VC interview help?

[Deleted member 1640]

Hi guys,

1. Potentially silly question but, when they ask why law, why us etc. is it ok to repeat the reasons in my application? I'm not sure how I should answer this.

2. I'm also trying to be up to date with commercial awareness/current affairs and visit the FT for a quick read, but not sure if I should be looking for something specific? Does anyone have any tips on this? Are there any issues more likely to be discussed in the interview?

Any other tips to prepare would be very welcome too.

 

[Dheepa]

1. I think it's fine to repeat answers and I think they would expect it because those answers usually don't change. I usually try to expand a bit more with my why this firm answer but otherwise it's largely the same.

2. The first thing I do is look over my application and see if I've mentioned anything that could be used to ask me a commercial awareness question. I've done a lot of things in relation to the automobile industry in terms of work experience so I always get asked about what's happening in that industry. I also work part time in retail and one of the most recent questions I got asked was about the retail industry. If you've mentioned a deal or something, really look into that deal, what industry the deal involved what jurisdiction it involved and read into articles to do with those things. Partners generally don't try to catch you out by asking something completely out of the blue and in my experience they tend to stick to things you've mentioned in your app and use that as a way to test your CA.

I think big generic issues to maybe look at are defo the US-China Trade Wars and maybe big tech regulation. TCLA has a great commercial awareness discussion section so maybe trawl through there and see if anything comes up frequently.

Also this year the thing I've found the most useful is listening to the FT daily news briefing podcast on Spotify!

Hope this helps!

 

[Deleted member 1640]

1. I think it's fine to repeat answers and I think they would expect it because those answers usually don't change. I usually try to expand a bit more with my why this firm answer but otherwise it's largely the same.

2. The first thing I do is look over my application and see if I've mentioned anything that could be used to ask me a commercial awareness question. I've done a lot of things in relation to the automobile industry in terms of work experience so I always get asked about what's happening in that industry. I also work part time in retail and one of the most recent questions I got asked was about the retail industry. If you've mentioned a deal or something, really look into that deal, what industry the deal involved what jurisdiction it involved and read into articles to do with those things. Partners generally don't try to catch you out by asking something completely out of the blue and in my experience they tend to stick to things you've mentioned in your app and use that as a way to test your CA.

I think big generic issues to maybe look at are defo the US-China Trade Wars and maybe big tech regulation. TCLA has a great commercial awareness discussion section so maybe trawl through there and see if anything comes up frequently.

Also this year the thing I've found the most useful is listening to the FT daily news briefing podcast on Spotify!

Hope this helps!

Thank you for this! I did mention a few things in my app I should've thought they may ask something more commercial on this, I should probably start there.

Didn't know about the FT podcast will definitely start listening to this!

Another thing, I am anticipating the 'what other law firms are you applying to", how would you suggest answering this? To be honest, I am applying to all kind of firms: silver circle, US, magic circle. But I don't think saying that would be a good idea?

 

[Dheepa]

Thank you for this! I did mention a few things in my app I should've thought they may ask something more commercial on this, I should probably start there.

Didn't know about the FT podcast will definitely start listening to this!

Another thing, I am anticipating the 'what other law firms are you applying to", how would you suggest answering this? To be honest, I am applying to all kind of firms: silver circle, US, magic circle. But I don't think saying that would be a good idea?

I always only mention firms that do the same kind of work (think practice area strengths or industry strengths) that the firm I'm interviewing at does! Just so they know I've made an informed decision in applying to them.

So if its a firm like Kirkland, I'd mention maybe one or two other PE focused firms. And then say something like "However, Kirkland is still my top choice because..." and then list some things that sets that firm apart from the other firms I mentioned. Basically you wanna structure it so that the firm you're interviewing at still comes across as being at the top of your list!

 

[Deleted member 1640]

This sounds like a really good approach thanks! Another silly question but how do you find who the firm's competitors are? For strengths I go on Legal500 and my guess is that if it says Band 1 = strength/what they are known for?

 

[Dheepa]

This sounds like a really good approach thanks! Another silly question but how do you find who the firm's competitors are? For strengths I go on Legal500 and my guess is that if it says Band 1 = strength/what they are known for?

Tbh, I've also always struggled with finding out definitively who a firm's competitors are because there isn't really a good resource online for this (that I know of). You could also look at things like the revenue of a firm, strategy for expansion and compare with similar firms who could be competitors in those respects?

But yeah for the strengths I just use Legal 500 rankings!

 

[Deleted member 1640]

Perfect thanks a lot!