Linklaters 2019/20 Application

Sammie

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Nov 13, 2019
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@Jessica Booker Hi Jessica, a post earlier in this thread mentioned some examples of the types of dilemmas presented in the CAPP test. For example: "your friend is struggling with a task but ur given a new task by ur principal, would u help the friend, tell them u cant and focus on the task etc" and "do it perfectly but miss the deadline vs. submit with mistakes but meet the deadline".

For me, the ideal response would be to tell the friend to make her Supervisor aware as ultimately they can help...but the statements often aren't that detailed.
Could you please talk me through your thought process when tackling such dilemmas? I am trying to refer back to the AGILE mind frame but a little stuck as on the one hand we should be Emotionally Intelligent towards our fellow (future) trainees and on the other, it's important to have good Resource and Work Management/Excellence in our work. Any tips or thoughts, please? :)
 
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futuretraineesolicitor

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Dec 14, 2019
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If I recall correctly, first you send off the application having included your CV, Watson Glaser test & CAPP test. Then only if you are invited to interview (a post from someone on TCLA a while back who allegedly knew someone in Links grad rec says the top 200 applicants get an invite), in advance of the interview you get an email requiring you to submit three (no more, no less) periods of work history of your choice - they can be law or non-law, from whatever period in life you want. You have to write a summary (maybe 150 words or something like that? It's been a while) under each example. That is sent off to Linklaters Grad Rec (and potentially the partner/MA interviewing you, although I doubt that), who may ask you questions about it in the HR interview.
Thank you so much, what exactly does the CV that they ask for contain? I mean what do they ask for in the CV that is so important and which helps them decide that the candidate is going to move to the next round or not?
Secondly, if we have multiple law firm experiences- can we club all of them together as one?
 

futuretraineesolicitor

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It’s not a CV per se as much as your standard details - your school grades, university, university subject/grades, right to work in the U.K., and so on. As Jessica told you earlier, it forms just part of their decision on whether or not to OK your application. It’s not the only thing they decide on.

I don’t think you are meant to combine work experiences. Each one is about a separate history. So if you want all 3 of your work examples to be law ones, that’s fine, but each example is for a different law firm/legal charity/whatever.
Thank you so much! Just one last follow up question please. By any chance, does the CV ask for a list of achievements or anything of that sort?
 

futuretraineesolicitor

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Sorry, I can't remember. Bear in mind that Linklaters deliberately slimmed down their application form last year so the target time for completion was 90 minutes, so comparatively more preparation should be spent doing Watson Glaser tests (& CAPP/personality tests if you can find any). If you need to spend more time on the application form itself, it isn't an issue since Linklaters don't recruit on a rolling basis, and don't have that many questions on their form - or at least, didn't last year, all this advice comes with the massive caveat that things may have changed since then!
Thank you so much for your help!
 

Jessica Booker

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Aug 1, 2019
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@Jessica Booker Hi Jessica, a post earlier in this thread mentioned some examples of the types of dilemmas presented in the CAPP test. For example: "your friend is struggling with a task but ur given a new task by ur principal, would u help the friend, tell them u cant and focus on the task etc" and "do it perfectly but miss the deadline vs. submit with mistakes but meet the deadline".

For me, the ideal response would be to tell the friend to make her Supervisor aware as ultimately they can help...but the statements often aren't that detailed.
Could you please talk me through your thought process when tackling such dilemmas? I am trying to refer back to the AGILE mind frame but a little stuck as on the one hand we should be Emotionally Intelligent towards our fellow (future) trainees and on the other, it's important to have good Resource and Work Management/Excellence in our work. Any tips or thoughts, please? :)

Sorry missed this in a flurry of notifications.

You need to analyse the very specifics of the situation. People sometimes skip over the relevant detail in these questions (eg are you in the same department, is the deadline the next day, which stage of your training contract are you in). Those bits are going to influence your decision so read them carefully.
 

futuretraineesolicitor

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Dec 14, 2019
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Hello Guys! Hope you all are doing well! I am a law student from India and over the past year after serious brainstorming, researching and talking to countless Grad Rec team members, I have come to the conclusion that I will only be applying to Linklaters via their India Internship program. I know this is going to be my one and only shot because I will only be eligible for this once (penultimate year) so I want to give it my all.

The problem that I am facing is, other than the CAPP test (which needs no prep other than knowing the firm's Agile Framework) and the Watson Glaser (which can be practised 2-3 months prior to the date when the applications open- which is going to be June 2021 in my case), I just don't know what I can do to prepare myself fully for getting an AC invite. I don't want to leave anything to luck now, I am a firm believer in controlling everything that can be controlled.

Can people who are future trainees or just anybody, in general, suggest what I can do to bolster my chances for the AC invite.

Thank you so much.
 

futuretraineesolicitor

Legendary Member
Forum Winner
Dec 14, 2019
998
462
Hello Guys! Hope you all are doing well! I am a law student from India and over the past year after serious brainstorming, researching and talking to countless Grad Rec team members, I have come to the conclusion that I will only be applying to Linklaters via their India Internship program. I know this is going to be my one and only shot because I will only be eligible for this once (penultimate year) so I want to give it my all.

The problem that I am facing is, other than the CAPP test (which needs no prep other than knowing the firm's Agile Framework) and the Watson Glaser (which can be practised 2-3 months prior to the date when the applications open- which is going to be June 2021 in my case), I just don't know what I can do to prepare myself fully for getting an AC invite. I don't want to leave anything to luck now, I am a firm believer in controlling everything that can be controlled.

Can people who are future trainees or just anybody, in general, suggest what I can do to bolster my chances for the AC invite.

Thank you so much.
@Jessica Booker please help
 
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Legal_rawn

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Dec 21, 2019
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Unfortunately the way they've created their application process means you can't really prepare like you might for other firms, it is just how well you do on the tests, there is no A-level requirement and they recruit from all universities. For the CAPP tests I didn't do much and my links app was the first law one I did last year so it was my first WG and I just did the pearson practice test. If you have done any other applications which required a job simulation (lots of banks seem to use these) then I would say look at your feedback from those as in my experience they all seem to ask similar sorts of questions. When I did the CAPP test I just put down what I thought put the interests of the client and the business first and ended up with an AC invite last year. It seems to me to be quite a blunt approach which means you just have to show you have the skills they want through the tests, which is great for some and harder for others. Best of luck!
 

futuretraineesolicitor

Legendary Member
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Dec 14, 2019
998
462
Unfortunately the way they've created their application process means you can't really prepare like you might for other firms, it is just how well you do on the tests, there is no A-level requirement and they recruit from all universities. For the CAPP tests I didn't do much and my links app was the first law one I did last year so it was my first WG and I just did the pearson practice test. If you have done any other applications which required a job simulation (lots of banks seem to use these) then I would say look at your feedback from those as in my experience they all seem to ask similar sorts of questions. When I did the CAPP test I just put down what I thought put the interests of the client and the business first and ended up with an AC invite last year. It seems to me to be quite a blunt approach which means you just have to show you have the skills they want through the tests, which is great for some and harder for others. Best of luck!

Thank you so much for your answer!
 
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