@Andrei Radu @Jessica Booker @Amma Usman @Ram Sabaratnam Hi guys, I just wanted some advice on the 'why this firm' element of a question. Do you think it is acceptable to talk just about for example training or do you think it could be quite generic. Would you suggest for the 'why this firm' aspect to link it back to a practice area or deal
Hey
@Unknowncabbage just to add to
@Jessica Booker's response and to give you my thoughts before
@Ram Sabaratnam and
@Amma Usman come back to you: I think for a great 'why the firm' answer you want for your reasons to (i) only apply to the particular firm, as opposed to applying equally to a a large number of firms; and (ii) be particularly relevant for you; as opposed to every other applicant.
For (i) I think you want to identify a firm's unique selling points (USPs). These are features of a firm that differentiate it from most other law firms in a relevant manner, and can be anything from the training approach and seats selection to practice area reputation and business strategy. While it is not necessary for a USP to be completely "unique" in that it does not apply to any other single firm, when taking in conjunction all the USPs you want there to be no other firm to which they apply to to the same extent as the firm you are going for.
For instance, if I were applying for
Latham, three USPs I could think of are (a) the firm being a PE powerhouse; (b) making a significant dent in UK corporate M&A market; and (c) developing a full service offering. (a) distinguishes
Latham from many firms, as it only applies to the same extent to the likes of Kirkland, Simpson Thatcher and Weil; (b) distinguishes
Latham from all the aforementioned three but not from a firm like
Skadden; while (c) distinguishes
Latham from all US firms with the exception of a
White & Case or Jones Day, who however are not equally strong players in the M&A/PE space. As such, taking (a), (b), and (c) together they will only apply to
Latham.
For (ii), as Jessica explained, you want to make a link between the firm feature and your personal experiences, motivations, skills, and interests. Essentially, you should show that you have particular reason to care about the identified USPs.
Now, coming back to your initial question, talking about the training could be insufficiently specific as I cannot think of many firms where particularities of the training approach distinguish it from every other competitor. As such, I would consider doing some more research to see what other USPs I can find.
