- Feb 17, 2018
- 4,719
- 8,627
Please state the month/year you interviewed at the firm.
March 2021
Please specify what the interview was for.
Summer Vacation Scheme 2021
Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.
1 hour long interview with 1 partner (virtual, over zoom).
Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.
1 hour long interview with 1 partner. There were no other activities / tasks.
What is your best advice for each aspect of the assessment on the day? Please break this down for each assessment. This can include advice for preparation, as well as tips for the day.
1. Review your entire application (both cover letter & work experience) as they may pick up on any work you’ve done and ask you about it so you want to make sure you’re ready for any questions. They picked up on a university society role I had as well as other legal work experience so make sure you review everything, not just your legal work experience.
2. Know answers to the 3 Why’s: why law / commercial law, why travers, why you. The partner asked me these questions but not directly, he weaved them in with other questions / asked them as follow ups.
3. Commercial question: I was surprised that I wasn’t asked the “tell us a recent news story that interests you” but rather the partner picked a story. The story they picked linked to the area of law they work in. My advice here would be to firstly have a news story that interests you prepared just incase they do give you the choice to choose a topic. Secondly, however, you should research the partner that is interviewing you (they will tell you who it is prior to your interview) and find out what area of law they specialise in. You should then see what news is going on in that area. For example, if an employment lawyer is interviewing you they may ask you about the gig economy and the story about Uber (I was asked about this). Similarly, if your interviewer is a corporate lawyer, they may ask you about M&A and ask you about a recent merger in the news.
4. The partner did not ask me to talk about any deals they’ve worked on, despite the fact that I mentioned a deal in my application. I would advise you prepare for this question regardless just in case.
5. Debate question: as everyone always advises, stick to your point, stay confident and explain your reasoning behind your opinion. There is not much you can do to prepare for the debate question. Perhaps make sure you have a broad idea of what is happening in the news as they could pick a recent story and try to debate it as they did with me.
6. Have some questions prepared at the end as they give you some time to ask questions.
When I was preparing for this interview, I came across a wide variety of advice regarding how to prepare and the type of questions they ask you. After completing the interview, it appears that the questions you’re asked and the amount of detail on certain topics you’d need to know really varies depending on your interviewer. My interviewer told me at the start that he had a list of questions to ask me, but his follow up questions were all asked on the spot and not prepared, meaning that every candidate will have quite a different experience during the interview. For example if you mention you did work experience and you learnt about the process of an M&A transaction, one interviewer may ask you to explain the process to them whilst another may just move on to the next question. I also spent a lot of time revising topics such as private equity, M&A, IPO’s etc but I was not asked anything about them. Again, this could vary however depending on your interviewer.
Overall advice: prepare answers for the 3 why’s, brush up on recent news in general and more specifically about the area your interviewer works in, review your application.
Were you successful?
Waiting to hear back
March 2021
Please specify what the interview was for.
Summer Vacation Scheme 2021
Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.
1 hour long interview with 1 partner (virtual, over zoom).
Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.
1 hour long interview with 1 partner. There were no other activities / tasks.
What is your best advice for each aspect of the assessment on the day? Please break this down for each assessment. This can include advice for preparation, as well as tips for the day.
1. Review your entire application (both cover letter & work experience) as they may pick up on any work you’ve done and ask you about it so you want to make sure you’re ready for any questions. They picked up on a university society role I had as well as other legal work experience so make sure you review everything, not just your legal work experience.
2. Know answers to the 3 Why’s: why law / commercial law, why travers, why you. The partner asked me these questions but not directly, he weaved them in with other questions / asked them as follow ups.
3. Commercial question: I was surprised that I wasn’t asked the “tell us a recent news story that interests you” but rather the partner picked a story. The story they picked linked to the area of law they work in. My advice here would be to firstly have a news story that interests you prepared just incase they do give you the choice to choose a topic. Secondly, however, you should research the partner that is interviewing you (they will tell you who it is prior to your interview) and find out what area of law they specialise in. You should then see what news is going on in that area. For example, if an employment lawyer is interviewing you they may ask you about the gig economy and the story about Uber (I was asked about this). Similarly, if your interviewer is a corporate lawyer, they may ask you about M&A and ask you about a recent merger in the news.
4. The partner did not ask me to talk about any deals they’ve worked on, despite the fact that I mentioned a deal in my application. I would advise you prepare for this question regardless just in case.
5. Debate question: as everyone always advises, stick to your point, stay confident and explain your reasoning behind your opinion. There is not much you can do to prepare for the debate question. Perhaps make sure you have a broad idea of what is happening in the news as they could pick a recent story and try to debate it as they did with me.
6. Have some questions prepared at the end as they give you some time to ask questions.
When I was preparing for this interview, I came across a wide variety of advice regarding how to prepare and the type of questions they ask you. After completing the interview, it appears that the questions you’re asked and the amount of detail on certain topics you’d need to know really varies depending on your interviewer. My interviewer told me at the start that he had a list of questions to ask me, but his follow up questions were all asked on the spot and not prepared, meaning that every candidate will have quite a different experience during the interview. For example if you mention you did work experience and you learnt about the process of an M&A transaction, one interviewer may ask you to explain the process to them whilst another may just move on to the next question. I also spent a lot of time revising topics such as private equity, M&A, IPO’s etc but I was not asked anything about them. Again, this could vary however depending on your interviewer.
Overall advice: prepare answers for the 3 why’s, brush up on recent news in general and more specifically about the area your interviewer works in, review your application.
Were you successful?
Waiting to hear back
