Pitch exercise in the VS
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Jessica Booker
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Haven't done one but assessed far too many of them.
I am assuming it is a group task/presentation? Do you have a particular client to pitch to?
As Jess says, it might be easier to give some in-depth advice if you can provide us with a little more detail on your brief?
In terms of the teamwork aspect more generally, having a look through my assessed negotiations article might be worthwhile as I talk about teamwork skills quite extensively there.
In terms of the teamwork aspect more generally, having a look through my assessed negotiations article might be worthwhile as I talk about teamwork skills quite extensively there.
Hi it should be group work! A group in 3 or 4 act on behalf of a law firm to pitch on the clients, and partners act as clients to raise questions. It is said that compared to negotiations, pitch exercise involves more coordination among members other than adversary.
Are there any videos about real life pitch so I could have knowledge of the common questions that clients tend to ask / what points should be covered in a pitch / etc... Thanks a lot!!!
Jessica Booker
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Definitely - there is absolutely no competitive element to this.
The key element is really researching well through the firms resources about the client. You should consider the following factors:
- what has the firm worked for with the client before (if at all)?
- what trends does the firm see could be impacting the client in the future and how can the firm support that?
- what services aren’t being sold to the client currently but could? For instance, some firms may only be on the legal panel for M&A work but not for Real Estate - how could the firm also get more real estate work from the client (if that’s relevanf
- what ways can the firm add value to the client beyond just a competitive fee structure?
Make sure everyone in the group has something to present on.
Make sure you divide that up fairly evenly.
Make sure there is consistency in your presentation if you all have a part to prepare and deliver.
Make sure the people who talked about their part are the ones who answer the questions about that topic (nothing worse than someone forcefully answering the questions over someone else who could answer it, particularly to try and look good for assessment processes). Other team members should support the individual should they struggle to answer or want to deflect to someone - but try to avoid contradicting them unless they have said something completely incorrect.
Jessica Booker
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This isn’t really a real pitch exercise to be honest that I am not convinced showing you one would be helpful (not that I can think of any resources for that anyway - firms don’t record these type of activities as ultimately they are pretty confidential both for the firm and the client).
For these exercises, the questions are mainly going to be about the holes in your presentation. And there will be holes because you are not going to be able to present every little detail you could talk about because you won’t have enough time (make sure you do a practise run of the presentation to ensure you run to time, 75% of teams will run over and firms can be pretty brutal in cutting people off so they can keep to time).
Think about what the client cares about (this is where your research is key) as this is likely to be reflected in the questions. For one client that might be the fee structure, for the next it could be they have a major restructure of their business happening post merger and they just need to ensure that is done well. Different clients will have different priorities and concerns and it’s important in your prep to really try to get to that detail.
Be mindful that also you might get asked questions about how you approached the pitch exercise, how you think it went, what you would do differently etc, as it’s not uncommon for you to get asked questions while the partners are still in role as the client, but also then as assessors who are assessing the exercise.
Thanks!!!!!!!! It really does a great help to me. Previously I thought that the firm would provide us with every single detail of the client in our instant case and I had never considered doing research concerning the client. I was of the view that the evaluation mainly focused on the presentation, manners, gestures, things like that... Thank you for clearing it up for me!
According to Jess I would consider the pitch as more of a commercial awareness question. Primarily I would have to answer questions like "why would a client pick our firm" or "what do clients look for in a law firm?" which I am struggling to relate back. I don't really know what to put down as key qualities clients might look for. Could you please provide with some insight into this? I would appreciate advice from anyone who has answered something similar. Thanks in advance!!!!!!
It might help if you said what firm it is. That way people who have had experience there could weigh in.
Jessica Booker
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Thought it might be. That exercise hasn’t changed in 11 years 😂.
Jessica Booker
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It isn’t really a commercial awareness question to be honest. You need to start with the client, not those questions.
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