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<blockquote data-quote="Jake Rickman" data-source="post: 146702" data-attributes="member: 8521"><p>Hello,</p><p></p><p>This is a difficult question to answer because it is phrased too generally.</p><p></p><p>Which law firm? Which clients?</p><p></p><p>Not all law firms are the same. Stephenson Harwood is a different law firm than, say, Allen & Overy. This is because Stephenson Harwood caters to a different class of client and works more prominently in certain areas of law than A&O, which is a generalist firm. Neither firm has much in common with a high street practice. Therefore, your answer to this question would need to be different depending on which firm you are applying to.</p><p></p><p>From a tactical perspective, this question requires you to know two things:</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">How well do you know the firm and its practice group strengths?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Which clients is the firm likely to advise?</li> </ol><p>You then need to generate some sort of topical challenge relevant to the law firm's clients.</p><p></p><p>To demonstrate the competencies this question is designed to test, you need to really understand the law firm you're applying to.</p><p></p><p>TCLA has some decent profiles on most of the largest and most prominent law firms operating in London. Reading across these should give you a sense of the practice areas that a given law firm specialises in. You can supplement this with additional research.</p><p></p><p>It is often repeated that a law firm's own website is one of the best resources to use to get to know a firm. This is true, especially once you know which areas are more relevant than others. For instance, nearly all law firms have a corporate/M&A department, but not all corporate/M&A practice groups operate in the same way. Slaughter and May's corporate group would likely advise a FTSE 100 company across any sector, whereas Clyde & Co is more likely to advise an insurance company in a merger. If you know that Clyde & Co is a sector-focused firm that has in recent years adopted a strategy to dominate the UK insurance market, this distinction makes sense. Therefore, if you're applying to Clyde & Co, you would do well to study how the firm talks about its insurance practice. Excellent answers to this question will demonstrate an underlying understanding of the client's business model.</p><p></p><p>Assuming I was applying to Clyde & Co, armed with the knowledge that Clyde & Co is an insurance specialist (among other things), I would do some reading around the insurance industry.</p><p></p><p>For instance, by Googling "insurance FT" and reading the headlines to see what sorts of articles are in the news. I would try and find a topic that is broad enough to be relevant to as many insurance clients as possible. A good one would be the proposed Solvency II reforms, which will liberalise the regulations on how insurance firms can invest their money. This is because the issue raises vast regulatory issues, as well as extensive opportunities for increased profits for insurance companies.</p><p></p><p>I will cede that this is a technical area, and understanding why this is immediately relevant requires you to appreciate how the insurance industry's business model works. But there you have it.</p><p></p><p>Feel free to identify the law firm. I can help you tailor your approach.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jake Rickman, post: 146702, member: 8521"] Hello, This is a difficult question to answer because it is phrased too generally. Which law firm? Which clients? Not all law firms are the same. Stephenson Harwood is a different law firm than, say, Allen & Overy. This is because Stephenson Harwood caters to a different class of client and works more prominently in certain areas of law than A&O, which is a generalist firm. Neither firm has much in common with a high street practice. Therefore, your answer to this question would need to be different depending on which firm you are applying to. From a tactical perspective, this question requires you to know two things: [LIST=1] [*]How well do you know the firm and its practice group strengths? [*]Which clients is the firm likely to advise? [/LIST] You then need to generate some sort of topical challenge relevant to the law firm's clients. To demonstrate the competencies this question is designed to test, you need to really understand the law firm you're applying to. TCLA has some decent profiles on most of the largest and most prominent law firms operating in London. Reading across these should give you a sense of the practice areas that a given law firm specialises in. You can supplement this with additional research. It is often repeated that a law firm's own website is one of the best resources to use to get to know a firm. This is true, especially once you know which areas are more relevant than others. For instance, nearly all law firms have a corporate/M&A department, but not all corporate/M&A practice groups operate in the same way. Slaughter and May's corporate group would likely advise a FTSE 100 company across any sector, whereas Clyde & Co is more likely to advise an insurance company in a merger. If you know that Clyde & Co is a sector-focused firm that has in recent years adopted a strategy to dominate the UK insurance market, this distinction makes sense. Therefore, if you're applying to Clyde & Co, you would do well to study how the firm talks about its insurance practice. Excellent answers to this question will demonstrate an underlying understanding of the client's business model. Assuming I was applying to Clyde & Co, armed with the knowledge that Clyde & Co is an insurance specialist (among other things), I would do some reading around the insurance industry. For instance, by Googling "insurance FT" and reading the headlines to see what sorts of articles are in the news. I would try and find a topic that is broad enough to be relevant to as many insurance clients as possible. A good one would be the proposed Solvency II reforms, which will liberalise the regulations on how insurance firms can invest their money. This is because the issue raises vast regulatory issues, as well as extensive opportunities for increased profits for insurance companies. I will cede that this is a technical area, and understanding why this is immediately relevant requires you to appreciate how the insurance industry's business model works. But there you have it. Feel free to identify the law firm. I can help you tailor your approach. [/QUOTE]
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