TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hi @Amma Usman @Andrei Radu , hope you are doing well.

I have a question regarding Baker McKenzie’s recent plans to open an office in India following the liberalisation of the Indian legal market. I’m from India and have an assessment centre with Baker McKenzie later this month. I want to leverage my Indian background to stand out, but I’m not sure how the opening of the Indian office will impact my potential role in the London office. Specifically, how can I best position myself to contribute from London given the firm’s new presence in India? What additional value could I bring to the London team with my Indian expertise now that there will soon be an Indian office? I was thinking something on the lines of how, if there is an Indian company buying a company in the UK as per english law, I can help the london team staffed on the matter understand how much time regulatory bodies may take to revert for permissions etc. This could be reflected in the 'estimated timeline' section in the conditions precedent etc. But then this can be done even without Bakers having an Indian office. So i am really not sure about how I can milk the office news to my advantage.

Additionally, I would appreciate some clarity on the kind of work Baker McKenzie intends to handle from the Indian office. Since the rules restrict the Indian office to advising only on foreign laws, why open a physical office there when much of this work can be done remotely from anywhere? Thanks in advance.

 

[legal18]

Is the Macfarlanes TC rolling?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Amma Usman @Andrei Radu , hope you are doing well.

I have a question regarding Baker McKenzie’s recent plans to open an office in India following the liberalisation of the Indian legal market. I’m from India and have an assessment centre with Baker McKenzie later this month. I want to leverage my Indian background to stand out, but I’m not sure how the opening of the Indian office will impact my potential role in the London office. Specifically, how can I best position myself to contribute from London given the firm’s new presence in India? What additional value could I bring to the London team with my Indian expertise now that there will soon be an Indian office? I was thinking something on the lines of how, if there is an Indian company buying a company in the UK as per english law, I can help the london team staffed on the matter understand how much time regulatory bodies may take to revert for permissions etc. This could be reflected in the 'estimated timeline' section in the conditions precedent etc. But then this can be done even without Bakers having an Indian office. So i am really not sure about how I can milk the office news to my advantage.

Additionally, I would appreciate some clarity on the kind of work Baker McKenzie intends to handle from the Indian office. Since the rules restrict the Indian office to advising only on foreign laws, why open a physical office there when much of this work can be done remotely from anywhere? Thanks in advance.

I wasn't able to find anything that suggests they are definitely expanding into India. Have you got any articles/sources that confirm this?

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

I wasn't able to find anything that suggests they are definitely expanding into India. Have you got any articles/sources that confirm this?

https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/newsroom/2024/07/baker-mckenzie-eyes-india-office this is from last year where they say they want to open as soon as the rules permit.

https://www.barandbench.com/amp/story/news/corporate/foreign-lawyers-react-to-bci-rules - this is from 10 days back and includes an interview from bakers' global india chair expressing her excitement

 

[Jessica Booker]

https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/newsroom/2024/07/baker-mckenzie-eyes-india-office this is from last year where they say they want to open as soon as the rules permit.

https://www.barandbench.com/amp/story/news/corporate/foreign-lawyers-react-to-bci-rules - this is from 10 days back and includes an interview from bakers' global india chair expressing her excitement

Unfortunately, I don't think you can say they are expanding into India until they announce it (like CMS recently have).

It may be their intention, but the first article was stated before the regulations were relaxed earlier this year, and there are still quite a few restrictions which mean that some firms may still not enter the Indian market. Many firms are still exploring how they could do this rather than making a hard commitment to doing so.

I would personally focus more on what your opportunity is in London rather than trying to focus on motivations or uniqueness on the Indian legal market. Your role is in London and although you will have the opportunity to work on cross-jurisdictional matters, you won't specialise in Indian matters as a trainee. My concern would be that it could question your motivations to commiting to a career in London.

I think you can reference the possibility of expanding into India as being something that makes the firm even more appealing to you, but I wouldn't advise making this a core aspect of your motivational or "why me" answers.

 

[Tintin06]

Anything further from Fried Frank today?

 

[Jessica Booker]

understood, so do you feel i should totally avoid mentioning it during the interview? or should i prepare everything and whenever the opportunity strikes, i should go all in on my reasoning by adding a 'hypothetically speaking if bakers were to open in india, id ..."

You don't need to avoid it completely; just don’t let it be the main focus of your answers, especially regarding the level of detail you’re asking about.

Trainees only specialise in the jurisdiction they are qualifying into, regardless of any relevant knowledge, regional ties, or language skills they may have outside of this jurisdiction. So focusing too much on Indian legal market may bring into question why you don't want to continue working in India.

I think you can show a general enthusiasm for the possibility of the firm opening up in India and the opportunities that might bring for you as a trainee, but it sounds like those opportunities could have been there already given the article you shared says "Baker McKenzie is already considered one of the strongest international firms active in India and, in fact, more than 300 of our lawyers have and continue to work on India-related transactional and international arbitration matters". Maybe you lead with more with the fact of their existing expertise rather than the what might be? I just think you also need to be confident on how the London office is working on Indian matters, especially as their Indian Practice group is split across Hong Kong, the UAE, London and New York - https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/newsroom/2024/06/global-india-practice-committee-three-new-members.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

You don't need to avoid it completely; just don’t let it be the main focus of your answers, especially regarding the level of detail you’re asking about.

Trainees only specialise in the jurisdiction they are qualifying into, regardless of any relevant knowledge, regional ties, or language skills they may have outside of this jurisdiction. So focuses too much on Indian may bring into question why you don't want to continue working in India.

I think you can show a general enthusiasm for the possibility of the firm opening up in India and the opportunities that might bring for you as a trainee, but it sounds like those opportunities could have been there already given the article you shared says "Baker McKenzie is already considered one of the strongest international firms active in India and, in fact, more than 300 of our lawyers have and continue to work on India-related transactional and international arbitration matters". Maybe you lead with more with the fact of their existing expertise rather than the what might be? I just think you also need to be confident on how the London office is working on Indian matters, especially as their Indian Practice group is split across Hong Kong, the UAE, London and New York - https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/newsroom/2024/06/global-india-practice-committee-three-new-members.

thanks for your response, jessica.

 

[FCL25]

Hi @FCL25 just before @Ram Sabaratnam gets back to you:

Paired exercise and group exercise:
I have never done a paired exercise in an AC, but my best guess is that it will involve working together with another AC participant on a set of common tasks. You will probably be expected to show teamwork and organizational skills. Thus, you should try to constantly ask your partner for their input and not appear as antagonistic or competitive by making your ideas always trump theirs. At the same time, however, you should try to ensure you are thinking critically and expressing your thoughts on each point of discussion. Finally, since you will likely be working under time pressure, it would be good to introduce some structure early on and decide (i) how long you should take for each element of the task, (ii) in what order you will complete them, and (iii) how to divide the workload.

For the group exercise, similar points apply, with the major difference being that it will be more difficult to get the requisite amount of airtime to showcase your analysis. People will be constantly fighting to express their own ideas, so if you are not proactive, you might simply not get to talk enough to score well on the exercise. I have written a more in-depth post on various strategies you can use to ensure you get enough airtime while also being a team player - I will quote it below.

Presentation:
I cannot give a lot of advice on the substantive content of the presentation without knowing more about the kinds of topics that can be assigned. That said, there are a couple of pointers I can give here. Firstly, I think what should be of core focus is clarity of expression rather than overall impressiveness of analysis. While you should of course aim to present the best view of the topic, you will realistically not blow the interviewers away with the brilliance of your points - and I do not think you should stress yourself unnecessarily by attempting that. Rather, what you should be constantly thinking about is how you can make your points clearer. With this kind of exercise, communication skills are what the interviewers are most concerned with; and quite reasonably so, given that good communication is a key part of this client-facing profession and also because a lot of a trainee's progress will depend on their ability to clearly express the challenges they are facing to the other team members. Thus, I advise you to have a structure that clearly delineates the parts of the presentation and continuously signpost throughout the presentation. To the extent possible, avoid jargon and express yourself in such a way that an average layman could walk away having understood all you had to say.

Finally, try to speak in a convincing manner. Style is generally not seen as decisive, but it is an element that is very important particularly for assessing a presentation task. The core questions here will be not only if your substantive points were good and clearly articulated, but whether they were expressed in a composed, convincing, and engaging manner. You should therefore ensure you have enough time to take strategic pauses, and to stop to emphasize certain key sentences and phrases to underline importance. Also, although at first this seemed to me a bit too informal, a strategy I have found useful for keeping an audience engaged is to ask rhetorical questions and speak from their perspective. Saying out loud things like 'So how does this matter for me?', 'What about this...?', 'You may now be thinking - 'this can't be right!' And I agree...' communicates to the audience that you are understanding their mental processes and are actively considering their questions, thus giving them reason to remain focused on your presentation.

Strengths-based interview:
I have recently written another post on this, I have also quoted it below.

Networking events:
If the firm has clarified that the networking events are unassessed, in all likelihood, they will play no part in the decision-making vis-à-vis your progression. They are likely only meant to give you a moment to relax and learn a bit more about life at the firm, so I would take the opportunity to do just that, without worrying about how every part of the interaction could be perceived by the graduate recruitment team.

Finally, congratulations for getting at this stage and all the best in the AC! I am sure you will nail it

Thank you Andrei! This is a very useful breakdown I wish I’d known for my first AC a while back.

Are you able to suggest any resources to practice the common types of case study presentations/ group tasks that come up. I remember struggling in my previous AC at BCLP to quickly assimilate all the information during the prep time (the pressure I put on myself led to a mental block!) and as a result, my presentation was more improvised and not structured well. Do you have any advice on how to prevent this happening again?

Also, from what I’ve heard, they tend to be centred on a business related issue for a client (e.g. M&A options, which business structure to adopt, which supplier to choose etc) rather than legal issues. Is this correct for most firms?

 

[Thatlawgirl]

Hi! Has anyone heard back from Ashurst post first stage interview

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you Andrei! This is a very useful breakdown I wish I’d known for my first AC a while back.

Are you able to suggest any resources to practice the common types of case study presentations/ group tasks that come up. I remember struggling in my previous AC at BCLP to quickly assimilate all the information during the prep time (the pressure I put on myself led to a mental block!) and as a result, my presentation was more improvised and not structured well. Do you have any advice on how to prevent this happening again?

Also, from what I’ve heard, they tend to be centred on a business related issue for a client (e.g. M&A options, which business structure to adopt, which supplier to choose etc) rather than legal issues. Is this correct for most firms?

Although a business-related issue for a client is a common case study model, I wouldn't say it is what most firms use. There can be quite a variety of formats, unfortunately.

I always recommend this thread for those preparing for case study assessments: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy....firm-case-studies-monday-article-series.3232/

If it is more of a written case study format, you could attempt our old written case studies. Unfortunately, we no longer provide feedback on these, but they can be a useful practice assessment to at least try/attempt:

• https://www.thecorporatelawacademy....ies-interviews-and-vacation-scheme-resources/
• https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/...+Case+Study+1+-+The+Corporate+Law+Academy.pdf
• https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/...+Case+Study+2+-+The+Corporate+Law+Academy.pdf

You can also consider booking in for a mock case-study interview with our interviewing team too if you want to practice and get individualised feedback: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/mock-interview-2/

 

[Tintin06]

Hi @Amma Usman @Andrei Radu , hope you are doing well.

I have a question regarding Baker McKenzie’s recent plans to open an office in India following the liberalisation of the Indian legal market. I’m from India and have an assessment centre with Baker McKenzie later this month. I want to leverage my Indian background to stand out, but I’m not sure how the opening of the Indian office will impact my potential role in the London office. Specifically, how can I best position myself to contribute from London given the firm’s new presence in India? What additional value could I bring to the London team with my Indian expertise now that there will soon be an Indian office? I was thinking something on the lines of how, if there is an Indian company buying a company in the UK as per english law, I can help the london team staffed on the matter understand how much time regulatory bodies may take to revert for permissions etc. This could be reflected in the 'estimated timeline' section in the conditions precedent etc. But then this can be done even without Bakers having an Indian office. So i am really not sure about how I can milk the office news to my advantage.

Additionally, I would appreciate some clarity on the kind of work Baker McKenzie intends to handle from the Indian office. Since the rules restrict the Indian office to advising only on foreign laws, why open a physical office there when much of this work can be done remotely from anywhere? Thanks in advance.

Ok here is my 10 pence here. They may have first mover advantage. First of its kind deals etc. That benefits you for several reasons. More time to gain new expertise. They might not expand in India. But there's a history of innovation. That's what I'd tie it to.

 

[billyonthespeeddial]

Has Reed Smith given any indication as to how many places they have for direct TC?

 

[EG3]

Fried Frank emailed me saying they've not received my test scores and can only extend the deadline to 7pm today - I had done the test already and they've found them now - thank god they checked with me!

Anyway, we probably won't hear back until at least tomorrow if others still have until 7pm today, if anyone wanted somewhat of an update.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Ok here is my 10 pence here. They may have first mover advantage. First of its kind deals etc. That benefits you for several reasons. More time to gain new expertise. They might not expand in India. But there's a history of innovation. That's what I'd tie it to.

hmmm got it, thank you so much.

 

[Tclarocks123]

Does anyone know if Dentons feel strongly about their A level requirement?

 

[Chris Brown]

Does anyone know if Dentons feel strongly about their A level requirement?

The FAQ section seems to suggest they assess applications holistically, so won’t automatically screen out candidates that don’t meet their A-level criteria of ABB. 🙂

FAQs – Dentons

See the bigger picture. Have the big ideas. Make the big deals.

challengers.dentons.com

 

[Ram Sabaratnam]

Thank you so much for this Ram!! The AC also consists of a strengths based interview, what kind of questions would this usually consist of?

Hiya @legallybrunette8

In addition to the excellent response you received from @Andrei Radu, I wanted to refer you to this excellent bank of FREE questions that TCLA compiled. Specifically, I'd recommend just having a brief look at the questions under 'character and personality'. You'll find the questions here. Best of luck with the interview. You'll be great!

 

[AnAnonymousDuck]

can anyone not start their application for slaughter and may's tc? everytime i try to start the application, it takes me back to the homepage

 

[zonnonomo]

can anyone not start their application for slaughter and may's tc? everytime i try to start the application, it takes me back to the homepage

yes! emailed them about this