research advice

[potentialsolicitor2b]

Hi all

I just need some advice and guidance.

In preparation for interviews I just want to know how much you should know about the firm?
I know we should be aware of the practice areas and recent deals the firm is involved in. But I just want to know how much research it is I should do. I'm starting to feel overwhelmed and nothing seems to be going in. I'm also reading a lot of commercial-awareness related news.

After reading about the practice areas, there are subheadings with specialisms in each area and further information on each one. Should we be expected to know each one.

For example Corporate. and then specialisms in private equity, investment funds, M&A etc...

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi all

I just need some advice and guidance.

In preparation for interviews I just want to know how much you should know about the firm?
I know we should be aware of the practice areas and recent deals the firm is involved in. But I just want to know how much research it is I should do. I'm starting to feel overwhelmed and nothing seems to be going in. I'm also reading a lot of commercial-awareness related news.

After reading about the practice areas, there are subheadings with specialisms in each area and further information on each one. Should we be expected to know each one.

For example Corporate. and then specialisms in private equity, investment funds, M&A etc...

You don’t have to know everything. It’s about knowing what is important/of interest to you well in depth and then having a more basic understanding of the areas of less interest to you.

 

[Sierra]

Your mileage may vary, but generally it depends which firms you are targeting

The classic example is the approach to US firms (generally more technical, and you need to be specific regarding practice areas - e.g. some firms will grill you on m&a, pe, maybe finance concepts) vs UK firms (generally more focused on competency, and what you want out of your training). That being said all firms do a good mix of motivation, competency, technical and personality/cv-based questions.

It is good to overprepare for firms (e.g. researching deals, partners, etc) to the extent that if they ask you about it (or perhaps you could even steer the conversation so that you can impress them with your research), you will be able to give them a good, succinct, well-thought out answer.

But the interview should still be natural and conversational. Definitely steer the conversation at the start, so that you can highlight your research, why the firm's practice/training strengths interest you, and why YOU would be the best fit for the firm. But later on during the interview (usually around 20 mins in), you want to keep it conversational so that you leave with a good impression. Also, you can use your research when asking them about well-thought out questions when they ask "do you have any questions for us?"