Ditto except I applied to BristolYeah same here— fairly similar scores, high numerical/verbal. No idea what happened.
How confident are you in your knowledge of the core LLB/PGDL subjects, including Contract, Tort, Trusts, Land, Criminal, and Public Law?
TCLA is teaming up with BPP for a free interactive event designed to refresh your fundamentals, especially for those interested in or planning to take the SQE. We'll practise multiple choice SQE questions, with prizes for the highest scoring participants!
Register HereDitto except I applied to BristolYeah same here— fairly similar scores, high numerical/verbal. No idea what happened.
Maybe this is greedy of me but do you have a similar insight for BCLP?Hiya @AlegalA
I don't have any particular information on their assessment centre, but just had a look through The Lawyer and Chambers UK and wanted to mention some recent information about the firm in case it helps your preparation (you may already know some/all of this).
Financial performance
The Lawyer reported that DACB had a really strong 2023/24. Their profile on the firm mentioned that revenue passed £300m for the first time, and profit before tax jumped by 15%. Average profit per member was also close to £700k. They’ve been trying to bring down their debt levels too, and while we don’t have exact figures, the firm said it ended the year with more cash and less debt than it started with.
Main areas of work this year
I'm sure you're well aware that the firm is still heavily insurance-focused, but also continues to work on significant personal injury matters. Chambers UK clearly ranks them well in areas such as insurance, personal injury, and mid-market commercial litigation. The firm seems to have doubled down on the litigation work in particular(especially through its Claims Solutions Group, which I'd encourage you to look into). The Lawyer also reported that they were growing their focus outside of just litigation, focussing on commercial, health, and regulatory work too. However it doesn't mention any particular matters on which they've been advising on in those areas. To help focus your research on the firm's practice area specialities prior to your assessment centre, you may want to look into the firms growth in these areas.
Global footprint
They’ve been expanding internationally at pace. Last year alone they opened in Argentina, Hong Kong, and Peru and just recently announced new offices in New York and LA. I found the US news pretty impressive for a UK-based insurance firm. The US legal market is famously hard to break into, especially without a merger or local alliance, so the fact they’re building a presence there independently is definitely noteworthy. Given recent political changes in the US, it's also quite interesting that they've double down on their interest in the US legal market (the new Administration has actually led some UK firms to really rethink their US strategy).
How they’ve set themselves apart from competitors
I'm sure you're well aware that, given the firm's insurance/disputes/personal injury focus, they tend to be pitted against firms such as Irwin Mitchell, Kennedys and Slater and Gordon. Interestingly, while several of their competitors have created spin-off tech or consultancy businesses, DACB seems to have taken a slightly different track. They’ve tried to embed that innovation within the core business. For instance, their Claims Solutions Group already functions as a distinct, tech-savvy arm within their core business. In this way, it seems the firm is innovating without fractionalising its operations in the way that some firms currently seem to be doing.
Hope this all helps a bit!
The legal recruitment process is excruciatingly bad. I’ve also yet to secure an offer after 4 assessment centres with different firms the last 2 years.spb pfo post ac 🤑 can't believe i've managed to fail 8/8 ACs over two cycles
Highest in both verbal and numericalbut what about their verbal and numerical scores?
Mine were:
Verbal: Highest
Numerical: highest
4377
PFO
Hi Ram! I was wondering how you would structure the SWOT analysis. Would you recommend using short bullet points, a paragraph for each Swot portion, or a mixture of both (i.e. bullet point + 1-2 sentences)?
Thanks in advance!
Highest in both verbal and numerical
I can ask but from what I remember discussing the application with them I don’t think so?That's crazy. 9877 is essentially perfect.
Were there any diversity related questions on the application form? I don't remember.
I can ask but from what I remember discussing the application with them I don’t think so?
Definitely, some greater clarity and transparency about the selection process would be highly appreciated.they say yes but I don't honestly remember
The first stage of our process is a short application form. You’ll be asked to share details of your undergraduate degree and any further vocational education, your life history, and information as part of the Rare Contextualised Recruitment System, which allows us to understand the context in which your experiences have been gained and enables us to identify top candidates from the widest pool possible.
It's weird, if you design a recruitment process in this way you either:
1. end up with irrelevant luck-based distinctions between candidates and/or
2. end up with a large number of candidates with the same score and then you must choose between them based on some undisclosed criteria that are not likely to link to job ability.
Yes it’s absolutely ridiculousmy friend got a PFO from WBD London today after getting 9877 on the assessment. Especially because there were no application questions, with a score as high as that I can’t think of one reason for the rejection? What would they even have based it on?
Yes it’s absolutely ridiculous
At the end of the day, partners have ownership in the firm and it is of material interest of them to engage in the recruiting process. Partners look for people they can see working alongside, and I've learned that their choice can be a lot more human-centred than grades / scores in an assesment. Being likeable / charismatic / enthusiastic will of course put you in much better stead. This is why it is important to find firms whose culture aligns with your character.The legal recruitment process is excruciatingly bad. I’ve also yet to secure an offer after 4 assessment centres with different firms the last 2 years.
There’s just too much bias involved in interviews that people are rejected because they weren’t ‘liked’. They shouldn’t allow partners or associates to conduct interviews anymore! It’s awful.
Quick WG Assumption Q:
For humankind to survive, it must colonise other planets.
Assumption - There will be a time when the Earth can no longer sustain human life.
Am I right in saying that an assumption has been made here?
The only thing I can think of against this is that Earth may very well sustain human life, but not be sufficient. Then again, that would mean that it technically cannot sustain human life, and therefore, the assumption is made.
Also, if I were to invert this: There will be a time when the Earth can sustain human life, then the proposed statement becomes redundant, which should logically indicate that there is an assumption, no?
3.30 am yk, I hate these damn tests.
May be a controversial take, but fundamentally law firms are partnerships where people work very closely together, so imo it makes sense for lawyers to be involved in the recruitment process and pick whom they find likeable, because at the end of the day they will be working long hours togetherThe legal recruitment process is excruciatingly bad. I’ve also yet to secure an offer after 4 assessment centres with different firms the last 2 years.
There’s just too much bias involved in interviews that people are rejected because they weren’t ‘liked’. They shouldn’t allow partners or associates to conduct interviews anymore! It’s awful.
8887 mid mid PFO for WBDFeeling super deflated after a WBD PFO had scores of 7677, high intellect & mid numerical.