Taylor Wessing Interview 2021

[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.
13.00 Group exercise with graduate development
Break
14.00 commercial awareness exercise with partners
Break
15.00 competency interview with associates

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

Group exercise: 10 min to read through, 3 pages of material 2 of which is generic and 1 is specific to you. There are then set questions you need to talk through with teammates in about 30 min. 10 min presentation afterwards to graduate development who will ask 1 or 2 questions.

Commercial awareness exercise: 20 min to read through, have 3 sections each with 5 questions. Mine was about a start up trying to scale up. 30 min of questioning by partners.

Competency interview: 1 hr of questions by associates which includes 'why law' and 'why TW'

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.
Case study:
- Be sure to go into a lot of depth. The partner will challenge you and it's important that you stand your ground.
- You will be doing the talking most of the time, my interviewer had a complete poker face
- Useful to read up on the start up/tech/venture capital space

Competency:
- Fairly standard interview, but do prepare to be asked motivation questions as well. For that it is important to see areas where they have an advantage over their tech rivals
- Can be quite conversational but don't drop your guard, as they will be assessing you on things like how succinctly you can answer their questions

Were you successful?
No

 

[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.
The assessment centre was run virtually. It lasted four hours, from 10.00-14.00. There was a chance for networking with members of the graduate recruitment team during a twenty minute break across lunch.

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

The assessment centre for the summer vacation scheme was divided into three parts.

The first part of the assessment involved an hour long interview with two partners. I was asked to give examples of when I had demonstrated various competencies, such as teamwork, communication, organisation and leadership. I was then asked about my motivations for pursuing a career in law.

The second part of the assessment involved a group exercise. We were given half an hour to read a legal scenario and prepare a short presentation. We then had 10 minutes to deliver the presentation to a partner and a member of HR.

The third part of the assessment involved a commercial awareness exercise. I was given a multi-faceted business scenario and was given 40 minutes to prepare answers to a number of questions. I was then asked to present my findings to two senior associates. There was 10 minutes at the end for questions.

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.

Interview: in order to prepare for the interview, I would research the firm as much as possible, paying particular attention to the firm's international strategy. What does the firm gain from having such a large international presence? I would also advise having a number of questions prepared for the interviewers as this is a great opportunity to find some common ground.

Group exercise: there is not much that can be done to prepare for this, but I would strongly advise being mindful of those in your group. Welcome the opinions of those who have not had the opportunity to speak as much and praise others for their contributions.

Commercial awareness exercise: I would recommend keeping up to date with current affairs and any major news headlines. I personally listened to the financial times podcast (10 mins, daily) for a few weeks before my interview. This gave me a sound understanding of some key commercial issues, which I managed to discuss during my assessment.

Were you successful?
Yes