Yes, there are plenty of firms who don’t use such assessments and still have success with their recruitment process that is relevant to them. And that’s the thing about individual firms, they all have different aims/objectives with their recruitment processes. What works for one firm shouldn’t necessarily work for another.
I am sure
Macfarlanes have reviewed their recruitment process to check its validity as much as a firm that uses video interviews. From what I also know about
Macfarlanes, they also invest heavily in the time dedicated to graduate recruitment. I have found similar firms (established offices, fewer offices, good long term retention of lawyers) tend to do this because of the amount of people resource available to cover it.