SEO London Corporate Law Programme 2020-2021

[NLaw18]

Hi,
I was just wondering if anyone here has appeared for the SEO London Corporate Law Programme Assessment Centre before and if they have any idea as to what kind of questions are asked?

Thank you!

 

[Andycat42110]

Hello! I've just applied and was wondering if you have any advice? Thank you

Hi,
I was just wondering if anyone here has appeared for the SEO London Corporate Law Programme Assessment Centre before and if they have any idea as to what kind of questions are asked?

Thank you!

 

[Nrb]

Hey I was successful in gaining a place on the SEO Corporate Programme last year (2019-2020). From what I remember, it was an hour telephone interview which started by discussing my background, University and motivation for a legal career. There was then a series of scripted questions that tested your knowledge of the workings of a law firm and law as a business. Some of the questions asked you to define what certain terms meant such as partnership and its benefits and practice areas and how these differed to departments (especially when selling services to clients). There were quite a few commercial awareness questions which picked big topical issues (such as GDPR, Brexit etc.) and asked if you knew about them and then this stemmed into a discussion of them in more detail. It is a really wholesome interview in comparison to TC interviews as it tests your commercial awareness as a whole. The best way to prepare would be to research workings of a law firm, how they operate and market themselves and then look at big commercial issue stories. Hope this helps!

 

[0603]

Hey I was successful in gaining a place on the SEO Corporate Programme last year (2019-2020). From what I remember, it was an hour telephone interview which started by discussing my background, University and motivation for a legal career. There was then a series of scripted questions that tested your knowledge of the workings of a law firm and law as a business. Some of the questions asked you to define what certain terms meant such as partnership and its benefits and practice areas and how these differed to departments (especially when selling services to clients). There were quite a few commercial awareness questions which picked big topical issues (such as GDPR, Brexit etc.) and asked if you knew about them and then this stemmed into a discussion of them in more detail. It is a really wholesome interview in comparison to TC interviews as it tests your commercial awareness as a whole. The best way to prepare would be to research workings of a law firm, how they operate and market themselves and then look at big commercial issue stories. Hope this helps!

Thank you for this! Did you also have a written assessment? If yes, could you please share what if was like and your experience?

 

[RB99]

Hey. I am currently on this year's SEO Corporate Law class. I did the AC a few weeks ago.

There is no telephone interview this year. There is a Zoom group discussion on general commercial topics - practice areas, why commercial awareness is important etc. Just know the absolute essentials of commercial awareness. Nothing more than that. The second part is a written quiz on Zoom as well. This is also about very general commercial/ political knowledge. I can't reveal the questions but read up about stock exchanges, IPOs, M&A strategy, the EU etc.

Hope this helps.

 

[NLaw18]

Hello! I've just applied and was wondering if you have any advice? Thank you

Hey!
In terms of structure we were just asked general questions about law. Then we did the quiz which was just general commercial awareness and then went through the answers.

The questions were all based on current commercial topics so make sure to read on any current issues like US- China war.

Also, bear in mind that they're assessing how active you are in the discussions about commercial law and commercial awareness, so make sure you participate as much as you can.

For the commercial awareness quiz the examiner read out a question and you had to write your answer in a word doc, and then send it over. After doing the quiz, you all go through and discuss your answers.

Basically, all in all, just try speak up, the amount of commercial awareness you 're expected to know is very basic so there's not that much to prep. As long as you know vaguely what's going on in the world, you should be alright.

Hope that helps!

Kind regards
Nirali

 

[thirdtimelucky]

I was also considering applying for the SEO Corporate Programme last summer, but I thought it wasn't the right time for it, as I didn't have enough time, and I was afraid I would fail.

I would really recommend it! They have lots of events (which you are not forced to go to, if you sign up to one you have to let them know if you can’t attend in good time with a reasonable reason and it’s fine! ). They now have fun cultural outings as well so it’s a nice community to join! I found a lot of their skills workshops really useful and they were held on Saturdays which was great for me as I work! They also have mock interview. The “interview” was just a commercial awareness quiz, really simple as long as you know some basic principals of law/business e.g what LLP is, LIBOR, OPEC! I hope you do apply!