Have you received an invitation for their AC? If so congrats🥳
I think it depends - I got the test invite 10 days after applying (including the weekend)
Amazing, thank you so much for this!!Hi @Miss Chocolate, of course! I do not think you have to change it. If it is your most recent or substantial work experience, recruiters will understand it is natural to keep it. But while the substance of your points may stay the same (though do analyze whether you can analyze any parts of the experience in more depth or make more convincing connections to skills/values), I would definitely consider ways to improve the form. It is likely you will find ways to improve the writing style and structure: perhaps some sentences should be shortened or broken into two, or perhaps some can be rephrased to make them easier to read? Maybe some points can be expressed more concisely, maybe some words are insufficiently formal, perhaps others are unnecessarily jargon, etc. Point is, it is likely you will find at least some minor improvements to make. Doing that will make it less likely for the system to flag the answers as the same, and even if it does, it should show recruiters you have a drive to improve year-on-year.
Hi @legaldruid I actually wrote an in depth guide discussing this issue which you can access here. I would advise you to read section A (as it describes my general VI/competency interview preparation method) and section B (as it provides my best VI-specific tips), but please let me know if you have any further questions.
I think Baker still hasn't sent them out yet; they told me they will by the 10th of Jan (or at least, aim to...)
I agree with Jessica's points, I will just add that for the simple 'Why law' question you should seek to emphasize more general features of legal practice that attract you. It is perfectly acceptable to say that your masters confirmed your interest in pursuing a legal career because you have found commercial law significantly more interesting than any other areas of the law. However, you should be careful that your answer does not become a simple 'why commerce'. You want your stated motivations not to be equally applicable to other careers in international commerce, such as consulting, investment banking or corporate development. As such, I would try to point out some of the general features of legal practice that can be attract someone: using legal reasoning to interpret complex cases, statues and regulations; drafting documents to allocate rights, responsibilities and business risk; leveraging textual analysis and advocacy skills; doing complex research on legal and commercial precedents etc.
For Davis Polk here is a 2021 thread discussing different candidates' interview experiences which should give you a broad idea of what you can expect. I will also take the opportunity to plug the new Davis Polk firm profile I have written this year. If you have not already, I definitely advise you to take a look, as it has a lot of useful information on the firm's history, reputation, work, practice areas, and strategy. One thing I would advise you to cross check is Chambers rankings, as since publishing the profile Chambers has published its new 2025 UK Guide and I think a few have changed. Also, consider reading some of the more recent news about the firm's London practice, such as the lateral hire of Sidley's Restructuring co-heads.I have an interview with Davis Polk and a Cleary AC next week- would be very thankful for advice on either!
I think most of the answer for 'why a city law firm' will be similar to the usual 'why commercial law', but I would use one or two different sentences to reframe it and address the City element. I would focus on the City's standing as one of the world's leading financial centres and the corollary - that the biggest international commercial clients will look to City firms to advise on their complex transactions and disputes. City law firms will also tend to coordinate and lead numerous other offices and counsel from a variety of jurisdictions to deliver on their clients' mandates. Thus, if you are particularly interested in high-end and cross-border commercial matters, you can justify an interest in working in a City law firm as opposed to any other commercial law firm.
do you have any insight on the VI? I have mine today and I was wondering how many questions there are/ the structure of it like timings
