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Aspiring Lawyers - Interviews & Vacation Schemes
Interviews Discussion
Government Legal Department Trainee Scheme AC
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<blockquote data-quote="Alison C" data-source="post: 81942" data-attributes="member: 3943"><p>Check out the 2019 account above - I did the AC last year (2020) and it was pretty much like that. You have about an hour on a written assessment, based on a fictitious piece of legislation, that we were asked to write three different responses to. I think one was to a local council regarding a letter they'd sent about the Act, one was to brief a minister, and I can't remember the third. Basically, it was public law in action. I think I did fine on the written section. Just do an exec summary and really read it. (I didn't like the format, you had to spin up and down on the online page rather than having separate windows, but maybe you can find a workaround??)</p><p></p><p>The interview I found less pleasant, but it was my first one. It was very much competency focused and they wanted very structured STAR answers. It was very much in line with their Equal Opps recruitment policy and didn't need to reflect legal work experience - I think it's much more about the style and content of your answers than the knowledge base. Stuff like teamwork, coping with a crisis, the usual. Just have your examples all organised and practise putting them into the STAR structure. As above, my interview was 60-90 mins including the first 15-30 on the written exercise from the morning, and it was pretty intense, with a panel of three: two senior lawyers, one from the Treasury, one from the land/property team in Bristol, and someone from HR.</p><p></p><p>They also had a strengths question. They say you can't prepare but you can. I think mine was something about decision-making? There are some Youtube videos on strengths-based questions.</p><p></p><p>You will be asked to talk about a current legal story that interests you. I'd been warned off choosing any political hot potatoes, and went for a US/French commercial law story that they didn't even have on their radars so that was a disaster! I'd say go for something in the public domain that you agree with...? Definitely a UK topic, and ideally to do with newly updated legislation (maybe post Brexit?? Maybe something to do with land or something tangible???).</p><p></p><p>Also, you will need to specify prior to the interview (on the day) which govt dept you plan to aim for. I had done a ton of research (talking to people in diff depts) but that didn't impress them at all, they wanted to know my choice. Which I hadn't made. Another disaster...</p><p></p><p>They will give you written feedback but mine didn't sound like me at all, hence my not re-applying. I'd had a govt lawyer as a mentor at uni and he'd been absolutely fantastic, and even he was confused by the feedback, which was gender-neutral and done with a drop-down menu of comments. For me, I just realised that it was an environment where I wouldn't be at my best, so I'm complete with that. It was great to get to interview though. I think that there were 6.5k applicants for 200 interviews and c 50-70 TCs? There were a lot of hoops and I did prepare carefully for each one.</p><p></p><p>If it suits you, it's a brilliant place to have a career, with lots of initiatives and job opportunities. The GLD lawyers I know are genuinely happy in their roles, love the work-life balance and find the work really fascinating. They are a really diverse crowd and hand-selected.</p><p></p><p>Good luck! I will try to dig out any useful links over the weekend if I can find them...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alison C, post: 81942, member: 3943"] Check out the 2019 account above - I did the AC last year (2020) and it was pretty much like that. You have about an hour on a written assessment, based on a fictitious piece of legislation, that we were asked to write three different responses to. I think one was to a local council regarding a letter they'd sent about the Act, one was to brief a minister, and I can't remember the third. Basically, it was public law in action. I think I did fine on the written section. Just do an exec summary and really read it. (I didn't like the format, you had to spin up and down on the online page rather than having separate windows, but maybe you can find a workaround??) The interview I found less pleasant, but it was my first one. It was very much competency focused and they wanted very structured STAR answers. It was very much in line with their Equal Opps recruitment policy and didn't need to reflect legal work experience - I think it's much more about the style and content of your answers than the knowledge base. Stuff like teamwork, coping with a crisis, the usual. Just have your examples all organised and practise putting them into the STAR structure. As above, my interview was 60-90 mins including the first 15-30 on the written exercise from the morning, and it was pretty intense, with a panel of three: two senior lawyers, one from the Treasury, one from the land/property team in Bristol, and someone from HR. They also had a strengths question. They say you can't prepare but you can. I think mine was something about decision-making? There are some Youtube videos on strengths-based questions. You will be asked to talk about a current legal story that interests you. I'd been warned off choosing any political hot potatoes, and went for a US/French commercial law story that they didn't even have on their radars so that was a disaster! I'd say go for something in the public domain that you agree with...? Definitely a UK topic, and ideally to do with newly updated legislation (maybe post Brexit?? Maybe something to do with land or something tangible???). Also, you will need to specify prior to the interview (on the day) which govt dept you plan to aim for. I had done a ton of research (talking to people in diff depts) but that didn't impress them at all, they wanted to know my choice. Which I hadn't made. Another disaster... They will give you written feedback but mine didn't sound like me at all, hence my not re-applying. I'd had a govt lawyer as a mentor at uni and he'd been absolutely fantastic, and even he was confused by the feedback, which was gender-neutral and done with a drop-down menu of comments. For me, I just realised that it was an environment where I wouldn't be at my best, so I'm complete with that. It was great to get to interview though. I think that there were 6.5k applicants for 200 interviews and c 50-70 TCs? There were a lot of hoops and I did prepare carefully for each one. If it suits you, it's a brilliant place to have a career, with lots of initiatives and job opportunities. The GLD lawyers I know are genuinely happy in their roles, love the work-life balance and find the work really fascinating. They are a really diverse crowd and hand-selected. Good luck! I will try to dig out any useful links over the weekend if I can find them... [/QUOTE]
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