Please state the month/year you interviewed at the firm.
March 2022
Please specify what the interview was for.
Vacation Scheme 2022
Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.
Written exercise (completed 24 hrs before)
Intro by grad recruitment – 10 mins, 5 people on my AC
Presentation & Interview – 1 hr
Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.
1) Written Exercise
I was given a body of text and had to summarise the key points for a client in an email, breaking it up into the categories that the client was interested in. it was about 3 pages long and I had 30 mins.
2) Presentation
I got sent the presentation 5 days before on an M&A. I had to identify the pros/cons of the merger and how it would affect the client.
3) Presentation Interview and General Interview
These are merged into a 1 hour interview. One of the partners that interviewed me was a bit late so I spent 5-10 minutes chatting with one partner before which helped me to ease in and feel more confident as the partner was so nice! I was then asked whether to do the presentation or interview first (I chose presentation). I spent 10 minutes presenting and answered about 3 questions on it – they were not particularly hard questions. I would recommend the TCLA mock case studies and M&A course.
The competency section of the interview was very relaxed – I was only asked around 7 questions. Why law, why L&W, why not criminal law/ barrister, L&W's place in the legal market, what qualities does a trainee need and where have I shown them and then got into a debate around a topic I had put on my CV (had previous experience in). I also got asked what motivates me in a career and what is something that I’m aiming for (I said I want to learn and don’t want to ever feel like there is a cap on what I know and the partners loved this). What helped the interview feel like a conversation was that I asked the partners to convey their thoughts on the topic and we discussed the pros/cons of the topic in depth. I had time at the end to ask questions and that felt like an extended part of the previous conversation!
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.
1) Written Exercise
2) Presentation
Were you successful?
Yes
March 2022
Please specify what the interview was for.
Vacation Scheme 2022
Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.
Written exercise (completed 24 hrs before)
Intro by grad recruitment – 10 mins, 5 people on my AC
Presentation & Interview – 1 hr
Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.
1) Written Exercise
I was given a body of text and had to summarise the key points for a client in an email, breaking it up into the categories that the client was interested in. it was about 3 pages long and I had 30 mins.
2) Presentation
I got sent the presentation 5 days before on an M&A. I had to identify the pros/cons of the merger and how it would affect the client.
3) Presentation Interview and General Interview
These are merged into a 1 hour interview. One of the partners that interviewed me was a bit late so I spent 5-10 minutes chatting with one partner before which helped me to ease in and feel more confident as the partner was so nice! I was then asked whether to do the presentation or interview first (I chose presentation). I spent 10 minutes presenting and answered about 3 questions on it – they were not particularly hard questions. I would recommend the TCLA mock case studies and M&A course.
The competency section of the interview was very relaxed – I was only asked around 7 questions. Why law, why L&W, why not criminal law/ barrister, L&W's place in the legal market, what qualities does a trainee need and where have I shown them and then got into a debate around a topic I had put on my CV (had previous experience in). I also got asked what motivates me in a career and what is something that I’m aiming for (I said I want to learn and don’t want to ever feel like there is a cap on what I know and the partners loved this). What helped the interview feel like a conversation was that I asked the partners to convey their thoughts on the topic and we discussed the pros/cons of the topic in depth. I had time at the end to ask questions and that felt like an extended part of the previous conversation!
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.
1) Written Exercise
- This was very time restrained and there was a word limit, so plan your time very carefully.
- Try group the information into themes and tailor this to how it would affect the client.
- I found it helpful to bring in techniques I have learnt on my PGDL (IRAC) in being a. What is the information? b. What does this mean in laymans terms? c. How would it affect the client and what advice would I give?. No legal knowledge was needed but use SPAG and make sure that the email format is correct.
2) Presentation
- The brief is very thorough and just make sure that the presentation is neat, coherent and has a nice structure to it. I
- used a powerpoint to convey my thoughts and also rehearsed A LOT with my friends and family to make sure I knew about it in depth.
- Be able to talk in depth about everything on your application.
- Know L&W well and why you want to work for them.
- Practice your presentation – I got very good feedback on how I split the topics to discuss and made it client focused in what L&W could bring for the client.
Were you successful?
Yes
