HSF AC:Interest in multi-jurisdictional work

[Lauren]

I have an upcoming AC at HSF and one of my key draws to the firm is its multi-jurisdictional work. I have few international experiences but taught English for a couple of weeks in Beijing. I was planning to expand on this experience, talking about cultural differences and deepening my understanding of unfamiliar practices? Is this a good route to go down? Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[A4991]

This seems a bit confused. I see where you are coming from but perhaps you need to explain it better because the above doesn't flow imo.

You do not need to overcomplicate it. What is it about multi-jurisdictional work specifically that interests you?

In addition, I would recommend you have at least 2-3 key reasons why you want to work for HSF as I remember this was one of the first questions I was asked and it formed a large part of the competency interview.

 

[Lauren]

Ok thank you for responding! I was planning of talking about my interest in Employment litigation and their pro bono work as well.

In terms of multi-jurisdictional work, it was gaining an understanding of local cultures which interested me the most. Does that make sense?

 

[A4991]

Ok thank you for responding! I was planning of talking about my interest in Employment litigation and their pro bono work as well.

In terms of multi-jurisdictional work, it was gaining an understanding of local cultures which interested me the most. Does that make sense?

That makes more sense now. Perhaps also talk about what in particular about multi-jurisdictional work interests you. Does that make sense? Because you are not going to be learning about new cultures all the time, perhaps during an international secondment but not in your day to day work. For example, tomorrow you may have to deal with a transaction that involves multi-jurisdictions and you have a few days to solve the problems. So perhaps you could discuss how you like the challenging and complex nature of multi-jurisdictional work. Be a bit more specific as the learning about new cultures seems a bit generic tbh.

Employment litigation could be a good one if you make it specific about the firm. However I would advise against the pro bono one. Law firms are there to make money and many lawyers in reality do very little pro bono work. I would focus on the more commercial side/ personal development rather than talking about pro bono reasons. I know HSF really encourage their trainees to go on international secondment more than most firms so you could perhaps talk about that and link that with the multi-jurisdictional nature of the work the firm carries out.

Hope that's helped a bit. My three reasons were: Diversity & Inclusion, Multi-jurisdictional work and international secondment opportunities, and the strong litigation practise. I explained why HSF is known for them and then related them back to me in relation to why I cared and why these were important considerations/reasons for me choosing a firm.

 

[Maculay]

That makes more sense now. Perhaps also talk about what in particular about multi-jurisdictional work interests you. Does that make sense? Because you are not going to be learning about new cultures all the time, perhaps during an international secondment but not in your day to day work. For example, tomorrow you may have to deal with a transaction that involves multi-jurisdictions and you have a few days to solve the problems. So perhaps you could discuss how you like the challenging and complex nature of multi-jurisdictional work. Be a bit more specific as the learning about new cultures seems a bit generic tbh.

Employment litigation could be a good one if you make it specific about the firm. However I would advise against the pro bono one. Law firms are there to make money and many lawyers in reality do very little pro bono work. I would focus on the more commercial side/ personal development rather than talking about pro bono reasons. I know HSF really encourage their trainees to go on international secondment more than most firms so you could perhaps talk about that and link that with the multi-jurisdictional nature of the work the firm carries out.

Hope that's helped a bit. My three reasons were: Diversity & Inclusion, Multi-jurisdictional work and international secondment opportunities, and the strong litigation practise. I explained why HSF is known for them and then related them back to me in relation to why I cared and why these were important considerations/reasons for me choosing a firm.

How did you find the AC? Did you apply for spring scheme? I am wondering if you can offer any tips and guidance with your experience of the scenario based interviews?

 

[Alice G]

How did you find the AC? Did you apply for spring scheme? I am wondering if you can offer any tips and guidance with your experience of the scenario based interviews?

Hello! Just to pitch in here as I did a HSF AC last year and the scenario interview will vary widely between candidates. Not only because each interviewer will be from a different practice area and select different deals but because interviewers take quite different approaches in terms of how technical it might be/what they want to see from you.

The best advice for this is to really drill down into different practice areas and just know the key fundamentals - what does the practice area focus on, what are the key challenges and instances where they will be called upon etc. The other bit of advice here is just to give it your best go. I was really unsure of 80% of the things I said in my interview but just tried to be guided by logic. Try to show your thought process out loud - the interviewer cannot assess what you think but don't say so just try your best to run through your logical train of thought for their benefit.

I actually really enjoyed my scenario interview and think building a rapport with the interviewer was really good as I felt much more at ease and we were able to smile and laugh and have a really great discussion.

 

[Naomi U]

How did you find the AC? Did you apply for spring scheme? I am wondering if you can offer any tips and guidance with your experience of the scenario based interviews?

Hi @Maculay

Just to echo Alice, the scenario interviews are very hard to prep for because it really depends on the practice area of your interviewer.
From my personal experience I think my general tips would be:

Prior to the interview
- Try to gain a good understanding of the key roles and responsibilities of solicitors in each practice area e.g. the work they are likely to do and the clients they are likely to work for. This will give you a foundational understanding of the context the scenario is set in which will be key to helping you to gauge your answer

- From a commercial awareness perspective, beware that m&a type stories may not fit in neatly with the scenario you are given. Therefore, in addition to following such deals, also keep an eye on the wider news and be open-minded to the issues that may be operating in your scenario. Again, this will help give context to the questions as well as your responses.

- It might also be useful to have a look at the Code of Conduct for Solicitors. I've attached the link below.
Of course, you are not expected to know this in any degree of depth however, from experience I think it is quite helpful in scenario-based interviews to gain some insight into the remit between appropriate and seemingly helpful but inappropriate behaviour.

During the interview
- Be confident. It can be very daunting when you are asked questions you did not anticipate but I think it's very important that you try to remain calm. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking the interviewer to repeat the question or asking for a second to consider your answer. This is much preferred than rushing into a response that you later try to backtrack.

- Try to structure your answers to present your chain of reasoning- this can be done using the example I included in my earlier post by saying; " In the present case under X circumstances, I believe this may be the best choice of action because .. "

- Be open minded. Your interviewer may try to push you in an alternative direction to your initial response. Do not be afraid to be open to changing or modifying your answer. Again, this can be done using the phrase above. Similarly, if you want to defend a point, don't be afraid to do so, but ensure you acknowledge their input and how it could apply.

With this in mind like you said it is notoriously hard to prepare. So my biggest take way is to prepare as much as you can and remember to be confident and in control in the interview!.


Best of luck!

The link to the Solicitors Code of Conduct:

https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/code-conduct-solicitors/

 

[Maculay]

Hello! Just to pitch in here as I did a HSF AC last year and the scenario interview will vary widely between candidates. Not only because each interviewer will be from a different practice area and select different deals but because interviewers take quite different approaches in terms of how technical it might be/what they want to see from you.

The best advice for this is to really drill down into different practice areas and just know the key fundamentals - what does the practice area focus on, what are the key challenges and instances where they will be called upon etc. The other bit of advice here is just to give it your best go. I was really unsure of 80% of the things I said in my interview but just tried to be guided by logic. Try to show your thought process out loud - the interviewer cannot assess what you think but don't say so just try your best to run through your logical train of thought for their benefit.

I actually really enjoyed my scenario interview and think building a rapport with the interviewer was really good as I felt much more at ease and we were able to smile and laugh and have a really great discussion.

Thank you! This was very helpful!

 

[Maculay]

Hi @Maculay

Just to echo Alice, the scenario interviews are very hard to prep for because it really depends on the practice area of your interviewer.
From my personal experience I think my general tips would be:

Prior to the interview
- Try to gain a good understanding of the key roles and responsibilities of solicitors in each practice area e.g. the work they are likely to do and the clients they are likely to work for. This will give you a foundational understanding of the context the scenario is set in which will be key to helping you to gauge your answer

- From a commercial awareness perspective, beware that m&a type stories may not fit in neatly with the scenario you are given. Therefore, in addition to following such deals, also keep an eye on the wider news and be open-minded to the issues that may be operating in your scenario. Again, this will help give context to the questions as well as your responses.

- It might also be useful to have a look at the Code of Conduct for Solicitors. I've attached the link below.
Of course, you are not expected to know this in any degree of depth however, from experience I think it is quite helpful in scenario-based interviews to gain some insight into the remit between appropriate and seemingly helpful but inappropriate behaviour.

During the interview
- Be confident. It can be very daunting when you are asked questions you did not anticipate but I think it's very important that you try to remain calm. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking the interviewer to repeat the question or asking for a second to consider your answer. This is much preferred than rushing into a response that you later try to backtrack.

- Try to structure your answers to present your chain of reasoning- this can be done using the example I included in my earlier post by saying; " In the present case under X circumstances, I believe this may be the best choice of action because .. "

- Be open minded. Your interviewer may try to push you in an alternative direction to your initial response. Do not be afraid to be open to changing or modifying your answer. Again, this can be done using the phrase above. Similarly, if you want to defend a point, don't be afraid to do so, but ensure you acknowledge their input and how it could apply.

With this in mind like you said it is notoriously hard to prepare. So my biggest take way is to prepare as much as you can and remember to be confident and in control in the interview!.


Best of luck!

The link to the Solicitors Code of Conduct:

https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/code-conduct-solicitors/

Excellent list of tips! This will be useful for my prep. Thanks!