Bird & Bird Vacation Scheme Interview 2021

[Alice G]

Please state the month/year you interviewed at the firm.

February 2021

Please specify what the interview was for.

Spring Vacation Scheme 2021

Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.

12pm - 5pm on TopScore.
12 - 12:30pm: Briefing with Graduate Recruitment.
12:30 - 1:10pm: Group Exercise.
1:20 - 2:15pm: Written Exercise.
2:25pm - 3:20pm: Talk with current trainees.
3:30 - 4:20pm: Interview with one partner and two associates.
4:30pm - 5pm: Talk from GR/end of AC.

Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.

Group exercise (40 mins): It was more of a negotiation exercise where you had to defend a certain position and had 10 mins to read through a number of documents to prepare a 2-min introduction on your position. Then you had to negotiate with the rest of the group (we were 5) and within 30 mins you're supposed to come to a conclusion and decide which idea you would implement, taking into account the budget and discussion with the others.

Written exercise (55 mins): Had to read around 10 pages including some background info, graphs, articles, profiles on a company. The information is quite straightforward and doesn't require background knowledge. The question was about advising the client on the risks/advantages of a business proposal (and whether they should enter into it), what further information you needed from them and any next steps you'd be taking. It wasn't an M&A case study, it was on advising a furniture company that was interested in expanding its services and reaching a wider customer base (through 3D-printing and customisable furniture).

Interview (50 mins): One partner and one associate. Explained their background, what they were doing at B&B and how the interview will go. Had a specific set out questions to ask.

What is your best advice for each aspect of the assessment on the day? Please break this down for each assessment. This can include advice for preparation, as well as tips for the day.

Group exercise: Timing is really tight so I'd suggest being the timekeeper and reminding everyone that X amount of time is left because we really struggled with that. If you're not comfortable doing that, ask someone if they want to do it instead. Some people contribute less so make sure you ask what they think without calling them out on it. If someone has been talking for a while, propose to conclude and move on to the next person/point. Make sure to express your point of view and raise different pros/cons of the idea proposed by someone else. And remain consistent in terms of acknowledging and engaging with others.

Written exercise: manage your time wisely because there's a lot of documents and information to process. I'd suggest writing your response throughout rather than after reading everything because I lost a lot of time by not doing that. Try to add any legal/commercial awareness that you have if it's relevant and consider all the different risks and implications to reach a conclusion. Think about any further info you'd need to advise fully. Analyse the facts and info in depth in a structure way to assess the pros/cons of each idea.

Interview: the firm really focuses on candidates' individual personalities so just be yourself and don't show that you've prepared all your 'why law?, 'why B&B?', 'why you?' answers because it might feel unnatural. Try to build a rapport with them because they're very nice and are genuinely interested to get to know you more. There aren't any trick questions but the 'hardest' part was the debate question (which assesses whether you can think on your feet). Make sure to ask questions at the end. And try to refer to your talk with the trainees if possible.

The AC is quite intense and long so make sure you get some rest the day before and make good use of the regular breaks.

Were you successful?

No

 

[Alice G]

Please state the month/year you interviewed at the firm.

February 2021

Please specify what the interview was for.

Easter Vacation Scheme 2021

Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.

This was a virtual assessment. The day began at 12:00 with a welcome from Graduate Recruitment, and then we were split into groups of 5/6. These groups determined the order we would perform the various tasks, which was different for each. I had an interview, followed by a talk with trainees, then the written exercise and finally the group exercise. The assessment day finished around 4:00.

Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.

Interview - 45 mins. Focused on you and why law, your understanding of the firm, your interest in them and commercial awareness etc.

Group exercise - 50 mins. Given a scenario as a group, and 10 mins to read through a document which corresponded to an initiative (a different person read each section.) Then we were each given 2 mins to pitch what we had read to the rest of the group. The task was to represent that initiative for the remainder of the task and come to a group decision on what to do moving forward.

Written exercise - One hour to read through a fairly long document and write a report.

What is your best advice for each aspect of the assessment on the day? Please break this down for each assessment. This can include advice for preparation, as well as tips for the day.

Interview - Be prepared, have confidence in what you say and make sure you understand and are prepared to expand upon the issues you discuss in your application form.

Group exercise - It isn't necessarily about how often you speak but rather about the quality of what you say. Remember that the loudest person in the group isn't always the person that necessarily is successful. Make sure you are really thinking about the other people in your group, including engaging everyone in the discussion, but don't worry if you aren't the one who says the most and be authentic in how you behave. It's really obvious when someone is putting on a front to try and impress the interviewers.

Written exercise - Keep an eye on the time and try to keep track of where the key information is so you can refer back to it easily. Remember to clearly divide your work up into headings and subheadings so that it is easier to follow, and carefully consider who the audience is as this will impact how you pitch the information.

Were you successful?

Yes

 

[BK]

Please state the month/year you interviewed at the firm.
February 2021

Please specify what the interview was for.
Spring Vacation Scheme 2021

Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.
10 am - Arrival
10.30 am - Group Exercise
11.30 am - Written Exercise
12.15 pm - Lunch break
1.30 pm - Partner + HR Interview
2.30 pm - Trainee Talk
3.30 pm - Debrief

Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.

Group Exercise: 1 hour including supervised discussion and presentation; the amount of time allocated for each part is for the team to decide. Case study is a role play exercise with each participant assigned a role in the city council and arguing for their project to be included in the council's annual budget.

Written Exercise: 1 hour - advise a client on whether to carry ahead with a business strategy. The information pack was about 10 page long, with information including business background, personnel in the company, company's financial information, market share and performance of other competitors.

Interview: 30 minutes with a member of HR and a partner. The interview was conversational and relied heavily on my written application.

What is your best advice for each aspect of the assessment on the day? Please break this down for each assessment. This can include advice for preparation, as well as tips for the day.

Group exercise: There is some time allocated to meet the teammates beforehand. Try to remember their background so that you can draw on their strengths later in the discussion (for example, a teammate of mine was interning at a cybersecurity company, and I referred to him when this issue came up in our discussion). Stick to the clock! My team did not manage to wrap up the presentation in time.

Written exercise: In my feedback it was said that I lacked depth in my analysis. I am very unsure what this means (and the Grad Recruiter didn't specify because she was not the one marking the exercise) so it would be great if TCLA can provide some resources as to how to approach written commercial advice questions.

Interview: Don't be put off by the partner's attitude. When I was talking about why Bird & Bird, the partner commented something along the line of "Anything else?", and when I was answering the competency question, reaching the Result part in the STAR structure, she said "And everything turned out well in the end did it?". These two made me so nervous as I thought I appeared as boring. However, the Grad Recruiter later on said that I did well in the interview, and that I appeared enthusiastic and engaged. Really know your application inside out. Bird & Bird written application questions are relatively short (150 words, 3 questions) and I think they expect you to expand on your answer in the interview.

Were you successful?
No

 

[BK]

Please state the month/year you interviewed at the firm.
February 2021

Please specify what the interview was for.
Summer Vacation Scheme 2021

Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.
12.00 virtual lobby
12.30 written exercise
13.30 trainee Q&A, break
14.30 partner + HR interview
15.30 group exercise
16.30 debrief

Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.

Written exercise (45 min) - roughly 10 pages of case study material, which includes graphs.Three broad commercial questions to address in written response (opportunity/cost of changing business model in light of tech revolution, questions you would ask client, final recommendations)

Trainee Q&A - unassessed

Interview (20 min) - below, can be either 2 partners or 1 partner with 1 HR (in latter case partner will lead interview)

Group exercise (45 min) - HR allocates role for each person and suggests 10 min to read through material. There is a general info section about the task and one half-page section specific to each role. This year the task was playing the role of a local council establishing a smart city, each participants pitches their own project in areas like energy and transport. As a group you then come up ways of allocating a limited budget and present, with no Q&A afterwards.

What is your best advice for each aspect of the assessment on the day? Please break this down for each assessment. This can include advice for preparation, as well as tips for the day.

Written exercise: I failed because of this exercise, where I overlooked some details. I would recommend tying in all bits of the information (especially the graphs) in your written answer. This will be very time pressured but I would not recommend only talking about the main issues as I did. Also think about layout - since they asked for cost/benefit best keep them as separate sections.

Group exercise: There will be some contention because of the limited budget, so you will need to collaborate with other people's projects (trying to combine them), and push back if others are trying to sideline yours. You will need to both put forward your own ideas (even for other projects than your own) as well as show the ability to direct the conversation to your benefit.

Interview: Important to be confident when challenged by the partner. Whilst the why law and why B&B answers could be rehearsed, don't be afraid to expand on certain points (I made 3 x 2 sentences for each and was told my answers were brief, but that could've been other questions).

Overall: Most important advice I can give is look beyond the tech angle as many AC participants would've picked that up. For example, GR was impressed that I went on about the sector expertise point (along with their sector-specific commercial seat) because it's the kind of thing that every firm says they do, but B&B is one of the few that actually practice it.

Were you successful?
No