A&O interview

[Abstruser]

Hey guys,

Would anyone be able to share some advice on the A&O interview? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated

Also thought I would quote this here for easy access (thanks @John Wu), in case anyone else is also preparing for an A&O interview:

From a friend who secured the A&O TC two years ago regarding the case study interview:

"For the case study I would say that the main two things to think about are the amount of information you are going to have to read and process within a short time, and second, make sure you take a look at the figures carefully. I summarised what was included in each piece given in the booklet on a piece of paper for reference so that if the partner asked me about something I needed to refer back to, I didn’t have to sit there flicking through the whole booklet every time.

They aren’t looking for legal knowledge as such, but more your ability to read and process a large volume of information, to present it coherently back to the partner, identifying the legal issues, and then to answer any questions.

To prepare for it I would just say honestly don’t forget to look at the figures - when I had my booklet of information I needed to calculate a different profit to the one mentioned in a table of figures.

And just have a plan for referencing the information.

So I remember the different pieces of information being called a, b, c, d etc, so I wrote a = refers to environmental concerns"

 

[Jaysen]

When was it?

Mid November 2018

What was it for?

Vacation Scheme (although the Training contract interview process is exactly the same)

First interview: Case Study

The first interview is a case study. You are given a document bundle to read through within 30 minutes. You then have to give a 20 minute presentation to a partner, who will then ask follow up questions for around 30 minutes.

The case study is typically a scenario of you as a trainee, working on an M&A deal. In the first couple of pages, a fictional partner provides some background information on a client. The client, an investment arm, is looking to acquire a target – which was a company producing self-driving cars in my interview. You have to investigate the details of this deal. You are given explicit instructions by the fictional partner that you have to address 6 points. This includes questions such as: what legal issues are raised in the deal; how much the client should pay to purchase the target; and what are the shareholders rights issues (this was raised because the deal is a joint venture – the investment arm was teaming up with another company to buy the target).

The document bundle consists of different types of documents. There are company balance sheets, shareholder right documents; bank loan terms and conditions; and background company information on the acquirer and the target.

Note that this case study is immensely time pressured. There is about 30 minutes to read through it all. Seeing as there around 10 pages in the bundle, that gives you roughly 3 minutes per page. In fact, you probably have less time than this, because you have to factor in time to organise your thoughts and structure your presentation. It is also important to quickly discern what information is relevant to the 6 points that you are given in the briefing. Make sure you stick to the briefing instructions, and think carefully about how the information in the case bundle relates to the instructions.

Also, make sure that you do not just describe the issues at hand, but offer practical solutions. For example, in my interview, the self-driving car company was being provided with automation technology by a supplier. [Redacted] What’s important is that you’re providing pragmatic suggestions to deal with aspecific problem you have identified.

In the presentation, you are being marked for the organisation structure of your answers. Make sure you have a clear and coherent structure – and, again, remember to offer practical solutions. The partner will probe you on various details you have missed. I think the best thing to do is engage with what the partner is asking you, to not be worried about looking over documents again (they expect you to do this), and to try and think on your feet.

Second interview: scenario based

This is the first time Allen & Overy have changed their second interview for years. It used to be competency and commercial. Now it is scenario-based. This means you’re extremely unlikely to be raised questions like: ‘what commercial news story interests you?’ You’re also unlikely to be asked firm-focused questions, like ‘where should Allen & Overy open its next office’ etc.

Instead, you are given a set of scenarios, and you have to answer what you would do in those circumstances. These scenarios were clearly pre-prepared by the interviewer and are testing specific skills, like adaptability.One example is: ‘you’re a trainee, and you have been working really hard on a specific task. But then, an associate says that you need to take a completely different approach and scrap what you’re doing right now. How do you react to this?’

These scenarios will be interwoven with related competency questions. So, with that scenario about taking a different approach, the interviewer would then ask: ‘has something like this ever happened to you in real life – when you worked really hard at something, but then had to completely change your plans? How did it make you feel?’

Some general advice:

The case study is considerably harder than the second interview. The latter will feel quite relaxing after the former. It is really hard to prepare for the case study, because it is such a unique task given the time pressure. Perhaps read some shareholder rights issues and do some basic balance sheet calculations (ebidta etc.)

But the most important things I would say is just relax, do your best, and try and engage with the partner and get into a conversation. The partner is not expecting you to retain all of the information. The case study is designed so that it is impossible for you to raise every issue and know all the ins-and-outs of it. So stay calm, listen to what the partner is asking, and engage with this as well as you can.

(Sent to me just now from a kind soul who wishes to stay anonymous)

 

[Jaysen]

Anonymous -

"For my A&O case study I received great feedback for my structure. Before the end of the reading time I managed to spend a few minutes planning what to say, and had a clear structure (introduction of the case, main points of the documents, and conclusion answering the questions). I also managed to finish my presentation exactly after 10 minutes so that was good.

The main problem with my case study is that I spent too much time reading the documents that I tought were important and based my conclusion on those, while one of the other documents had an important detail (about confidentiality if I remember well) that changed the answer to one of the questions. I don't know what would be a better strategy to make sure you don't miss important details in the short time available. However, when I realised I missed that important detail (because the partner pointed it out) I could have reacted better thant I did: I should have quickly read the document and explained the key argument as well as its consequences on my recommendations to the client.

Overall, I would say that if the interviewer points out something you missed, you should use it as an opportunity to show how you can identify your mistake and correct your reasoning in light of the new piece of information."

 

[ivannai]

For the case study - I found it very legally technical, typical M&A transaction. Make sure to base whatever you say on the actual documents given out, I was told in my feedback not to incorporate what's actually going on in the markets irl (e.g. don't talk about how the tariffs would affect the automotive industry). Make sure to know how to manipulate things like warranties, indemnities etc to protect a client or to achieve the goal. Skim read everything but pay more attention to the part on the shareholder's agreement, think the partners love discussing that. Basically, assume there is something wrong with pretty much every line you read, and then think about what the problem could be/how to fix it. A good way to present the case study is to simply follow the questions that are asked (there are around 6-7 if I remember correctly) on the case study, that should give you at least 10 minutes... and any leftover time you can pinpoint certain issues that they might not cover in the questions and cover it yourself.

Also not sure if they ask everyone to run through valuations there on the spot, but do actually brush up on valuations, balance sheet basics (although they didn't seem to like just describing the trends on the BS). You will also be asked to give judgment on whether the valuation of the company (in the case study) is fair or not - that doesn't involve calculations but just general judgment from what you read. Other questions I remember include what kind of law should the transaction be based on, and if Brexit would affect that.

For the second interview (mix of competency and situational), that was fairly straightforward and shouldn't trip you up, just go prepared with examples for common topics such as resilience, teamwork etc.

 

[Abstruser]

@ivannai this is so helpful, thank you so much!

 

[S]

This is very helpful thank you very much! I have an interview with A&O in two weeks time. Are the case studies always different (if you are aware)? Also would it be relevant to bring in any current news for the case study part? Thank you.

 

[anaisindia]

Has anyone more recently had an interview with A&O? Was it similar to the above?

 

[hlaws20]

Hi,

Does anyone have an AC for the Dubai Summer vacations scheme?