There are a range of free tools on the internet that will ‘scan’ your application answers for ‘AI’. One is GPTZero. I don’t know how accurate/reliable these are but you could always run future answers through one of these to check its not flagging AI material.
If the rest of the application is strong enough I don't think a few errors of this nature should be a big issue, especially when partially caused by tech problems. Furthermore, emailing HR about this shows a number of positive qualities, like proactivity and an ability to take responsibility for your mistakes. Regardless, I would definitely not expect this to be of any relevance when applying for a VS. It is not common practice for firms to look at past insight events applications when assessing you for a VS, and even if they did I would be surprised if they placed any weigh on these errors.
Like any AI (even spellcheck) use it as a guide rather than absolute. If you take that approach and only use what you are happy to integrate rather than any suggestion, it usually works quite well.
Very difficult to say, because different firms assess candidates on different criteria. Slaughter and May may be very competitive if you do not have a first, while Kirkland might be very competitive if you do not have substantial PE/M&A related work experience. Chambers published an article on law firm application statistics a few years back (which you can access here), but I am not sure how representative that still is. To the extent it is still illustrative, it seems like US firms with small trainee intakes who are nonetheless active on the recruitment front have the highest applicant/offer ratios. However, I think the most common 1st choice firms for the really successful candidates I have spoken with tend to be the larger (and more full service) US firms like Latham or Skadden.
I don’t know enough about AI to be 100% certain on this.
I didnt get any test or VI after submitting and a few others i know didnt either
Besides a few firms that are known to emphasize early submission as a really important criterion, if you can write a strong application I would say it is worth submitting even very close to the deadline. For instance, I progressed past the application stage with two firms who were recruiting on an a rolling basis despite the fact that I only submitted my application on the last day.
It's not automatic! I sent my application in at the start of October, they probably haven't reviewed your application yet
It will likely be sufficient in that I wouldn't expect recruiters to mark you down for writing a standard-sized answer. However, I think you should not focus too much on a particular 'target' wordcount. Instead, I would take the opportunity to simply concentrate on writing the best possible answer, even if this ends up with a slightly higher word count than normal. If you observe the usual norms of conciseness and your write in a very structured and to the point manner, I would not expect recruiters to have an issue even with 500-600 word answers.
Just to add to @carys09 's great answer, I think even if you did not have any interactions with HL you can perhaps discuss how the events you have attended have developed your interest in practice areas or sectors the firm is really good in. This is the approach I took when writing an answer for the same question in my successful White & Case application - I have copied it bellow in case it is useful for you to see an example of this:
I really do not know much about this topic, but I have heard for places in Middle East offices firms will expect you to have: (i) a really strong reasoning as to why you want to work there as compared to any other offices; and (ii) to show you have the necessary language skills and capacity/desire to work and live in a different culture.I have a CC Middle East Video Interview coming up. Anyone have tips for what competencies I should prep for? Would appreciate any help!
