Please state the month/year you interviewed at the firm.
March 2022
Please specify what the interview was for.
Summer Vacation Scheme 2022
Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.
10:30 - Interview with 1 Counsel and 1 Graduate Recruiter (there were different time slots for each candidate to select from)
until 00:00 - Written Exercise (to be completed at some point that day, up until 00:00)
Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.
1) Interview - 45 minutes to discuss your motivations, commercial awareness and competencies.
2) Written Exercise - 75 minutes to write a memorandum. You have to read through 4 news articles (the theme was topical and you would have heard about it if you had kept up with the commercial news over the past few months) and summarise: the key points raised, the issues & effects on the business of the client, and suggested precautions or next steps in connection with the issues identified.
Please list any interview questions you were asked.
Tell us about yourself.
Why White & Case?
Tell us about your journey to get here today, pursuing a career in a commercial law firm.
Why did you study your degree?
What makes a good trainee?
Can you tell me 3 commercial issues that you believe will affect White & Case?
Tell me about a time you worked as part of a team.
Tell me about a time you had to deal with cultural difference.
Tell me about a time you showed resilience.
Tell me about a time you received constructive criticism.
Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult person or a complaint?
Is there anything else you have not mentioned but would like to bring up?
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) Interview
The interview is CV-blind, so you need to try to get across your main USPs in your "Tell us about yourself" or "Is there anything else you have not mentioned?" questions. Most of the questions are competency and motivational. The motivational questions flow a lot from your own answers. Having a good reason for wanting to join the firm helps - for example experience at an Open Day or completing the White & Case Virtual Experience on Forage. Understanding the international nature of the firm, the training contract and some of the work the firm has done goes a long way. In addition to that, have a basic understanding of the core issues affecting law firms and commercial issues generally and understand how to use STAR/CAR for your own experiences to answer competency questions confidently.
2) Written Exercise
This is incredibly time pressured. My top recommendation is not to try and write about everything. Read the articles as fast as you can digest the content and then think, 'what were the key issues my client would be really panicking about in these articles' and write about 3-4 of them. If you try to fit everything in or be too comprehensive, you will run out of time. The news articles are usually very topical each year, so keeping on top of the main commercial news will always help as you will be more familiar with the content and be able to read/digest things faster (and even use some of your own knowledge in your recommendations). I also think it does help to have experience reading some Financial Times articles and practice summarising them (key points, issues, solutions) in an hour, if you do this a few times you will feel a lot more confident with the time pressures and if luck goes your way one of the articles/topics they use on the day might even be a one you've read before.
Were you successful?
Waiting to hear back
March 2022
Please specify what the interview was for.
Summer Vacation Scheme 2022
Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.
10:30 - Interview with 1 Counsel and 1 Graduate Recruiter (there were different time slots for each candidate to select from)
until 00:00 - Written Exercise (to be completed at some point that day, up until 00:00)
Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.
1) Interview - 45 minutes to discuss your motivations, commercial awareness and competencies.
2) Written Exercise - 75 minutes to write a memorandum. You have to read through 4 news articles (the theme was topical and you would have heard about it if you had kept up with the commercial news over the past few months) and summarise: the key points raised, the issues & effects on the business of the client, and suggested precautions or next steps in connection with the issues identified.
Please list any interview questions you were asked.
Tell us about yourself.
Why White & Case?
Tell us about your journey to get here today, pursuing a career in a commercial law firm.
Why did you study your degree?
What makes a good trainee?
Can you tell me 3 commercial issues that you believe will affect White & Case?
Tell me about a time you worked as part of a team.
Tell me about a time you had to deal with cultural difference.
Tell me about a time you showed resilience.
Tell me about a time you received constructive criticism.
Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult person or a complaint?
Is there anything else you have not mentioned but would like to bring up?
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) Interview
The interview is CV-blind, so you need to try to get across your main USPs in your "Tell us about yourself" or "Is there anything else you have not mentioned?" questions. Most of the questions are competency and motivational. The motivational questions flow a lot from your own answers. Having a good reason for wanting to join the firm helps - for example experience at an Open Day or completing the White & Case Virtual Experience on Forage. Understanding the international nature of the firm, the training contract and some of the work the firm has done goes a long way. In addition to that, have a basic understanding of the core issues affecting law firms and commercial issues generally and understand how to use STAR/CAR for your own experiences to answer competency questions confidently.
2) Written Exercise
This is incredibly time pressured. My top recommendation is not to try and write about everything. Read the articles as fast as you can digest the content and then think, 'what were the key issues my client would be really panicking about in these articles' and write about 3-4 of them. If you try to fit everything in or be too comprehensive, you will run out of time. The news articles are usually very topical each year, so keeping on top of the main commercial news will always help as you will be more familiar with the content and be able to read/digest things faster (and even use some of your own knowledge in your recommendations). I also think it does help to have experience reading some Financial Times articles and practice summarising them (key points, issues, solutions) in an hour, if you do this a few times you will feel a lot more confident with the time pressures and if luck goes your way one of the articles/topics they use on the day might even be a one you've read before.
Were you successful?
Waiting to hear back
