Tell us about a recent business story that has interested you?

[MJC]

Hi all,

I was just wondering in relation to the question in the title, if firms would be expecting you to focus on a specific news story (e.g. Amazon's HQ2 decision) or if it would be alright to discuss a particular topic (e.g. Private equity's rising debt mountain)?

 

[Abstruser]

I think writing on a broader topic would be fine, but I suspect you would find yourself focusing on narrower aspects of that topic anyway, in order to provide a sufficiently deep analysis within word limit! Last year, Linklaters had a similar question, and I wrote about China's BRI, but specifically on the regulatory challenges to inbound/outbound Chinese investment.

 

[AJ]

Agree - fine to talk about a topic as opposed to an article or story. From what I’ve seen firms say the topic/story doesn’t matter as much as your analysis, how you tailor it to the firm and the impression given by your writing style.

 

[Bugsy Malone]

do you guys think you have to link the story you choose to law firms/ a department eg restructuring/competition? Or could you just talk about what you find interesting eg more focused on business implications?

Thanks in advance

 

[Daniel Boden]

do you guys think you have to link the story you choose to law firms/ a department eg restructuring/competition? Or could you just talk about what you find interesting eg more focused on business implications?

Thanks in advance

I think when answering you could give your reasons for why it interests you and then say 'Moreover, this story also interests me because of the potential impact it can have on law firms and on the industry in general. ...' I don't think you need to link it back to a specific firm or department but this way you can cover both bases

 

[Bugsy Malone]

Thanks @Daniel Boden

 

[JL]

Bumping this thread to get some advice on the 'recent' part of this question. In previous interviews, I've riffed on the court proceedings brought against Uber by its employees. This was recent news for interviews in February, however, I'm not sure it will qualify as valid at TC interviews during spring vac schemes. What do you guys think?

 

[AJ]

I would consider “recent” quote loosely. It’s more about how you talk about or analyse the issue. Obviously don’t pick something many years ago, but a few months seems fine to me. There’s only so much you/I/we can convincingly find interesting.

Personally, I would always have a couple of base issues and news stories. I.e my go to issues/topics. Keep up on those and incorporate complementary events into my explaination.

.... I didn’t follow the Uber court proceedings in great detail, but if that’s your topic/news story you’ve prepared, you could look to also briefly bring up how they’re acquiring Careem, and the IPO of competitors like Lyft. Which still makes it current.

 

[Kelvin]

do you guys think you have to link the story you choose to law firms/ a department eg restructuring/competition? Or could you just talk about what you find interesting eg more focused on business implications?

Thanks in advance

Just to give a slightly different opinion to Daniel (whom I mostly agree with!), I would lean more towards answering yes (to your question). I think it also depends heavily on the story/issue in particular, though.

For example: for a business issue/story, I would explain the issue to show your understanding of business affairs/trends etc, then explain how and why it would affect businesses (the firm's clients). Then link that to how it would affect the law firm - here is where I would mention the effects on specific practice areas (e.g. Brexit --> many effects --> for example, competition law --> loss of one-stop shop for businesses --> law firm would have to advise clients on domestic merger notifications as well as EU-level notifications --> firm could advise clients in newsletters in advance of this to provide running advice and support).