Eversheds Sutherland Vacation Scheme Interview 2021

[Jaysen]

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.

welcome talk, in-tray written exercise, reflection, lunch with trainees, internal meeting negotiation exercise, reflection, partner interview (no reflection for the interview).

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

The AC started at 9:30 am and finished approx at 3:30 pm - In-tray written exercise (approx 1hr 40mins) - Reflection (approx 15mins) - Internal meeting negotiation exercise (approx 30mins to read/prep, 20mins meeting, 15mins reflection). - Partner interview (approx 1hr)

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.

Internal meeting / negotiation exercise:
- This sounds complicated but it is not. The hardest thing about this task is limited time pressure. The content/task itself is not difficult to understand and you do not need any legal knowledge whatsoever. The documents actually guide you towards the side you should pick and provide you with all the evidence/arguments you need to support tour points.
- The documents will be full of some key information whilst others are not very important and could actually waste your time if you spend a lot of time reading them. Therefore to know which documents are worth spending time on reading, you should read the instructions given properly as they tell you exactly what information you need, making it easier to navigate through the documents.
- Do not spend time writing down full sentences when planning what you will say but rather bullet point them to save time and can be easier to read/glance over during the meeting to make sure you’re not missing out on any important info.
- When you go into the meeting make sure you use your team working / interpersonal skills and show the partner you can work well with others. This is not supposed to be an aggressive negotiation but instead a calm and professional discussion. This does not mean you should change your opinion! Stick to your argument and be confident with it because if you’re not then how will they be?
- This task is mainly testing 3 things here:
1. Your ability to work under pressure, prioritise, attention to detail.
2. How you work with other people / how you can handle different opposing opinions.
3. How well you can articulate your arguments / convince others.

In-Tray / written exercise:
- The idea here is to prioritise the tasks, making sure you at least complete the most important ones and submit them. I personally did not complete everything but made sure to complete the most important ones.
- The way I dealt with this task is by firstly doing a quick scan over all the emails to see which one I should do first. I chose to prioritise by completing the tasks sent by partners and work for clients first as they were more urgent. I then dealt with the other emails. There were some emails that I did not have time to fully respond to but I still made sure to say something like “I will have a look at this and will get back to you at the end of the day with a definite answer”. Do not do this for every email obviously, only use it where appropriate.
- You will also know which tasks to prioritise as some of the tasks have dated deadlines, making it easier to know which one needs to be done now.
- There is not a way to prepare for this task before the AC. The only thing I did was read about people’s experiences of completing this task (TCLA does a great job at providing this) and talked with previous vac schemers who did the same task just to get advice. This actually helped me during the task as I was not completely clueless as to what to expect/shocked by the task.
- Again you do not need legal knowledge here. They will provide you will all the information you need.
- Make sure to complete the proofreading task too as this is testing a different skill in comparison to the in-tray email task and so if you do not complete it they will have nothing to mark you on in this regard.
- I personally found the most difficult aspect of this was the time-limited pressure. However, if you remain calm and prioritise from the start you will be able to get through it properly.

Partner interview:
- The partner that interviewed me was very welcoming and friendly and made sure to clarify any questions I had.
- They give you the opportunity to ask questions at the end and the partner was more than happy to answer and give as much detail as possible and I actually found myself learning a lot about the legal industry and the firm so make sure to have questions prepared.
- To prepare: have an example of a role/work experience/position of responsibility prepared for each skill. For example, to answer a question about teamwork, have an example of a time you worked well in a team. Make sure to use the STAR method when answering the questions as this is the best way to ensure you’re giving them all the details they need. When talking about the “R” (Result) make sure to talk about what motivated and energised you. Try to find the positive in every situation, even if it was not a particularly pleasant experience. For example, if the question is about a time you had to complete a difficult piece of work, you should still highlight how you enjoyed this (e.g. you enjoyed the challenge, problem-solving and being out of your comfort zone helped with your personal growth/self-development. Here you are showing that you can still stay motivated during tough tasks and able to reflect and learn from them).

Reflection:
- This is a great opportunity to show them you are self-aware. For example, if you made a mistake during the task, you could mention this and say how you would improve next time if you were to do it again. Be as honest as possible and again give as much detail as you can.

Overall advice:
- The firm focus on your strengths, motivations, what keeps you energised and how well you fit in with everyone. It is quite a long and tough AC but because the firm has an incredibly welcoming and friendly culture, everyone is very genuine and wants you to do well and so they really do help with calming your nerves. Prepare for the interview as much as you can, as out of all the tasks this is the only one you can prepare for. Prior to the AC, the firm will give you a document explaining the AC process so make sure to read it a few times as it helps.
- Read the other experiences that have been shared on the TCLA forum as each candidate may have a different experience and so it is good to get an overall picture of how they assess you.

Were you successful?

Yes

 

[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.
N/A

Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.
In-tray exercise - Candidates are presented with a word document that will contain a selection of "emails" about various issues. Candidates are required to identify and prioritize each issue from most to least important and then in a separate word document formulate responses to the issues in the "emails" document. There will be one key response candidates will be required to draft such as a client briefing which is the bulk of the exercises. Half way through the exercise, candidates will be handed an additional task.

Internal meeting simulation - Candidates will have to read selection of documents before meeting with a colleague. This is simulated meeting i.e. candidates are to assume they already work at the firm and the "colleague" will be a partner/senior associate in character. Candidates will most likely be asked to negotiate on an issue that the colleague has a different opinion or holds an opposite view.

Partner Interview - standard interview with one partner.

Reflections - after each assessment, an assessor will have a simple 2 minute chat about how you felt and performed in the preceding assessment.

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.

Pre-assessment center preparation: Make sure to really engage with the pre-work provided with the firm. There is a focus on strengths based questions and the pre-work is really helpful in getting you thinking about strengths based questions. Read up on commercial awareness and work done by Eversheds Sutherland and if possible, talk with previous AC attendees. Very important to also be aware of general trends in the legal market and brush up on your commercial awareness.

In-tray exercise: Prioritize the main response; in my case this was preparing a client brief based on reading almost 10-15 documents. Make sure to identify which are the most important pieces of information and then make sure that you complete the brief. It is almost impossible to complete responses to all the emails and keep in mind they are trying to assess your ability to work under pressure. After completing the brief, work your way down the list of priority and answer as many emails you can. Do your best to complete the task handed in the middle of the exercises. In my case this was a simple proofreading task.

Internal meeting simulation: Do your best to prioritize the information in the pack given to you and try and read through everything at least once. When in the "meeting room" it is imperative to keep calm and engage constructively. Do not be distracted if your "colleague" is belligerent/evasive/distracted. While noting the strengths of the arguments presented by your colleague argue why there possess deficiencies before advancing your own arguments. Be polite at all times and try and reach a consensus.

Partner meeting: Very casual and not intimidating. A mix of strengths based situational questions along with commercial awareness questions. Make sure to listen to the questions carefully and answer each part of the question asked. Don't be afraid to ask for clarification and definitely take a minute or two to think about your answer as this encourages structure and cohesion. Again, the questions are strengths based so make sure that you are able to draw on your own experiences and make it a point to talk about how you felt and what energized you when talking about your experiences.

Reflections: Don't ignore the importance of these or cast them aside as a side note. Very important to explain your approach to each assessment, your thought process, what you liked/disliked etc.

Were you successful?
Yes