DLA Piper Interview

[Nicole]

(1) DLA Piper Interview Experience

Anonymous 1 - This is from a future trainee at a different firm, but she interviewed at DLA Piper for a vacation scheme.

Group Exercise

The usual tips would come in handy like checking the time and prompting the others how long is left, referring to everyone by their names and sustaining open body language. Specific to DLA Piper's group exercise, there's a lot to digest so I started from the back and worked my way to the front in the event the others didn't have time to get to the end. I was marked up on using real life examples (e.g. any bad/good press a company has had for something). I'd also advise not being afraid to stick to your guns.

 

[Nicole]

This is from a future trainee at DLA Piper - Christopher Fajemisin

Yeah of course I can give you a bit of advice for the mentee.

The most important thing is that DLA Piper want well rounded and personable individuals. Your mentee has to display the ability to read the room and adapt to the environment. This certainly helped me in my vacation scheme with them.

Also, DLA Piper has the aim of being a firm a business law firm. Meaning that they see themselves as business partners to clients rather than just their lawyers. If your mentee can understand this concept and relay it back to their interviewer, this will be impressive.

Lastly in the group exercise on the assessment day, make sure your mentee is always involving and bringing in others into the discussion. Being the one that over talks and doesn’t show team work is a huge mistake.

 

[Nicole]

Anonymous, DLA Piper vac scheme interviewee

I was successful for DLA Piper and scored really high in everything so I can give good guidance for that. It consisted of three parts: analysis presentation, group exercise and partner interview.

1. Group Exercise
The usual tips would come in handy like checking the time and prompting the others how long is left, referring to everyone by their names and sustaining open body language. Specific to DLA Piper's group exercise, there's a lot to digest so I started from the back and worked my way to the front in the event the others didn't have time to get to the end. I was marked up on using real life examples (e.g. any bad/good press a company has had for something). I'd also advise not being afraid to stick to your guns to appease the rest of the group, even if it's not a popular decision. They look out for that.

2. Analysis Presentation
Remain calm during the prep time. They are not expecting a Ted Talk. Do your best to structure it and present it in a coherent manner so the assessor can follow it. If you overthink it you're likely to trip yourself up and drop in confidence which is another thing you're being assessed on. You don't need legal knowledge to complete it but you do need common sense. Try and develop a rapport with the assessor once you are finished and again, don't be afraid to stick to your guns if challenged at the end.

3. Partner interview
This is a competency based interview which did not deviate from any other style in my experience. I was asked no questions about the firm, just about myself. Be yourself and don't be afraid to crack terrible jokes because that seemed to work well for me.

4. Generally
When being escorted from room to room be conscious that you're still being assessed. Take the opportunity to tell grad rec how much you're enjoying the day, ask them about themselves and just be as enthusiastic as you can.

 

[Jaysen]

When was your DLA Piper interview?

February 2018

What was it for?

Vacation scheme

Please describe the interview process at DLA Piper.

Group Exercise, Partner Interview, Analysis Presentation

What advice would you give to future applicants about the DLA Piper interview?

Interview: very standard questions: Why DLA Piper(and why this specific office), Why commercial law, think of an example of a problem you faced outside of law (and how did you overcome it), when did you show X competency (teamwork, leadership, problem solving etc).

Group Exercise: Deliberately not enough time in which to discuss everything - have to prioritise. Some of the issues had 'very important' on them, so maybe suggest that the group discuss these first.

 

[Matthew Ashikhin]

Doubt this will get a hit but could someone give me some more insight to the Analysis Presentation?

Is this separate to the group task?
Or does it build on the task in the group task and become a solo presentation?

 

[Jaysen]

Doubt this will get a hit but could someone give me some more insight to the Analysis Presentation?

Is this separate to the group task?
Or does it build on the task in the group task and become a solo presentation?

Hi Matthew, I’ll see if I can find more information about the presentation.

 

[SaffronG]

Hi Matthew, I’ll see if I can find more information about the presentation.

Hi Jaysen,
I'd like to find out more about the presentation too. Did you find anything out?

 

[_Will_]

Hey guys, I did the AC for the DLA Piper Summer Internship last week.

The Analysis Presentation is basically a commercial case study. It is linked in to the Group Exercise, but is not exactly the same. They give you an information pack, which contains all sorts of info on a fictional company (e.g. position in the market, financials, employee info, etc.) and you have an hour to analyse it and devise a future strategy for the company based upon it. You then have 10 minutes to present your strategy to a partner and a further 5 mins or so after to respond to questions.

Sounds more difficult than it is -- all the partners I met were extremely nice and also were forgiving in the event of any mistakes! I made a mistake in mine! My best advice would be to stay calm during the presentation and make sure you've got a coherent structure. Also, if you recommend the company does a certain thing in the future, just make sure you can justify why you are advising this -- it is likely you'll get questioned on it.

Hope this helps!

 

[SaffronG]

Hey guys, I did the AC for the DLA Piper Summer Internship last week.

The Analysis Presentation is basically a commercial case study. It is linked in to the Group Exercise, but is not exactly the same. They give you an information pack, which contains all sorts of info on a fictional company (e.g. position in the market, financials, employee info, etc.) and you have an hour to analyse it and devise a future strategy for the company based upon it. You then have 10 minutes to present your strategy to a partner and a further 5 mins or so after to respond to questions.

Sounds more difficult than it is -- all the partners I met were extremely nice and also were forgiving in the event of any mistakes! I made a mistake in mine! My best advice would be to stay calm during the presentation and make sure you've got a coherent structure. Also, if you recommend the company does a certain thing in the future, just make sure you can justify why you are advising this -- it is likely you'll get questioned on it.

Hope this helps!

That's so helpful and reassuring, thank you! What kind of questions did they ask at the interview?

 

[_Will_]

No problem! The interview, as promised, was just a run through of the main competencies they are looking for (e.g. team building, summarising complex information, etc.) I would recommend just thinking about the competencies they might ask and then thinking of examples you can use to demonstrate them.

I also got asked 'Why DLA?' right at the start of my interview, but my answer to this question was not assessed. The partner also asked me at the end of the interview if I had any questions for him, so I would also advise thinking of a couple of questions you can ask to show you're interested in the firm.

Very best of luck! Just be confident and you'll smash it!

 

[datguyak]

No problem! The interview, as promised, was just a run through of the main competencies they are looking for (e.g. team building, summarising complex information, etc.) I would recommend just thinking about the competencies they might ask and then thinking of examples you can use to demonstrate them.

I also got asked 'Why DLA?' right at the start of my interview, but my answer to this question was not assessed. The partner also asked me at the end of the interview if I had any questions for him, so I would also advise thinking of a couple of questions you can ask to show you're interested in the firm.

Very best of luck! Just be confident and you'll smash it!

Thanks for that Will- one more quick qn- so would you say the interview is not very commercial based (eg talking about the firm's competitors, challenges facing the legal profession etc)?

 

[_Will_]

Thanks for that Will- one more quick qn- so would you say the interview is not very commercial based (eg talking about the firm's competitors, challenges facing the legal profession etc)?

No worries mate. Indeed, in my interview I didn't get any of those kind of questions. Was 90% competencies and then he also asked 'Why DLA Piper'. Just my experience though -- so could be different for others.

 

[SaffronG]

I have to arrive for registration at the office from 8am...what time did you finish?

 

[_Will_]

I have to arrive for registration at the office from 8am...what time did you finish?

Its an early start isn't it! I finished just after 12pm... The AC invite seemed to indicate lunch was provided, but it wasn't for us unfortunately!

 

[Jaysen]

Its an early start isn't it! I finished just after 12pm... The AC invite seemed to indicate lunch was provided, but it wasn't for us unfortunately!

Thanks for sharing all of this Will!

 

[Catherine]

No worries mate. Indeed, in my interview I didn't get any of those kind of questions. Was 90% competencies and then he also asked 'Why DLA Piper'. Just my experience though -- so could be different for others.

This is really useful thanks everyone who has posted!

I have an AC this Thursday, and have never done the case study style assessment before - what do you think the best way to prepare for this in advance of the day is?

Did you write down notes and then use them when you were presenting it to the partner or did you try and speak more from memory?

What was the structure of your day like? Did it start with group exercise, then case study then partner interview?

Thank you!

 

[_Will_]

This is really useful thanks everyone who has posted!

I have an AC this Thursday, and have never done the case study style assessment before - what do you think the best way to prepare for this in advance of the day is?

Did you write down notes and then use them when you were presenting it to the partner or did you try and speak more from memory?

What was the structure of your day like? Did it start with group exercise, then case study then partner interview?

Thank you!

Hi Catherine, no problem at all!

It's quite difficult to prepare for the case study assessment. The focus of the exercise is to come up with a strategy for 'Business X' to increase profitability, based on the information listed in an info pack. My best advice would be to manage your time carefully during the preparation phase -- you get 1 hour to analyse the information and devise a strategy. I think I spent about 30 mins reading through the info and 30 mins writing down my strategy. Don't be afraid to be very specific, and make sure you can provide justification for each of your recommendations. During the presentation itself, try to remain calm and remember the importance of structure. Personally, I wrote down notes which I glanced at, rather than trying to do it from memory.

The structure of the day for me was group exercise, case study, partner interview. However, I think for others it may have been slightly different. I think everyone did the group exercise first, but then some did the partner interview before the case study.

Wishing you the very best of luck.

 

[MA96]

This is really useful thanks everyone who has posted!

I have an AC this Thursday, and have never done the case study style assessment before - what do you think the best way to prepare for this in advance of the day is?

Did you write down notes and then use them when you were presenting it to the partner or did you try and speak more from memory?

What was the structure of your day like? Did it start with group exercise, then case study then partner interview?

Thank you!

Hi Catherine,

I second what Will said above - it is really hard to prepare for! I wrote all my notes out but made sure not to read off of them too much when I was presenting. However my advice would be to work as quickly as possible and to plan your structure as you go along. I had the group exercise first, followed by the interview and then the case study.

When I received feedback I was told that structure was the most important part of the assessment, and that even if you weren’t able to get through all the information but had an exceptional and clearly thought out structure, this would be noted. Just something to think about.


Best of luck!

 

[kellysim]

Hi,

I did my assessment centre at DLA piper last Tuesday 29th January 2019 and was made an offer so I thought it would be good for me to share my experience!

The AC was broken down into 3 parts: partner interview, group exercise and a case style presentation in no particular order but everyone started with the group exercise I believe.

The partner interview, like Will said above, largely rotated around your competences since all partners had a paper in front of them listing out all questions. My partner personally asked me a lot more about my experiences on my CV and asked rather personal questions as opposed to why DLA. However, I felt it was important to indirectly relate my answers to DLA since there weren’t many chances to demonstrate your understanding of the firm’s distinguishing factors (e.g. one UK approach, branding as a global business law firm).

The group exercise was monitored by 3 partners and is difficult to prepare for. My advice for this is to focus on listening to the group and making active contributions only when necessary. Support the suggestions of others but don’t be afraid to speak up to express your concern or recommendations.

With the case presentation, it was clear from the 1 hour of preparation time that it is impossible to finish everything and practice what you have to say before the presentation. Instead, I think it was better to follow a structured approach when reading the case prep and make notes that would guide you in presenting later on.

I hope this helps anyone else attending an AC!

 

[Lauren]

I was wondering how long it took for you to hear back following the AC?