familiar with OC in particular; if it's a WG or equivalent test done after the initial application, they'll normally send you a timeframe to complete it by with the invite. If it's something else to be completed as part of their application, I would probably assume the deadlines are the same.
     

    Helpme12345

    Valued Member
    Nov 19, 2020
    120
    418
    Hi @ES123456
    First off, congrats on the HSF AC!

    I feel you! This is very similar to my own experiences of the application season between studying and owning a couple of businesses. Unfortunately, there's no real way around the fact that these periods are exhausting and can be draining from that perspective. I also found I really had to cut out peripheral activities etc for a while to get through everything- it's never pleasant, but, in my experience, is necessary.

    I can also thoroughly recommend investing in a good coffee machine... best money I've ever spent.

    On a serious note, I think structuring your week as a whole is helpful as well as breaking down each day. Assuming you have a five-day working week, that would leave you two days a week that could become your AC prep days. This is where you'd focus on the substantive content of responses etc. Focus part of each day on each area of the AC (i.e., competency interview/ case study and CS interview/ (edit:) scenario interview).

    Within each working day, look at how you can maximise each period of that day. Personally, most days of my week are broken into 30-minute or 1-hour slots, 15-minute slots on days where I'm particularly busy. Personally, I'm a night owl, so I would tend to focus more on working late rather than being up early- if you're tired after work and have to be up for it the next day, though, you might find that sleeping early and being up early is better. Try and factor in, say, 30 mins or 1 hour before work where you can read the news/ work on an answer/ etc. In the evenings, if you've got a tendency to watch Netflix for an hour before you go to sleep, try and switch that out for something like watching the news or listening to a commercial awareness podcast (I think either @Dheepa or @Naomi U might be able to recommend a couple).

    Depending on how you commute, there are various ways you can use your commuting time to work on your prep. There are a couple of revision card apps (e.g., Quizlet) that you can use to test yourself if you commute via public transport. If you drive, maybe switch the radio onto a news channel rather than Spotify, for example. You could even pre-record yourself speaking and then play the audio in your car to learn by hearing it.

    Another thing I did was to actually look at my life as a whole and see whether there were areas that I could cut out time to make things easier for myself. For example, I cook for my fiancee and I every night- for the period we were prepping for AC's, I batch cooked lunches and dinners on a Sunday evening instead which saved me a lot of time. Maybe look at using a grocery delivery service rather than having to travel to the shops for stuff- you'd be surprised how much time you can actually make up by trying to be more efficient elsewhere.

    The final thing I would mention, which helps both in respect of not overloading your brain and also actually making your responses more natural at ACs, is to not to try and learn a script. Instead, memorise the key points and examples you need to hit for each part of each answer - it gives you less substantive content to stress about memorising and also means that, in the AC, you don't seem as robotic and aren't thrown 'off script' by a follow up/ interrupting question etc which can cause you to fumble more.

    Hope this helps, fingers crossed for you!


    Hi E,

    Huge congrats on the HSF AC (personally have always felt like they are one of the toughest firms to get to AC to so you've really done incredibly well!)

    I think the most important thing to stop yourself from being overwhelmed is to break down the AC into parts and systematically work through the things you feel like you need to prep for. Listing things I needed to get done always helped me make the AC feel more manageable. That being said if I were to focus on some aspects it would be:

    For the case study:
    Naomi has already given some fantastic advice here that I really don't have much else to add to https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/hsf-assessment-centre.2899/#post-46369

    For the competency interview:
    Mine was incredibly short (around four questions max) and prepping simple answers to basic competencies would make you more than prepared. Competencies I would focus on: teamwork, time management/conflicting deadlines, working with a difficult team member, managing conflict, leadership and tell me about a news story that you're interested in (not a competency but it's always good to have one ready to go)

    For the scenario interview:
    Naomi has also touched on this in that post I linked you to but just to add to that, in some ways the fact that this is a feature of the HSF AC reduces your prep quite a bit because there really is no way to prepare. The best thing you can do for this is reminding yourself to ask lots of questions to clear up confusion around the scenario and also just working through your thoughts logically with the partner.

    In terms of fitting this prep around your schedule, I agree with everything that Jacob has already said. Rather than reading news stories, while boiling the kettle or making your morning toast, listen to news podcasts. I used to this myself with the FT News Briefing podcast on Spotify and it was more than enough to help me get by in interviews. The other thing I would recommend is if you record your answers to some of the competency questions or expected questions like why law/why this firm you can also listen to these while eating lunch or taking a walk. That way you won't need to stare at a computer screen or piece of paper trying to remember your points. My other tip can be pretty hit or miss depending on the person but taking short naps when I was exhausted really helped me maximise my time. I worked in retail part time alongside uni and during AC season I'd come home at 9/10 pm and nap for about an hour before doing prep for one/two hours after that.

    Other than that, I think its important to remember that ACs are kind of like exams. No matter how much you prepare you are never actually going to feel prepared enough. There's also no way to be 100% prepared because to some extent the point of these interviews and case studies is to test how you think on your feet so there's always going to be quite a few things that you could have never prepared for. I know that was the case for me. And anyway, if you do get asked a question you haven't prepped for, it's more than okay to either say "Can I have a minute to think about that" or to sip on some water while thinking. Being able to handle those kind of catch you off guard questions confidently is something I think a lot of firms do look for as well. So it might seem counter-intuitive but try not to stress yourself out thinking about how prepared you are just so during the AC your mind doesn't jump to "Oh no I didn't prepare for this." instead of "Okay, let me think about this logically."

    I really hope some of this helped, and wishing you lots of luck for the AC! I'm sure you'll smash it! :)

    Thanks so much guys! I’ll definitely try some of those time saving tips, will just have to surrender to being a zombie for the next week :D
     
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    Fifi

    Standard Member
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    M&A Bootcamp
    Dec 6, 2018
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    @Jacob Miller @Dheepa @Naomi U

    Hey guys,

    I was wondering if you could please share some advice about conversion interviews following a vacation scheme.

    Do you have any tips on how to prepare for them, particularly on how to approach speaking about experiences from the scheme?

    Any advice would be appreciated :)
     

    Jacob Miller

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
    Forum Team
  • Feb 15, 2020
    897
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    @Jacob Miller @Dheepa @Naomi U

    Hey guys,

    I was wondering if you could please share some advice about conversion interviews following a vacation scheme.

    Do you have any tips on how to prepare for them, particularly on how to approach speaking about experiences from the scheme?

    Any advice would be appreciated :)

    Hi Fifi,

    Great question.

    Personally, I would approach this in substantively the same way I would approach any interview, and the biggest alteration in my approach would be to really focus all my responses on things I have gained as a result of that scheme rather than things I already discussed in the assessment process leading up to the VS. In terms of actually discussing these in the interview, I would just advise to have a clear structure for introducing how, when and from whom you picked up each thing you want to discuss as this will show you were engaged in each specific activity.

    Wishing you the very best of luck :)
     
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    Jacob Miller

    Legendary Member
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    Forum Team
  • Feb 15, 2020
    897
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    Hi guys,

    I am just writing an application and I am unsure how to answer the following question: "Why do you want to become a solicitor?"

    Do you think I should concentrate on answering why I want to become a solicitor in general or should I just also explain why I want to be a commercial solicitor in particular?

    Thanks :)
    I would focus this on why you want to be a commercial solicitor in particular :)

    Edit: unless there was another express question asking that, but I find it highly unlikely they'd go down that route.
     
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    Helpme12345

    Valued Member
    Nov 19, 2020
    120
    418
    Hi guys,

    I am just writing an application and I am unsure how to answer the following question: "Why do you want to become a solicitor?"

    Do you think I should concentrate on answering why I want to become a solicitor in general or should I just also explain why I want to be a commercial solicitor in particular?

    Thanks :)
    Is this for V&E? If so, I wrote about commercial law specifically.
     

    Naomi U

    Legendary Member
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    Forum Team
    Dec 8, 2019
    221
    366
    @Jacob Miller @Dheepa @Naomi U

    Hey guys,

    I was wondering if you could please share some advice about conversion interviews following a vacation scheme.

    Do you have any tips on how to prepare for them, particularly on how to approach speaking about experiences from the scheme?

    Any advice would be appreciated :)

    Hi @Fifi

    I agree with Jacob- I would also approach conversion interviews as you would initial interviews in terms of general preparation for motivational, competency and commercial awareness. The only real difference now is that your sources of information will come from your experience on the scheme e.g. conversations you have had with members of the firm, tasks you have completed and your general (now more personalised) understanding of the firm.


    Hope this helps & best of luck :)
     
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    Lumree

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  • Jan 17, 2019
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    I would focus this on why you want to be a commercial solicitor in particular :)

    Edit: unless there was another express question asking that, but I find it highly unlikely they'd go down that route.

    I’m currently doing an application for Bates Wells, who ask why do I want to be a solicitor (not commercial). Given the main bulk of their clients are charities, starts ups, and social enterprises, would you say there’s a reason they haven’t included ‘commercial solicitor’ in their question?
     

    Naomi U

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
    Forum Team
    Dec 8, 2019
    221
    366
    Hey everyone,

    Looking for some general advice as I’m feeling super overwhelmed. I have an AC with HSF next week and I was so excited but I’m finding it so difficult to fit in preparation around my full-time job. I pretty much work 8-7 most days and while I can keep up to date with general news stories at work, I’m always exhausted when I get home. I guess my question is where would you concentrate your preparation and what are some of the things you did to prepare? Thanks for your help!

    Hi @ES123456

    Congratulations on your AC!

    As the others have mentioned, I recently made a thread with some pointers that should be helpful to structure your prep. (https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/hsf-assessment-centre.2899/#post-46369)
    I can only imagine how hard it must be to juggle it all, but to echo Dheepa and Jacob's great advice, I think it's all about trying to fit it into the little chunks of your day that you have free e.g. maybe listening to a podcast during your lunch break.

    Personally I always find that little and often rather than spending 8 hours prepping on one day is way more beneficial.

    Best of luck with your AC, I'm sure you'll do great:)
     

    Naomi U

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
    Forum Team
    Dec 8, 2019
    221
    366
    Hi,

    I was wondering how to tackle more personal strengths questions such as 'how would your friends describe you'. I was thinking of using words like loyal, supportive and trustworthy.

    However can I use personal examples to evidence these?

    For example, I was the first person to visit my best friend after her breakup with her long term boyfriend.

    Hi @Lauren

    I think I would approach questions like these as "how would someone who knows you well" describe you rather than a "friend".

    My reasoning for this is I think that if you focus too closely on the word friend, then rather than offering a general description/insight as to the type of person you are, you end up offering insight into the type of friend you are. Whilst the latter will show great traits such as the ones you suggested, they won't always reveal traits that a particularly relevant to the role you are applying for. So on this note, I think it's important to strike a balance between offering personal insight but maintaining a focus on the traits relevant to the role of a solicitor.

    Hope this helps!:)
     

    DJMG

    Star Member
    Dec 20, 2020
    39
    113
    Hi guys! This question is mainly for Dheepa. Sorry if you have addressed this in another thread which I haven't seen, but I have just been invited to an AC with Bakers and was wondering if you had any specific insight/advice you could share? It's my first AC and I'm particularly nervous about the associate interview (haven't been told what this will comprise of) and the 2 partner case study interview. Any words of wisdom really appreciated-thanks so much in advance :)
     

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