General Discussion Thread 2020-21

[Jessica Booker]

Ah ok, thanks, Jessica! Would this basically mean that I have to write (for example) "Whilst working at Waitrose, I developed invaluable customer service skills, which would help me during my vacation scheme at WBD, as I would be able to successfully interact with clients"?

That sort of thing, possibly. But rather than just saying “customer service skills” that’s quite vague could you drill down and be a bit more precise in what you mean by that?

 

[philjones]

Hey yes done it last year theres a few free practice tests online just Google - speed and accuracy is key 50 Qs expectation is not to finish all Qs in 15mins a score in mid 20s - 30s is average. The percentile factor will impact overall ranking but generally much better test than WGT. Good Luck

Do most firms establish a mark you need to get, or just select the top x amount of scores? What sort of score do we need to get to succeed? Thanks!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Do most firms establish a mark you need to get, or just select the top x amount of scores? What sort of score do we need to get to succeed? Thanks!

You get assessed against what is called a norm group which gives you a percentile ranking and a percentile ranking (1-99) will be set.

 

[philjones]

You get assessed against what is called a norm group which gives you a percentile ranking and a percentile ranking (1-99) will be set.

Thanks Jessica, I realise this means there isn't always a standard set mark to reach, but in general/on average, what sort of score will likely pass? Thanks!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thanks Jessica, I realise this means there isn't always a standard set mark to reach, but in general/on average, what sort of score will likely pass? Thanks!

How percentiles are calculated are different form one another. You could be assessed against 5 years olds or you could be assessed against senior partners. The first should lead to a really high percentile benchmark, the latter a really low one.

it can range between as low as the 15th percentile, and typically only goes up to around the 75th percentile depending on the norm groups and the weighting of the exercise.

But my point every time this conversation comes up is don’t concern yourself about scores. It means very little to you as an applicant outside of the initial yes or no decision, because it rarely has any indication of whether the next one will be a yes or a no.

 

[josemourinho]

question about international law experience: I am British but live in another country and have most of my legal experience in a firm in the foreign country. I do have UK experience but the most extensive experience is from this country. Has anyone who has foreign experience ever been asked to justify why London, and why not the country they have the experience in?
Also, do firms tend to see UK experience as better than experience in a different jurisdiction?

 

[Jacob Miller]

question about international law experience: I am British but live in another country and have most of my legal experience in a firm in the foreign country. I do have UK experience but the most extensive experience is from this country. Has anyone who has foreign experience ever been asked to justify why London, and why not the country they have the experience in?
Also, do firms tend to see UK experience as better than experience in a different jurisdiction?

Not a million miles away from your situation: I'm on a Scots Law LLB programme, live in Scotland and have legal experience across both jurisdictions. I'll be training and qualifying as a solicitor in England (eventually!)

"Why London and not Scotland?" Is something I've been asked regularly, and I'm always honest in my answer: London, to me, is a more exciting place to be with a bigger, more dynamic legal market and the opportunity to work on massive things that simply don't come up in Scotland.

In my experience of my CV as a whole, I've always tended to find that it's basically been everything apart from my legal work experience that's been asked about: end of the day, interviewers know what open days/ internships/ vac schemes are and what they're there for, they want to hear about more interesting stuff than that. To that end, I would actually leverage international experience both to justify your decision to train in London but also about any unique or different outlooks/ perspectives that has given you on the issues you've encountered. In my own experience, I've noticed that Scots law-backgrounded people think and approach issues quite differently to English law-backgrounded folks - I dare say this will be similar for you

 

[Jessica Booker]

question about international law experience: I am British but live in another country and have most of my legal experience in a firm in the foreign country. I do have UK experience but the most extensive experience is from this country. Has anyone who has foreign experience ever been asked to justify why London, and why not the country they have the experience in?
Also, do firms tend to see UK experience as better than experience in a different jurisdiction?

The UK experience will have more correlations to the work a UK firm does. You’ll be dealing with English law much more regularly than you would do in another jurisdiction. If you have been working in another country for sometime, there will be a question of why don’t you qualify under that system and then come to the UK as a qualified lawyer, rather than having to start from scratch again. So that’s often the logic you have to explain when your experience is outside of the UK.

 

[josemourinho]

Not a million miles away from your situation: I'm on a Scots Law LLB programme, live in Scotland and have legal experience across both jurisdictions. I'll be training and qualifying as a solicitor in England (eventually!)

Seems like we are in a very similar situation! Thank you very much for your advice about making it a USP!

The UK experience will have more correlations to the work a UK firm does.

Thanks for your insight here! I will be prepared to talk about why the UK instead of the other country in my AC next week.

 

[Daniel Boden]

Anyone heard from Orrick following the Dec 2020 AC?

I know someone who had a call with an offer on Thursday so think they're starting to get back to people now!

 

[cryingoverTCs]

what are some key considerations for a firm when considering an acquisition?
would this be things like identifying growth opportunities in the target company, finding out if they have any ongoing litigation, if there are any contracts they are tied to etc?

 

[Jacob Miller]

what are some key considerations for a firm when considering an acquisition?
would this be things like identifying growth opportunities in the target company, finding out if they have any ongoing litigation, if there are any contracts they are tied to etc?

My article on case studies breaks down all the potential issues surround an acquisition, might be useful even if your task isn't in a case study setting. It's available via my signature

 

[cryingoverTCs]

My article on case studies breaks down all the potential issues surround an acquisition, might be useful even if your task isn't in a case study setting. It's available via my signature

Thank you, Jacob! I had a feeling that was similar to what I was looking for relieved that I'm not thinking about it completely wrong 😅

 

[Alex3107]

VS for Eversheds, and just had my AC for Dentons. Happy to share any tips/have a chat!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Random question for my application reviews:

Does Hong Kong follow UK or US English?
Same for Singapore?
And Dubai/Middle East?

 

[Dheepa]

Random question for my application reviews:

Does Hong Kong follow UK or US English?
Same for Singapore?
And Dubai/Middle East?

I think HK and Singapore both follow U.K. English because they are commonwealth countries. I’m from South East Asia and generally I think UK spelling, grammar etc. prevails on this side of the world. Not too sure about Dubai/ME though.

 

[LEL]

Random question for my application reviews:

Does Hong Kong follow UK or US English?
Same for Singapore?
And Dubai/Middle East?

As far as I'm aware, the ME follows Islamic Sharia law

 

[Sl1410]

Random question for my application reviews:

Does Hong Kong follow UK or US English?
Same for Singapore?
And Dubai/Middle East?

In Dubai, it is dependent on what schools you attend, but it is majorly US English unless you have studied at a British school. Although, I could be wrong.

 

[tk166]

As far as I'm aware, the ME follows Islamic Sharia law

shes talking about english grammar 😭

 

[Jessica Booker]

shes talking about english grammar 😭

To be fair, my post wasn’t 100% clear 😂