Hi all! On vacation schemes, please may I know what are some good questions to ask associates? Thank you
Hey Guest, do you have a question for graduate recruitment? Gemma Baker from Willkie is live to answer your questions!
There is a very similar question in one of the other threads...Hi all! On vacation schemes, please may I know what are some good questions to ask associates? Thank you
Hey,Hi @Jacob Miller - I wasn't sure where to to post this so hopefully my question is appropriate for this thread. Having read a few of your posts (including the recent one about competition law/GIPHY), I'm really impressed by the way you're able to combine commercial trends with legal knowledge. While I think I'm pretty comfortable talking about purely commercial issues in-depth, I struggle to identify specific pieces of law or cases that relate to these trends (despite having completed the GDL) - what did you do to develop this knowledge and are there any resources you can recommend? It's something I want to work on ahead of my vac schemes this summer. Thanks in advance
For reference, this is the post I referred to above: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy....n-raises-competition-concerns.3725/post-75495
Completely agree - there isn’t usually any need to cite specific factual information about law such as cases etc. It’s more about understanding trends, cause and impacts, and how things effect outcomes. This is why to me “commercial awareness” is far more important than reciting laws.Hey,
What I would honestly say is that it isn't necessary to be able to cite treaties, statutes, cases etc vac schemes or apps/ interview. This isn't expected of you and, in all honesty, I don't actually think it would particularly strengthen you as an applicant in any meaningful way (although @Jessica Booker may differ in view?).
Remember, when I'm creating content for the forum, I'm always trying to provide as much wider contextual information as possible and this will often involve giving a little of the legal context for something. The reason for this is that we want users to be able to build a wider understanding of commercial-legal issues and also understand where the bridge is between 'law' and 'commercial' in that same context. I'm also a massive nerd and generally try to research things quite deeply when posting.
With that in mind, I really don't think you should stress yourself about this.
Nevertheless... if you really are set on improving your ability to recall knowledge like this just for personal satisfaction, I think it really is just more or less a matter of memory: having something in your mind to link X to Y. Cue cards can be decent for this.
Being totally honest here, I've never really made a concerted effort to memorise things like this (I pretty much had a photographic memory when I was younger and, while it's not as sharp as it was, it's still naturally decent), so I'm not able to give a huge amount of info in re memorising stuff. Apologies!
Hey,
What I would honestly say is that it isn't necessary to be able to cite treaties, statutes, cases etc vac schemes or apps/ interview. This isn't expected of you and, in all honesty, I don't actually think it would particularly strengthen you as an applicant in any meaningful way (although @Jessica Booker may differ in view?).
Remember, when I'm creating content for the forum, I'm always trying to provide as much wider contextual information as possible and this will often involve giving a little of the legal context for something. The reason for this is that we want users to be able to build a wider understanding of commercial-legal issues and also understand where the bridge is between 'law' and 'commercial' in that same context. I'm also a massive nerd and generally try to research things quite deeply when posting.
With that in mind, I really don't think you should stress yourself about this.
Nevertheless... if you really are set on improving your ability to recall knowledge like this just for personal satisfaction, I think it really is just more or less a matter of memory: having something in your mind to link X to Y. Cue cards can be decent for this.
Being totally honest here, I've never really made a concerted effort to memorise things like this (I pretty much had a photographic memory when I was younger and, while it's not as sharp as it was, it's still naturally decent), so I'm not able to give a huge amount of info in re memorising stuff. Apologies!
Thanks both for your answers, really useful to know. To be honest my question was partly based around improving this just for personal satisfaction, so great to get your insights regardless.Completely agree - there isn’t usually any need to cite specific factual information about law such as cases etc. It’s more about understanding trends, cause and impacts, and how things effect outcomes. This is why to me “commercial awareness” is far more important than reciting laws.
So I didn’t get asked a single question on Brexit in any of my interviews across two cycles. I think firms are very unlikely to ask about it simply because there are bigger trends affecting the market right now. That being said, I think doing the TCLA course on Brexit will help just in case it did come up in interviews. You will not be asked to recite the timeline of Brexit and no you shouldn’t prepare scripted answers on how it happened. I especially doubt you will be asked the how it happened question because it was over 5 years ago now. Just have a working knowledge of the latest developments surrounding it, particularly what the U.K. is having difficulties coming to an agreement on with the EU and how it will affect the U.K. economy going forth. Again I highly doubt you’ll be quizzed on it in depth (unless it’s something you actively bring up) so just a basic knowledge will be fine.Hi guys. Hope you are doing well. Wanted to ask you, is the Brexit course on TCLA worth doing, as in, can we expect it in interviews in 2022? (cos I'm going to make my first apps in Dec 21) . If yes then how should we go about it? Should we prepare scripted answers to how Brexit happened etc? Can we be asked to recite the timeline of events?
Thanks.
Thank you so much for your answer Dheepa!So I didn’t get asked a single question on Brexit in any of my interviews across two cycles. I think firms are very unlikely to ask about it simply because there are bigger trends affecting the market right now. That being said, I think doing the TCLA course on Brexit will help just in case it did come up in interviews. You will not be asked to recite the timeline of Brexit and no you shouldn’t prepare scripted answers on how it happened. I especially doubt you will be asked the how it happened question because it was over 5 years ago now. Just have a working knowledge of the latest developments surrounding it, particularly what the U.K. is having difficulties coming to an agreement on with the EU and how it will affect the U.K. economy going forth. Again I highly doubt you’ll be quizzed on it in depth (unless it’s something you actively bring up) so just a basic knowledge will be fine.
There are likely to be representatives from whatever practice areas the pitch relates to. It could be all litigation work, and therefore the reps are likely to be senior litigators and possible senior people from business development.Hi all. Hope you are doing well. Could you please answer one question of mine relating to the pitch that the firm has to make in order to be chosen for the transaction on behalf of the company to which the pitch is made. I wanted to know, is making this pitch the task of the Corporate dept.? (particularly, the M&A Department?) or can it be done by any department randomly?
As Jess mentions, if the pitch is for a specific job, it will be led by the team who will lead the work (i.e. if it's a transaction, will be lead by relevant transactional lawyers/ if it's litigation, will be led by litigious lawyers etc).Hi all. Hope you are doing well. Could you please answer one question of mine relating to the pitch that the firm has to make in order to be chosen for the transaction on behalf of the company to which the pitch is made. I wanted to know, is making this pitch the task of the Corporate dept.? (particularly, the M&A Department?) or can it be done by any department randomly?
I’m not sure if this has been (I do apologise if it has been) but @Dheepa do you have any tips about the Bakers VI?
Mine was emailed over and then I had to sign it, scan it and email it back to themHi all!
Thanks for all your advice on the forum and your gems of wisdom!
If you don't mind, I had a question about actual Training Contract paperwork. Especially as each of you were made offers in this virtual landscape, were you sent physical copies of the Training Contract to sign, or e-documents which you signed electronically? I've never actually thought about the physical (or electronic) contract itself, so I am interested to hear in what format you received yours.
I'm guessing it doesn't make much of a difference, and this is a very niche/pedantic question so thank you so much for your time!
Many firms have moved to electronic documents now, although many were already on that way before Covid.Hi all!
Thanks for all your advice on the forum and your gems of wisdom!
If you don't mind, I had a question about actual Training Contract paperwork. Especially as each of you were made offers in this virtual landscape, were you sent physical copies of the Training Contract to sign, or e-documents which you signed electronically? I've never actually thought about the physical (or electronic) contract itself, so I am interested to hear in what format you received yours.
I'm guessing it doesn't make much of a difference, and this is a very niche/pedantic question so thank you so much for your time!
Mine was email-print-sign-scan 🙂Hi all!
Thanks for all your advice on the forum and your gems of wisdom!
If you don't mind, I had a question about actual Training Contract paperwork. Especially as each of you were made offers in this virtual landscape, were you sent physical copies of the Training Contract to sign, or e-documents which you signed electronically? I've never actually thought about the physical (or electronic) contract itself, so I am interested to hear in what format you received yours.
I'm guessing it doesn't make much of a difference, and this is a very niche/pedantic question so thank you so much for your time!
Completely agree - there's something about physically signing and acknowledging that you've sorted the next few years of your career that's really gratifying isn't thereMine was email-print-sign-scan 🙂
Doesn't make any difference from a practical perspective - if anything, more awkward than an e-sign - but I can't lie it felt great to sign on the dotted line and I much preferred it to an e-sign.
Hi all!
Thanks for all your advice on the forum and your gems of wisdom!
If you don't mind, I had a question about actual Training Contract paperwork. Especially as each of you were made offers in this virtual landscape, were you sent physical copies of the Training Contract to sign, or e-documents which you signed electronically? I've never actually thought about the physical (or electronic) contract itself, so I am interested to hear in what format you received yours.
I'm guessing it doesn't make much of a difference, and this is a very niche/pedantic question so thank you so much for your time!