What are the most important aspects of a career for you? What makes you feel motivated and fulfilled? (250 words)

I hope to strengthen my innovative thinking by immersing myself in intellectually challenging matters. I want to work at a firm where innovation is integrated into all aspects of its work. Seeing that Osborne Clarke is a market-leader in its core sectors due to its ability to provide clients with novel solutions, I am eager to shape myself into a trailblazer in my field.

Feedback:This is a tricky question – it asks you to address two separate points within one question. You should focus on 2-3 in-depth aspects of a career that are important to you, before explaining why they motivate you by using specific and in-depth personal examples. Ideally, these points should relate to a career in commercial law somehow. The PEEL structure is recommended for questions like this once again.

You should note how the candidate leads with a concise point straight away, before elaborating on this point somewhat by explaining that they want to work at a firm that invests heavily in innovation. The candidate also starts to pivot their answer towards Osborne Clarke specifically. Though this is not explicitly called for by the question, this can help convince the recruiters that you would be motivated and fulfilled in a career at Osborne Clarke (and so you are worth investing in for the long term). That said, you must always back up your points with personal examples and link your explanations/evidence back to your point.

This paragraph suffers because it lacks depth in the second half. The candidate makes a generic point that Osborne Clarke is a “market-leader in its core sectors due to its ability to provide clients with novel solutions”. This point is not tailored to Osborne Clarke whatsoever. It also does not add anything to the candidate’s point about their interest in innovation. Instead, the candidate should have offered a specific personal example demonstrating their interest in innovation and explained why this appeals to them.

The candidate’s assertion that they want to “shape themselves into a trailblazer” also comes across as quite corny. The candidate never explains what they mean by this or why it relates to their point about innovation. You must always write in clear and straightforward language, since this will demonstrate to the recruiter that you have the writing abilities needed to succeed as a commercial lawyer.

Likewise, I would like to receive higher levels of autonomy at an earlier level so that I can step outside of my comfort zone and gain a broader experience. Not only will Osborne Clarke's culture and ethos allow me to do this, but also I know that the firm will openly welcome me and provide me with any support when needed. This will allow me to grow into a confident and well-rounded lawyer early on.

Feedback: This is a valid point that addresses the question asked. If you state that you want higher levels of responsibility at an earlier stage in your career, then you should always illustrate this with a specific personal example and explain why high responsibility appeals to you. If you have space, you can then tailor this to Osborne Clarke by highlighting specific features of Osborne Clarke’s training/team structure that would lend you autonomy and high responsibilities early on.

This paragraph otherwise suffers the same flaws as the previous. Firstly, the candidate does not offer any personal examples or explanation as to why higher levels of autonomy are important to them or would motivate them in a career. This makes the candidate’s point rather unconvincing overall. Secondly, the candidate again makes a generic point about Osborne Clarke’s culture. Without having worked at Osborne Clarke previously, the candidate will not convince a recruiter that they “know” Osborne Clarke will “openly welcome them” and provide support where needed. Instead, the candidate should have prioritised developing their point with specific personal examples. They can then gear the answer towards Osborne Clarke if they have the space.

To avoid this issue, you should follow the PEEL structure strictly in each paragraph. The candidate probably also should have focused on 2 in-depth paragraphs (125 words each) as opposed to 3 broad paragraphs. As a rule, you should always prioritise depth over breadth. This will allow you to demonstrate your analytical and writing skills to the recruiter, whereas broader points will make it harder for you to do this.

As a naturally outgoing and collaborative person, I am motivated by a diverse and inclusive firm culture. I want to work at a firm where I will be valued. Osborne Clarke's open-door policy would allow me to collaborate with and learn from, trainees, supervisors and associates to push myself as an aspiring commercial solicitor and to gain confidence. Through this, my understanding of the legal industry and communication skills would improve, hence allowing me to better engage with my clients and cater to their needs, which is important for me.

Feedback: This paragraph is an improvement on the previous two. Though the candidate again focuses on Osborne Clarke, the candidate at least offers a specific detail about Osborne Clarke’s culture (namely that it has an open-door policy). This demonstrates a fair level of research to the recruiter.

As with the previous two paragraphs, the candidate needed to offer specific and personal examples illustrating why diversity and inclusion appeals to them. If the candidate then chooses to highlight Osborne Clarke’s open-door policy, they would need to explain how this fits in with the candidate’s wider career preferences/motivations.

What are the most important aspects of a career for you? What makes you feel motivated and fulfilled? (250 words)

One of the most important aspects of a career for me is being in an environment where my abilities are stretched and I have the opportunity to learn from my work and colleagues. I feel motivated through enjoyment of the work I take on and the challenges it brings. At a commercial firm like Osborne Clarke I would be given the chance to work both on instrumental deals and smaller transactions. Furthermore, the client contact time offered at your firm entices me as it would facilitate a better understanding of the clients business, allowing me to consider longer term issues and opportunities in the client's industry.

I am motivated to always keep improving by challenging myself and taking on feedback. During my school years I swam competitively, which required training six times a week. Fitting this in around work was extremely tough but my determination to achieve my targets meant I continued to improve. Being part of a driven team with a positive mindset, such as Osborne Clarke, will undoubtedly inspire me and ensure I am fulfilled in my legal career.

In addition, it is important to me to join a career where there is opportunity to progress and advance through the firm. Finding a firm where I can start as a trainee and remain in the long term is a major ambition of mine, making Osborne Clarke's strong levels of retention of trainees and qualified solicitors highly appealing.

Feedback: The candidate makes their professional aspirations immediately clear to the reader in each given paragraph, which renders the structure of their answer particularly easy to digest and suggests that they are confident in the content thereof. Importantly, they explain the reasons or rationale behind those aspirations, giving the reader a glimpse into their personality and mindset. What makes their answer particularly effective, however, is the fact that the candidate ties their professional aspirations back to working at Osborne Clarke, which is likely to leave the reader with the impression that the candidate could be a good fit for the firm.

We strive for excellence for our clients and people. What will drive you to deliver excellent client service? (250 words max) *

I believe that the drive to achieve success in any field must come from within. External factors such as remuneration and status play a part, but ultimately it is the satisfaction of completing a task to the highest standard that motivates me. The most personally fulfilling moments of the various work experiences referred to in this application are those where I have gone the extra mile to achieve the best result possible.

Feedback: This is a neat and coherent paragraph that addresses the question directly. The candidate gets straight to the point in outlining what motivates them to deliver high standards of work to clients. In particular, the candidate does well in addressing both the external factors (such as remuneration) and their own personal motivating factors for delivering high standards. This results in a nuanced, multi-faceted introductory paragraph that demonstrates the candidate’s full understanding of the question. In turn, this creates a good logical platform on which the candidate can later unpack their motivations and explore specific examples.

As a minor comment, the grammar/sentence structure in this paragraph is quite clunky and difficult to follow. For instance, the candidate’s final sentence is incredibly long-winded and convoluted and uses multiple tenses/perspectives. It runs on for 30 words (over 1/10th of the word count) without breaking itself up or varying the structure. Had the candidate split up their sentences and applied good grammar throughout, then they would free up valuable words and make their writing easier to follow (and so be persuaded by).

Additionally, I am driven to deliver excellent client service because I enjoy creatively engaging with situations that involve diverse perspectives and a high degree of complexity. Taylor Wessing’s clients expect expert legal advice which is commercially focussed. Providing this level of service requires specialist advisory, transactional and contentious capability. Taylor Wessing facilitates this by organising itself into a sector-based approach which focuses on clients’ key industries. This structure stood out to me as different to many other City firms and particularly appealing as it allows fee earners to gain a better understanding of clients’ wider business strategies. This approach is also conducive to more creative methods of problem-solving which address the client’s position from every angle.

This seamless process fosters strong, long-lasting client relationships. It is these features that very much reflect my own attitudes to problem-solving and the enjoyment I gain from exceeding client expectations would motivate me to deliver excellent service at Taylor Wessing.

Feedback: The beginning of this paragraph looks good, as it sets the expectation that the candidate will later unpack specific personal examples in support of their point. The candidate also demonstrates a decent understanding of precisely how City law firms draw upon their strengths to advise clients. For instance, the candidate does well to pick out a specific feature of Taylor Wessing (namely its sector-specific targeted approach). Then, the candidate drills down on how this organisational structure means that Taylor Wessing’s lawyers develop a better understanding of their clients’ business operations. This results in a coherently-structured paragraph demonstrating the candidate’s understanding of commercial law firms and how they attract/retain business clients.

However, most of this candidate’s writing does not truly answer the question. This is not a motivational question calling for you to explain your interest in Taylor Wessing, nor does it ask you to explain how Taylor Wessing delivers high standards for clients. Instead, the question asks you to explain what personally drives you to deliver excellent standards of services. The candidate demonstrated some understanding of this point initially, having primarily done so in their introductory paragraph and at the first sentence of this paragraph. The recruiter would have then expected the candidate to unpack these points with personal examples, which would then demonstrate the candidate’s drive to deliver high standards. Instead, the candidate leaves these points unaddressed and spends the answer simply describing Taylor Wessing’s strategy instead. For instance, the candidate asserted in their introduction that they “enjoy going the extra mile” but they never provided any examples in support of this. In turn, this suggests the candidate has not sufficiently understood the question.

Even if we grant this paragraph the benefit of the doubt, the candidate’s writing is not sufficiently tailored to Taylor Wessing. The candidate relies on the fact that Taylor Wessing has a “sector-based approach”, but they never drill down on what they mean by this any further. This is not a unique feature in itself. Many of Taylor Wessing’s direct competitors (e.g. Watson Farley Williams) also focus on specific sectors, rather than offering full-service strengths. As such, the candidate would have needed to be far more specific in explaining how Taylor Wessing distinctly offers good service.

What are the most important rewards you expect in your career? (250 Words)

The two main rewards that I’d expect are:

[Feedback: Avoid contractions in formal writing.]

1. Passion fulfilment. I am passionate about corporate law as it is arguably one of the more fulfilling careers out there. As a corporate solicitor, I would have the power to help those who are merely innocent casualties of powerful adversaries. This makes the work meaningful, which, in turn, motivates me to do better. For example, the people of Croatia would have been negatively affected if not for Akin Gump’s solicitors’ restructuring agreement for Agrokor. Despite best efforts put forth by the government, it was ultimately the solicitors of Akin Gump that stopped the company that accounted for 11% of Croatia’s GDP from going insolvent.

[Feedback: For questions like these, it is always best to split up your answer into two or three paragraphs, as this candidate has done. The candidate also does well to signpost what ‘reward’ they are going to address, which lends the argument structure and clarity.

Ensure that you stick to a PEE/AL structure. This candidate has excellent evidence and explanation, and preemptively links the evidence back to themselves. To improve this answer, the candidate could have had a clearer opening paragraph sentence, as the existing first sentence is more platitudinal than substantive.

As a final point, it is advisable to use language that is less grandiose or extreme. Whilst it is important to have engaging answers, this should not come at the expense of your professional tone.]

2. Accomplishment. As a naturally competitive person, I am satisfied simply by accomplishing a task. I enjoy setting a goal and achieving it, and I am unaffected by any other benefits, including monetary benefits. For example, in 2016, I sold my company for a large sum of money, and I donated every cent of it. It was enough for me to accomplish my goal of setting up my own company successfully. Similarly, a career in law is enough for me. I am simply excited about being able to work on meaningful deals, as every decision has a significant effect on someone. Akin Gump’s reputation attracts continuous work that is interesting and meaningful. Therefore, by working at the firm, I would naturally go above and beyond my payroll because it offers more than just a job to me.

[Feedback: The answer is a good demonstration of a PEEL structure – the candidate states their point, gives personalised evidence for the point, explains how that relates to a career in law, and links it back to the question.

Make sure that you stick to the same point in your shorter answers. The candidate does present an argument that follows throughout the paragraph; however, it is lost in some places – for example, at the end of the paragraph the answer morphs from being concerned about completing tasks to undertaking meaningful work (which echoes the previous paragraph). Ensure that you are clear about what you are arguing for and guide the reader from sentence to sentence to ensure that they are always aware of what you are arguing for and why.

As a final point of improvement, avoid informal phraseology, such as ‘every single cent of it’, or superfluous adverb use, such as the repeated use of ‘simply’. It detracts from the content of your answer, and serves more as a distraction than an augmentation.]

What are the most important rewards you expect in your career?

One of the most important rewards for me is having a tangible impact in creating or delivering high quality work. An example of this was when I took part in a group project in a module called Global Marketing Strategy which was based on recommending a mode of expansion to a multinational patisserie. I was elected group leader and worked to ensure that our project was as good as it possibly could be. Consequently, our project received 82% and was the highest result in the module. This illustrates that I believe that creating work that I can be proud of is a significant reward in itself. At Akin Gump, the opportunity to have an impact on high value transactions with a variety of stakeholders would undoubtedly be a rewarding prospect.

Feedback: The candidate clearly identifies a “reward” that they could plausibly expect from a career in commercial law and illustrates their understanding of that “reward” with an appropriate example. To make their answer more persuasive, the candidate could have explained why the prospect of “having a tangible impact in creating or delivering high quality work” is particularly important or appealing to them. Equally, they could have explained why they “worked to ensure that [their] project was as good as it possibly could be”. Sharing such personal insights within your answers increases the likelihood of your application standing out as authentic and genuine. In terms of presenting their example, the candidate does well to follow the “CAR” structure (“context”, “action”, “result”), though they could have doubled down on the “action” element in order to achieve a more emphatic effect and avoid ambiguities. They also do well to link their discussion back to Akin Gump even though the prompt does not explicitly direct candidates to do so. However, the link per se is weak, as it is not well-substantiated and it is couched in ambiguous language. Instead of simply stating that working on non-commoditised transactions at Akin Gump “would undoubtedly be a rewarding prospect”, they could have explained why such transactions appeal to them.

Additionally, I am motivated by the prospect of progression. This includes both formal promotions and being trusted with more responsibility and higher quality work. An example of this was my role as a transition mentor at [redacted university]. I mentored a group of eight students and due to my exceptional performance I was promoted to oversee the mentoring scheme for life science students. I oversaw 20 mentors, received weekly progress reports and organised workshops to support mentors based on any feedback I received. Progression is rewarding to me because this gives me the opportunity to become more involved in projects and have a more impactful role.

Feedback: Echoing the comment made supra, the candidate identifies a “reward” that they could plausibly expect from a career in commercial law, explains their understanding of that “reward”, and illustrates it with an appropriate example by loosely following the “CAR” structure. Unlike in the previous paragraph, the candidate explains why “the prospect of progression” is important to them, though they could have done so at the beginning rather than the end of the paragraph to achieve a more emphatic effect. Notably, they do well to mention their willingness to be entrusted with more responsibility and high-stakes tasks because US-heritage firms such as Akin Gump tend to place a great deal of emphasis on this within their recruitment materials.

What personal or career goals do you have for yourself at present? (200 words)

My goals are to be able to start my legal career and it becoming part of who I am. I want to further develop the skills that I have obtained during my academic experience, work experience and positions of responsibility and refine them to suit the legal career. On a longer term, my goals are to try to have an impact on society in a way or another. I believe that the career that I choose needs to allow me to make a positive change in the world. A legal career can do just that, as any practice area, from energy to intellectual property, involves projects and deals that can change the way societies function.

Feedback: This question is quite unique to K&L Gates. We recommend that candidates either focus on professional goals or clearly link any personal goals to their career (e.g., continuing to prioritise hobbies and sport to de-stress from busy workdays. 

This paragraph is weaker than we would expect for the first answer in a successful application.  The so-called goals that it outlines are not goals at all; they are vague wishes, rather than specific and actionable goals. 

It’s fine to focus your answer on your career.  In our view, the best answer that you can write is to explain that you are (1) committed to successfully completing your legal training to achieve the strongest possible foundation for your future legal career and (2) focused on making the most out of your training contract to ensure that you make a considered choice about where to qualify (while keeping an open mind about ideal qualification options for the moment).

The risk attached to vague and ill-defined statements like “try to have an impact on society in a way or another” is that they don’t resonate with the organisation that you are applying for.  You’re applying for a training contract at a commercial institution, not an NGO.  Commercial law firms exist to make money for their owners - the partnership.  There are positive externalities (such as pro bono advice and fundraising for worthy causes), but this is not the primary goal. 

The candidate could also have added some substantiating examples which contextualise their goals. The candidate outlines that they want to impact society and make a positive change in the world, but does do not explain why this is the case or where this goal came from. While the word count here is challenging, candidates should always prioritise depth over breadth and substantiate their points where possible.

Moreover, I believe that one of the more general goals one should have when choosing a career is to find that one is respected by his/her peers. That is one of the benchmarks by which to measure success in a career, as being recognised by people doing the same thing as you is a sign that your work has not gone unnoticed.

Feedback: This paragraph is slightly weaker than the previous. The candidate does not talk about this goal from their own perspective, instead asserting that people should generally want to be respected by their careers. Also, this point is risky to make to a cynical recruiter. Trainees will not always be appreciated and recognised for their work. As such, a cynical recruiter might doubt whether the trainee can stay motivated if they are working under a difficult partner or associate.

The candidate would have been better off cutting out this paragraph. This frees up 62 precious words, with which they can use to expand on their previous paragraph through personal examples.