Please state the month/year you interviewed at the firm.
February 2020
Please specify what the interview was for.
Summer Vacation Scheme 2020
Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.
8:45am – Arrive at firm
9-9:45am – Written exercise
10am – Break
10-11am – trainee tour and chat
12pm – First Interview
1pm – Second Interview
Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.
Arrived at firm at 8:45am. There were only three of us at the assessment centre.
Taken into room and given a brief overview of the day.
9am – Started the written exercise for which we had 45 minutes. You are an associate and the last one to leave the office. A client calls urgently needing advice. You need to draft the email to the client. Not too complicated. Be sure to read the contract properly and focus on the dates. Structure your email as an executive summary.
10am – trainee tour with coffee break. The tour is essentially assessed because it is a one on one tour/coffee break with the trainee so they are for sure asked on their opinion. Make sure you ask loads of questions and show you are really enthusiastic.
11am – First Interview with Senior Associate and Grad Rec. This interview had different elements to it. First, we started with a quick-fire round of commercial terms. Questions included:
• What does the EEA stand for and name some countries a part of it?
• What is a derivative?
• What is the difference between a bond and a share?
• What is the difference between an executive director and non-executive?
• What is a future and a forward?
• What does LBO stand for?
• What does M&A stand for?
• What is the current pound/euro exchange rate?
• Name some US and UK regulatory/government authorities
Second part of interview: You are given a piece of paper which contains a scenario (this is read out to you) – there is a client meeting for a signing of a contract but the partner and senior associate on the case are running late. The printer has messed up the documents which you have gone to collect and the clients have now arrived. What do you do?
You get the chance to outline what you would do and then you are questioned on what you have said. Follow-up questions included what do you think the fundamental problem in this scenario is? Who would you ask for help? What is the very first thing you would do? What would you talk to the client about? Make sure you stand your ground but be flexible if alternative options are introduced.
Third part of the interview:
Competency questions:
When have you worked in a team to overcome a challenge or difficulty?
When have you had to change someone’s mind?
When have you disagreed with someone?
Opportunity to ask questions at the end.
12pm – Second interview
Commercial scenario:
Two parties want to enter a joint venture and come to you for advice at Dechert. Which departments would be involved?
Then questions after included that there are disagreements between the parties’ and they want to leave the business. What are their different options?
Please list any interview questions you were asked.
Why law?
Why not any other career such as banking where you can do similar things? (this was the back of my justifications of why law?)
Which other firms have you applied to?
If you were offered training contract at all the other firms you have applied to asides from Dechert, which one would you accept and why?
How is Dechert different?
If you could not be a commercial solicitor, what would you be instead?
What do you want out of a training contract?
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.
The assessment centre was very commercially focused, and this was tested throughout the day. Make sure you know the meaning of various commercial terms and have a good idea of how M&A and private equity transactions work (especially as PE is their strength!).
Make sure you are on top form throughout the day because there are only three candidates on the AC so you are more closely observed.
Trainee tour:
Prepare lots of questions and be extremely enthusiastic during the trainee tour as the trainee will be asked for their opinion.
Interview:
Be prepared to be questioned and probed on your strategy for which firms you have applied to and why. For example, I'd applied to another firm which has a much bigger trainee intake than Dechert but I had said I was interested in Dechert due to the small trainee intake. I justified this by saying I wanted to compare the experience of two different intakes on the schemes.
Stay calm - I wasn't expecting a quick fire commercial round and I didn't know all the answers to every question. However, I gave every question a go where I could but admitted when my knowledge was limited in others. Don't beat yourself up if you don't know all the answers to the questions - it's more about how you react.
Were you successful?
Yes
