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!
From what I am told, its first part is a situational judgement test while the second is basically a short video interview.
I would not worry too much. I also applied around the end of October last year and only heard back with an AC invite around the end of December.
To add to @Amma Usman 's great response, I definitely agree that you should continue to apply to other firms. Mentioning a previous vacation scheme experience as part of an application/interview with another firm will definitely boost your chances. Not only will it give you substantive experiences that you can reference, but I believe it boosts your profile in the eyes of firms generally. It essentially communicates to them that you were considered to be good enough as a candidate that you were specifically selected from a very high number of applicants. While they will still assess you on your VS performance, in a game of small margins this will definitely improve your odds. Furthermore, if you end up getting a VS offer from another firm before you actually commence the first VS, for the same reason this will increase your conversion chances with the current firm as well. From my experience in competitive vacation schemes at US firms, it tended to be people with multiple VS offers that got the TC offers.
I was thinking that too 😂 like I am sure the firm has loads of AI tools the trainees use. One of the firms (CMS I think?) even has a 'time when you used AI to help with a project' type question in their form. Surely it's a good thing to be using AI as long as you aren't like getting it to completely write it for you (which wouldn't be good anyway).
