When was your Allen & Overy interview?
November 2017
What was it for?
Vacation Scheme
Please describe the interview process at Allen & Overy.
I was greeted by very nice grad rec people, then taken to a little room with other applicants, with other rooms coming off it. We were made to feel welcome and offered snacks. The day was explained to us clearly. We each had a room allocated to us that we would sit in for the interviews, and it felt nicer compared with other experiences where you enter a room that the interviewers are already inside. I had half an hour to look over a case study about a potential merger, with several documents (about 7 or 8) related to the transaction. Once that was over, an interviewer came in to discuss what I had read and act as the 'client'. it started with a quick pitch that I had to make, about whether I would recommend the merger, an outline of the key issues etc. But it was fairly informal. After the pitch, the interviewer discussed what I had said, and brought up some issues that I hadn't covered, either because I didn't have time or because I had forgotten them the first time.
After this hour, another interviewer came into the room for the usual kind of interview, covering motivation, competencies, some commercial awareness etc. The questions were all pretty standard really, and the interviewer was very open about the fact that he has to check certain things off, and shows appropriate levels of recognition that it wasn't an ideal system. Some questions included things like 'how will the role of a lawyer change in the next ten years', we discussed emerging markets geographically, I of course had prepared a few commercial awareness points to discuss.
After the interviews were finished, a trainee came to take each of us individually for a tour of the offices and then a chat in the office cafe about whatever we wanted to discuss, going through questions I had. The trainee was of course very friendly, just trying to help where they could, and by this point I was very relaxed, having finished my interviews.
What advice would you give to future applicants for the Allen & Overy interview?
Make sure you're familiar with company balance sheets, working out profit, understanding sales data and trends. Think about mergers and what kinds of issues there will be - think about all of the different departments that will be involved in the transaction, and the roles of lawyers in each. Think about how you would take data and turn it into advice for a client, ie the best strategy for the business.
Prepare commercial topics to discuss, read financial and business news, be prepared to discuss your competencies, like times you have failed and how to come back from that.
November 2017
What was it for?
Vacation Scheme
Please describe the interview process at Allen & Overy.
I was greeted by very nice grad rec people, then taken to a little room with other applicants, with other rooms coming off it. We were made to feel welcome and offered snacks. The day was explained to us clearly. We each had a room allocated to us that we would sit in for the interviews, and it felt nicer compared with other experiences where you enter a room that the interviewers are already inside. I had half an hour to look over a case study about a potential merger, with several documents (about 7 or 8) related to the transaction. Once that was over, an interviewer came in to discuss what I had read and act as the 'client'. it started with a quick pitch that I had to make, about whether I would recommend the merger, an outline of the key issues etc. But it was fairly informal. After the pitch, the interviewer discussed what I had said, and brought up some issues that I hadn't covered, either because I didn't have time or because I had forgotten them the first time.
After this hour, another interviewer came into the room for the usual kind of interview, covering motivation, competencies, some commercial awareness etc. The questions were all pretty standard really, and the interviewer was very open about the fact that he has to check certain things off, and shows appropriate levels of recognition that it wasn't an ideal system. Some questions included things like 'how will the role of a lawyer change in the next ten years', we discussed emerging markets geographically, I of course had prepared a few commercial awareness points to discuss.
After the interviews were finished, a trainee came to take each of us individually for a tour of the offices and then a chat in the office cafe about whatever we wanted to discuss, going through questions I had. The trainee was of course very friendly, just trying to help where they could, and by this point I was very relaxed, having finished my interviews.
What advice would you give to future applicants for the Allen & Overy interview?
Make sure you're familiar with company balance sheets, working out profit, understanding sales data and trends. Think about mergers and what kinds of issues there will be - think about all of the different departments that will be involved in the transaction, and the roles of lawyers in each. Think about how you would take data and turn it into advice for a client, ie the best strategy for the business.
Prepare commercial topics to discuss, read financial and business news, be prepared to discuss your competencies, like times you have failed and how to come back from that.
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