CMS 2022 Application Help

[Divyani Jethwa]

Hi!

There is a question on my CMS Academy application that I'm stuck on.

The question asks 'In your view, what steps should a law firm take to put client relationships at the forefront of its strategy?'.

Do I talk about innovation or seeking to understand the client holistically as knowing the client's strategy will help provide better service? I'm not too sure what route to go down here, or if the question is asking something completely different.

Thank you!

 

[CMS_2022]

For CMS, I would 100% discuss innovation, since we are a future facing law firm. Add in information about the innovative steps that CMS are currently taking to do this.

P.s. I am a current Trainee at CMS!

 

[hopefulfutureapprentice]

Hi,
Could anyone provide any tips on the below question at all?

Focusing on one of CMS’s sectors, which areas of law will present the greatest challenges and/or opportunities over the next 3 years?

Thank you in advance!

 

[AvniD]

Hi,
Could anyone provide any tips on the below question at all?

Focusing on one of CMS’s sectors, which areas of law will present the greatest challenges and/or opportunities over the next 3 years?

Thank you in advance!

Hi @hopefulfutureapprentice!

The way I'd approach this is to go through CMS' list of sector expertise (ensure that you distinguish this from their practice expertise- linking my post here on how to do this just in case this is confusing!) ➡️ once you've chosen a sector expertise that has caught your interest, research the latest business news in this area and comb through it find the opportunities and challenges that have been identified for the next three years➡️ as you start to write your application answer, focus on why these opportunities and challenges will present themselves and why this is a medium term concern of 3 years rather than a short term or long term concern.

I suspect that whatever sector you choose, factors like post-pandemic inflation, recessionary trends in the market, supply chain disruptions, geo-political factors arsing from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, rising prices of oil etc. will impact the opportunities and challenges you talk about in the medium term.

 

[hopefulfutureapprentice]

Hi @AvniD,

This is so helpful! Thank you for taking the time to respond!

I was thinking of Energy and Utilities but I feel like that may be an obvious choice - maybe I am overthinking it!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @AvniD,

This is so helpful! Thank you for taking the time to respond!

I was thinking of Energy and Utilities but I feel like that may be an obvious choice - maybe I am overthinking it!

There is no right or wrong answer here - you could ultimately pick most of their sectors and present either an opportunity or challenge that could be very impactful for the firm.

 

[hopefulfutureapprentice]

Thank you @Jessica Booker

 

[sibs23]

Hi @hopefulfutureapprentice!

The way I'd approach this is to go through CMS' list of sector expertise (ensure that you distinguish this from their practice expertise- linking my post here on how to do this just in case this is confusing!) ➡️ once you've chosen a sector expertise that has caught your interest, research the latest business news in this area and comb through it find the opportunities and challenges that have been identified for the next three years➡️ as you start to write your application answer, focus on why these opportunities and challenges will present themselves and why this is a medium term concern of 3 years rather than a short term or long term concern.

I suspect that whatever sector you choose, factors like post-pandemic inflation, recessionary trends in the market, supply chain disruptions, geo-political factors arsing from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, rising prices of oil etc. will impact the opportunities and challenges you talk about in the medium term.

Thanks so much for this! Do you think it would be ok to talk about one of the sectors broadly or would it be better to pick out a specific area within the sector to talk about? The wording 'areas of law' is throwing me off slightly.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thanks so much for this! Do you think it would be ok to talk about one of the sectors broadly or would it be better to pick out a specific area within the sector to talk about? The wording 'areas of law' is throwing me off slightly.

You can talk about a variety of points within the sector, but just make sure there is a depth of analysis rather than listing what areas will be affected. You need to explain why it is going to be the greatest opportunity/challenge.

 

[AvniD]

Thanks so much for this! Do you think it would be ok to talk about one of the sectors broadly or would it be better to pick out a specific area within the sector to talk about? The wording 'areas of law' is throwing me off slightly.

Completely agree with Jessica!

Your choice of sector is not as significant as your analysis of 1) what the greatest opportunities and challenges for the firm wrt that sector are and why 2) why is this something to be concerned about over the next three years rather than the short/long term

 

[confusedlawstudent]

Hi @hopefulfutureapprentice!

The way I'd approach this is to go through CMS' list of sector expertise (ensure that you distinguish this from their practice expertise- linking my post here on how to do this just in case this is confusing!) ➡️ once you've chosen a sector expertise that has caught your interest, research the latest business news in this area and comb through it find the opportunities and challenges that have been identified for the next three years➡️ as you start to write your application answer, focus on why these opportunities and challenges will present themselves and why this is a medium term concern of 3 years rather than a short term or long term concern.

I suspect that whatever sector you choose, factors like post-pandemic inflation, recessionary trends in the market, supply chain disruptions, geo-political factors arsing from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, rising prices of oil etc. will impact the opportunities and challenges you talk about in the medium term.

I am just working on this question now, and I am wondering how I will relate all of this to an area of law?
The question asks "which areas of law will present the greatest challenges...".
I can think of areas of law that would present challenges (e.g. data protection law challenging AI, the Online Safety Bill challenging social media), but I cannot think why it would specifically be over the medium term of 3 years.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[AvniD]

I am just working on this question now, and I am wondering how I will relate all of this to an area of law?
The question asks "which areas of law will present the greatest challenges...".
I can think of areas of law that would present challenges (e.g. data protection law challenging AI, the Online Safety Bill challenging social media), but I cannot think why it would specifically be over the medium term of 3 years.

Any help is appreciated!

I would take this to mean how law firms will be engaged in dealing with the opportunities and/or challenges arising in one of CMS' sectors of expertise in the next 3 years. So if you choose energy, for example, then your next point of analysis is identifying the opportunities and challenges (potential for green energy in developing less coal reliant grids, the ongoing energy crisis etc.) and then moving on to evaluating the role of lawyers (restructuring lawyers coming in to deal with any firms that collapse due to the energy crisis, M&A lawyers engaging in green energy deals, tax lawyers advising on tax reliefs for energy companies etc.).

Does this help?

 

[Autotunedbird]

In terms of the question, 'In your view, what steps should a law firm take to put client relationships at the forefront of its strategy? (200 words)'

I answered the question on recommendations and then how CMS is implementing those recommendations. Should I have purely focused on the recommendations? I don't know if I have directly answered the question in this way

 

[Jessica Booker]

In terms of the question, 'In your view, what steps should a law firm take to put client relationships at the forefront of its strategy? (200 words)'

I answered the question on recommendations and then how CMS is implementing those recommendations. Should I have purely focused on the recommendations? I don't know if I have directly answered the question in this way

I tend to advise that you don’t need to include what CMS is already doing, it should be more focused on your opinions on what firms should do. Plenty of people do take the approach you have done though.

 

[AvniD]

In terms of the question, 'In your view, what steps should a law firm take to put client relationships at the forefront of its strategy? (200 words)'

I answered the question on recommendations and then how CMS is implementing those recommendations. Should I have purely focused on the recommendations? I don't know if I have directly answered the question in this way

I agree with Jessica, bringing in CMS here is not necessary at all, unless you feel it is material to how you're choosing to answer the question. Moreover, going into how CMS is implementing the recommendations is a deviation because it doesn't answer what the question is asking. Purely focusing on recommendations and backing them up with why you think they'll work is a better approach!