Following my previous post, where I discussed my experience last application cycle and where I applied, this post is about application strategy and interview preparation. I hope it helps those of you looking to apply to VS/DTC this cycle. I’d like to apologise in advance if this post ends up being incredibly long to read. I will begin with quoting my VS/DTC forum post for context:
1: how to select which firms to apply to:
The first thing I focused on was figuring out the things I wanted from a firm. There are so many different variables that must be considered as each and every firm is unique. However, in the context of city law firms, there are also several overlapping characteristics, which can help to determine the type of firm to apply to. For me, I looked at some of the following: 😅
a) academic requirements e.g., strong or high 2:1, AAA-ABB at A-level, strong GCSEs.
b) international nature of the firm - where does the firm have offices (e.g., Europe/Asia/USA)?
c) nature of work - multi-jurisdictional, cross-border transactions and disputes?
d) what clients does the firm have and do they instruct the firm regularly on mandates?
e) practice area strengths - corporate/disputes split focus, full-service vs specialist firm?
f) training contract structure (4 seats, 6 seats, non-rotational, compulsory seats, etc).
g) trainee intake size (larger intake of 50-100 or smaller intake of less than 25).
h) level of responsibility for trainees - hands on learning, leaner teams, larger teams etc.
i) trainee retention rates and firm culture - are trainees kept on as NQs and if so what %?
j) track to partnership - does the firm primarily hire laterally or promote internally?
Based on the above, I figured I was attracted to US/MC/SC firms more than national or regional law firms. However, with hindsight I would have applied to more US firms. There were so many firms I didn’t know existed e.g., Cleary Gottlieb,
Debevoise & Plimpton,
Gibson Dunn and
Weil, Gotshal & Manges, up until I joined this forum, so ensure you do your research. 😂
As this process is hyper competitive, it’s super important to know which firms are best suited to your particular interests and skills. There is virtually no point in applying to firms like Paul, Weiss or Fried Frank if private equity isn’t your primary interest. Similarly, if you know a small trainee intake isn’t the best, applying to firms like
Davis Polk or
Orrick won’t be beneficial.
One thing I would stress the importance of is to not only aim for elite US/MC/SC firms. Some of these top city firms receive 3,000 applications each year for only 50-100 TCs. It’s better to try diversify applications and target other types of firms e.g., large city firms (SH, AG, CRS,
HFW, TW, etc.). There is always the option to laterally move as an NQ to an elite firm. 🙂
I would also stress the importance of academic expectations. If a firm states it looks for a high 2:1 (68%) and AAA at A-level, it wouldn’t be a wise decision for someone to apply if they had a 2:2 and CCC. Applying for firms w/o minimum grade requirements is another strategic way of increasing chance of success. This is because they assess applications holistically. 😅
2: Applying criteria to firms (example):
Once you reach the point where you shortlist a specific number of firms that you want to apply to for WVS, SVS or DTC, the next thing to do is to apply this criteria to firms. There are some firms that will be more aligned to someone’s experiences, skills, interests, goals, academics, competencies, etc. Focus on these firms and not ones with less compatibility. 🙂
I will use
Willkie Farr & Gallagher as an example to explain the above. I knew I was interested in M&A/PE, litigation/arbitration, competition and restructuring.
Willkie had strengths in all of these areas. Further,
Willkie is an international NY HQ US firm working on cross-border, multi-jurisdictional deals and disputes. The firm has a small trainee intake of 6-7 per year.
This means trainees at
Willkie are given earlier and greater responsibility, learning on-the-job, working in leaner teams. Based on Legal Cheek data,
Willkie retains around 80% of its trainees, suggesting most NQs qualify into the firm. The TC is split into 4 6 month seats with mandatory seats in PE M&A/Insurance M&A and litigation, investigations and enforcement.
Based on the criteria I had,
Willkie ticked most of the boxes. This made it easier for me when it came to narrowing down my choices. In effect, I knew
Willkie was a perfect firm for me, based on the things I was looking for in a firm. I used this process for every firm and narrowed down to around 20 firms. As the cycle progressed, I’d applied to 25 firms in total.
3: Implementing an application strategy:
This is probably the hardest part of applying to firms. Forming an application strategy that will guide you through making VS/DTC applications is quite challenging, especially if it’s someone’s first cycle. Some questions that might come up are ‘why is an application strategy important?’, ‘is this more a numbers game or should I focus on producing fewer, high quality applications?’
I didn’t prepare a proper application strategy at the beginning of the cycle. As a result, 7/7 of all WVS applications I submitted resulted in a PFO (sad times for me). It was at this point I realised that I need to change my approach. I decided I wanted to focus on open day applications over VS/DTC applications. I used what I learned and implemented them into my applications. 😀
If you are interested in particular firms, I would recommend first applying to open days. They are not only great ways to learn more about a firm, but they also count as legal experience to include on applications and help you articulate your interest in that firm. I would also suggest completing forage courses for each firm where possible and attend virtual events. 🙂
Combining all these together will mean you can produce a super tailored, well-researched DTC and VS application. Speaking to future trainees either on LinkedIn or by arranging calls is also a great way of achieving this. Of course it’s not always possible to do things this way, but most of the time, it works. My application strategy is based on a post by
@Andrei Radu (see below):
4: interviews and assessment centres:
The second half of this post (unfortunately we are only half way through lmfao) is focused on interviews and ACs, something which I receive dozens of PMs about each week. Having done around a dozen interviews, I have discovered a specific set of tips that I believe are important to ensure maximum chance of success. I hope this helps you all in this next cycle. 🥲
The most important thing is to be specific and analytical. Talking too generally or vague about things will lead to weaker outcomes. I will refer to an example of a question I was asked in one of my interviews to illustrate this: ‘how do law firms generate revenue and profit?’ It might be tempting to simply answer, ‘billing clients’ or to ‘ensure lawyers have matters to work on’.
However, a stronger answer would discuss how a firm can identify new market opportunities by seeking international clients, explore fast-pace sectors e.g., tech, open new offices, develop a clear relationship between offices, etc. Another aspect would be internal department work. If a firm is advising on a transaction = competition, finance and tax work from same client. 😀
I have quoted some of the posts I used, which helped me understand how to best prepare for competency, motivational, commercial and SJT style interviews. The best advice is don’t strive for perfection. It’s inevitable that you will make mistakes in this process. The key is to maintain confidence and clarity in the way you speak to the interviewers on the day. 🙂
Another question I was often asked about was a mixture between motivation and commercial awareness: ‘why this firm’, ‘who are our main competitors’, ‘what distinguishes our firm from our competitors’, etc. I would often focus on a few things to curate my answers. Knowing how the city operates and each firms USPs is a key starting point, but other things to consider are:
1) a firm’s core practice areas and specialisms.
2) the Chambers and Legal 500 rankings of the practice areas in question.
3) firms that rank in the same tier (Band 1/2).
4) position in the City of London: is it a big city or elite US/MC/SC law firm?
5) what clients regularly instruct a firm and the industry or sector they belong to.
As part of my preparation, I would research the firms using above criteria to identify their main competitors. For example, Paul, Weiss is strong in private equity, comparable to other law firms such as Kirkland,
Latham and Weil. Akin is very strong in restructuring, comparable to Weil and Milbank. Covington is strong in life sciences, as is
Cooley and
Ropes & Gray. 🙂
When I started writing applications for Spring / Summer VS’, I didn’t know much about private equity, debt/equity finance or capital markets, so struggled with preparation. Understanding a firm’s market position and focus will help with preparation for wider questions about why that firm and who their competitors are. Below are examples for Paul, Weiss and
Willkie: 🙂
I hope this post (despite its insane length) will help you guys to create application strategies, prepare for interviews and eventually securing several VS and DTC ACs. I used this approach this past cycle and it enabled me to succeed. I wish you all the best of luck with the upcoming application cycle! It’s a tough process but all of you have what it takes to perform well! 🥳
