For Goodwin’s 100 word limit on ‘why Goodwin’ how should we approach answering it, do you think we need to link back our experiences I.e if we’re interested in life sciences.
has any1 heard from Skadden? Their apps are closed but haven't heard anything since my sept application.
Ah okay, thank you, I appreciate this!!I would always avoid repetition in an application and try to ensure a point is only made once in the most appropriate place.
With “why this firm” I don’t think you need to draw comparisons, you can just focus on what that particular firms offer. That is enough - trying to explain what others offer instead would just utilise word count without really answering the question.
I’m struggling with this too, I don’t have much left to say other than a charity volunteer position as most of my experiences come under work experience!Hi @Jessica Booker and anyone who can help!
I had a quick query regarding one of the questions in my application. The question reads:
“Please detail all your positions of responsibility, including title, date, and a brief description. Please separate each position with a bullet point - 500 words.”
For some reason, I find myself repeating a lot of my work experience.
I’m currently holding a society position and also held one last year, which I plan to mention. However, since the word count is quite high, I wanted to ask if volunteering, such as pro bono work, could come under "positions of responsibility." Additionally, I’m a campus ambassador for a law firm, but I feel that role leans more towards work experience rather than a position of responsibility, especially since it’s a paid role. I’m a bit confused because I typically categorise pro bono work and my campus ambassador experience as work experience. Do you have any tips on what else could be included under positions of responsibility without repeating my work experience?
Another issue I had was with the formatting of the bullet points. I wanted to clarify whether I’m supposed to write the description and my responsibilities in bullet points (similar to a CV), or if they expect each experience to be listed as a bullet point with the description written in prose.
I’d really appreciate some insight on this.
@Jessica Booker
Is it bad to use the same experience to answer different questions if we're using it to talk about different skills from different tasks. For a recent internship, I wrote briefs for clients and also handles multilingual communication between countries. Can I use the first reason to explain interest in a practice area and then use the internship again in a later question if discussing communication skills, or is that considered being repetitive?
I have not had any personal experience with this particular type of written assessment method, but I think it is quite likely the firm is looking to assess the same key competencies: time-management and resilience under pressure, ability to identify and summarize key issues in large bodies of text, use of formal language, commercial awareness and problem solving skills. As such, I do not think your preparation for this type of written assessment format should be very different from your preparation for an exercise with a more common format.Does anyone have tips for a written assessment in the form of an article? Usually it's an email to a client/partner and unsure how to prepare for this.
Thank you! @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu
Hey, the confirmation email mentioned they'll progress success candidates to written exercise stage WC 1t6th December so not long left to wait nowhas any1 heard from Skadden? Their apps are closed but haven't heard anything since my sept application.
Hi @Jessica Booker and anyone who can help!
I had a quick query regarding one of the questions in my application. The question reads:
“Please detail all your positions of responsibility, including title, date, and a brief description. Please separate each position with a bullet point - 500 words.”
For some reason, I find myself repeating a lot of my work experience.
I’m currently holding a society position and also held one last year, which I plan to mention. However, since the word count is quite high, I wanted to ask if volunteering, such as pro bono work, could come under "positions of responsibility." Additionally, I’m a campus ambassador for a law firm, but I feel that role leans more towards work experience rather than a position of responsibility, especially since it’s a paid role. I’m a bit confused because I typically categorise pro bono work and my campus ambassador experience as work experience. Do you have any tips on what else could be included under positions of responsibility without repeating my work experience?
Another issue I had was with the formatting of the bullet points. I wanted to clarify whether I’m supposed to write the description and my responsibilities in bullet points (similar to a CV), or if they expect each experience to be listed as a bullet point with the description written in prose.
I’d really appreciate some insight on this.
Hey thanks for this, I must have missed this email! 😀Hey, the confirmation email mentioned they'll progress success candidates to written exercise stage WC 1t6th December so not long left to wait now![]()
Very much in same boat waiting. I applied and sat the test almost 2 months ago. They might be mega busy with the insight days etc ?Has anyone been told they have successfully passed the test for Trowers & Hamlins?
Does anyone know if there are any firms with a strict zero-typo policy? 😭I spent weeks on an app, attended firm events etc, had it reviewed by multiple people, SPENT TWO DAYS PROOFREADING ( not continuously obviously but at random points) - stupidly made a last-minute change in the work experience section which caused my automatic keyboard to change the word to my last name ( I forgot it was on) - it obviously doesn't fit in the sentence and its capitalised so there's no chance graduate recruitment will miss it. It's so disheartening - I've been applying for so long and it just seems to be going nowhere because I keep making stupid little errors which is obviously my own fault but ouch.😟.
Just to add to @Ram Sabaratnam's great response here, I think a useful way to conceive of a positions of responsibility is as a role in which you are entrusted to do something which has an impact on others. This definitely captures society/club roles, but I think it goes beyond that. For instance, although debating/negotiations/mooting/another competition would normally count as an extracurricular, if you got to represent your society/university in an intervarsity competition, I think that could could count as a position of responsibility - because you are entrusted with the responsibility of representing a large group of people and the reputation of an institution. Similarly, although they may not be counted as official committee or subcommittee positions, contributing as a judge or trainer is also a position of responsibility.Hi @Jessica Booker and anyone who can help!
I had a quick query regarding one of the questions in my application. The question reads:
“Please detail all your positions of responsibility, including title, date, and a brief description. Please separate each position with a bullet point - 500 words.”
For some reason, I find myself repeating a lot of my work experience.
I’m currently holding a society position and also held one last year, which I plan to mention. However, since the word count is quite high, I wanted to ask if volunteering, such as pro bono work, could come under "positions of responsibility." Additionally, I’m a campus ambassador for a law firm, but I feel that role leans more towards work experience rather than a position of responsibility, especially since it’s a paid role. I’m a bit confused because I typically categorise pro bono work and my campus ambassador experience as work experience. Do you have any tips on what else could be included under positions of responsibility without repeating my work experience?
Another issue I had was with the formatting of the bullet points. I wanted to clarify whether I’m supposed to write the description and my responsibilities in bullet points (similar to a CV), or if they expect each experience to be listed as a bullet point with the description written in prose.
I’d really appreciate some insight on this.
Thank you so much @Ram Sabaratnam this is really helpful, I noticed some of my previous answers could be drastically improved 😅Hiya @jojo23
Great questions! I'll take these in order.
First, I generally recommend that applicants avoid reusing part of their answer to 'Why commercial law' answer in their answer to 'Why this firm'. I think these questions serve different purposes:
That said, I think it's possible to reframe your points so that your answers don't sound repetitive. For example, if you mention you're interested in working on cross-border deals in your answer to why commercial law, and you want to mention a similar point in your 'why this firm' question, then reflect on why the firm's cross-border expertise really stands out here. Are there certain sectors or matters they've advised on which are particularly tricky from a cross-border perspective? Does the firm's cross-border expertise extend beyond transactions to include regulatory or disputes capabilities? These are just some points to reflect on in order to ensure that your answer to the two questions seem distinct.
- 'Why commercial law' is all about your broader motivations—why you’re drawn to the challenges and opportunities that are really distinctive of working in commercial law.
- 'Why this firm' is your chance to show you’ve done your research and understand what makes this firm unique. This is where you demonstrate why it stands out to you beyond just being a commercial law firm.
Second, comparing firms can work, but I usually suggest focusing on what excites you about this firm specifically. Drawing explicit comparisons can be tricky to get right. Instead, you can mention experiences that shaped your interest in a practice area or sector and then highlight why this firm is particularly appealing. Here's one way that I approached this in my own application:
This kind of comparison shows thoughtful engagement with certain sectors/practice areas without explicitly comparing the firm you're applying to with other firms you might've interacted with.
- “By attending open days at several US-headquartered firms with life sciences expertise, I became interested in the way commercial lawyers often assist in areas such as drug discovery and development, often working closely with key regulators and leading life science researchers. Firm X's work in this area particularly stands out to me because of its unique combination of both transactional and regulatory expertise in the life sciences, as seen in [specific example and brief explanation of why the deal/case is commercially/legally interesting]..."
Hope this helps, and good luck with your application! I'm also sure that @Andrei Radu and @Amma Usman would have much more brilliant insights to add here.
Thank you so much @Ram Sabaratnam this is really helpful, I noticed some of my previous answers could be drastically improved 😅
Literally same. I was really surprised and somewhat disappointed. Tempted to email their Graduate Recruitment team and ask but I don't want to appear as if I'm on a high horse or anything D:I just did the HSF test and the report feedback is literally the exact opposite of everything I clicked?? Is this a bug or something, fairly sure I didn't contradict myself between answers as well...