Reed Smith is live in the forum now

AMA Live now

Graduate Recruitment and SQE interns from Reed Smith are here to answer your questions.

Join the live thread →
Willkie Live: How to Write a Successful Vacation Scheme Application

7 Oct 2025 5:30pm (UK) Zoom (registration required)

Learn exactly how to write a successful application to Willkie Farr & Gallagher, with live examples + Q&A with Gemma Baker.

Register on Zoom →

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Harvey Specter" data-source="post: 215212" data-attributes="member: 35674">The main source I used for note-taking or firm research was attending firm events (in-person or online). Whether it was open days, practice area workshops, Q&As, law fairs, etc., I spent a lot of time attending as many as I could for all the firms I was targeting for VS and DTC. 🥲 I don’t think it is worthwhile making notes from websites or articles that you can easily re-read over again. It’s already in written form so that’s just ‘copying out the textbook’ stuff. For other things like podcasts or live streams, I think it’s a good approach to take notes. 🙂 As far as how I organised firm research, I again had an excel spreadsheet. I had columns for all the things I needed to know. This also helped me with seeing the differences and similarities between competing firms, which is useful at an interview or AC stage of the GR process. 😄 Some of the things I looked for were as follows: 1. Main practice areas e.g., M&A, Competition, Restructuring, Disputes. 2. Number of offices and which regions they’re located in (EMEA, USA, etc). 3. Number of partners and associates and size of trainee intake of the firm. 4. Sector focuses e.g., life sciences, tech, real estate, financial services, etc. 5. Clients (multinational corporations, financial services firms, PE firms, etc). 6. Competitors (e.g., PW, Kirkland and Weil for PE work) and their relative strengths. 7. Recent deals or disputes (e.g., has the firm advised on a huge M&A transaction). 8. Firm facts and figures e.g., 161% growth of London Office since 2017. 9. Useful links for further research - published articles or memos relative to each firm. 10. Trainee experience and firm culture - what do the people there think of the firm? Eventually it will look like a giant table full of all the relevant firm research and information you need. It’s easier to navigate as everything is in one place and you can cross reference things in different parts of the table too. Excel was my best friend during the last cycle. 😂</blockquote>

Verification: Our company is called, "The Corporate ___ Academy". What is the missing word here?

Top Bottom

Search

Search

Reply to thread