Davis Polk Vacation Scheme - January 2024

Full recruitment process

1. Application: cover letter and CV

2. Assessment centre 

3. Vacation scheme 

Which aspect does this report cover?

Assessment centre

Where did the assessment centre take place?

Online, via Zoom

What did the assessment centre involve?      

1. Introduction: unassessed chat between myself and graduate recruitment (i.e. not with other candidates), where graduate recruitment asked how I was doing and outlined the structure of the day (~15 minutes)

2. Interview A: motivation and competency interview (~20 minutes with a partner)

3. Interview B: another motivation and competency interview (~20 minutes with a partner)

4. Interview C: informal interview mostly focused on questions I wanted to ask the interviewer (~20 minutes with a junior associate) 

The interviewers had read my CV and cover letter before the interviews. All three interviews had a significant overlap in terms of the questions that were asked. I was not asked a single technical or particularly difficult question. 

Interview A

During this motivation and competency interview, I was asked questions including: 

• Why law?
• Why Davis Polk?
• Why specifically did you choose your university?
• Give us an example of a time you had to be resilient (note that when I responded with an example, the interviewers asked me more about that specific experience and seemed genuinely curious - this made the interview more conversational).

There was plenty of time left at the end for me to ask questions to the partner and learn more about them, their practice and the firm.

Interview B 

During this motivation and competency interview, I was asked questions including: 

• Why did you enjoy studying law?
• What was your favourite degree module (I explained why contract law appealed to me so much)
• Which other firms have you applied to? 
• Give us an example of a time where you have had to use your time management skills.
• What do you spend the rest of your time at university doing?

There was plenty of time left at the end for me to ask questions to the partner and learn more about them, their practice and the firm. For example, he was a tax partner and I felt comfortable enough to be completely candid and ask what tax lawyers actually do. 

Interview C

This felt a lot more informal; the interviewer was less formal himself and closer in age to me. 

After I expressed my curiosity, he explained about his own career and how he had had training contract offers from two firms but chose Davis Polk (he gave his reasons for making this choice).

I explained why the firm appeals to me and he then expanded on how the features I mentioned - like the small office and corporate focus - were things that he liked as well. 

Overall it was very conversational.

Outcome

I received a call from one of my interviewers the morning after my interview to offer me a place on the vacation scheme.

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?

I believe the interviewers responded very well to how casual and conversational I was.

I was very glad that I had thought about why the education and teaching style at my university was so good for me and why I enjoyed the study of law.

Davis Polk Vacation Scheme - January 2023

What was the full recruitment process?         

1. Application

2. Assessment centre 

3. Vacation scheme

Which aspect does this report cover?

Interview

Where did the assessment centre take place?            

Zoom

What did the assessment centre involve?      

1. Introduction: Unassessed chat with graduate recruitment (~15 minutes)

2. Interview A: Motivation and competency interview (~20 minutes with a partner)

3. Interview B: Another motivation and competency interview (~20 minutes with a partner)

4. Interview C: Informal interview focused on me, my motivations and questions I had (~20 minutes with a senior associate) 

The interviewers had read my CV and cover letter before the interviews. All three interviews had a significant overlap in terms of the questions that were asked.

Interview A

During this motivation and competency interview, I was asked questions including: 

• Why law?
• Why commercial law specifically?
• Why Davis Polk?
• Why M&A over other areas? (I spoke about their M&A practice in my cover letter)
• Have you been following any of the firm’s deals?
• Why study and work in the UK rather than your home country?
• How did you deal with the shift in culture from your home country to the UK?

Some of the questions seemed like follow-ups from my answers (i.e. not scripted), so the interview felt conversational.  

Interview B

During this motivation and competency interview, I was asked questions including: 

• Why law?
• Why not banking? (I had prior banking experience)
• Why Davis Polk?
• Why did you choose to study in the UK, and why specifically your university?

There was then a conversation about some of the experiences discussed on my CV, which included questions such as:

• What have you learnt from cricket?
• How do you manage your time between academics, applications, and extra-curricular activities?
• If you could only pick one activity for a day, what would it be and why? (I had to pick from the activities listed on my CV: cricket, chess, theatre, mooting, negotiation)

There was some time remaining at the end, so I had the chance to ask a question and I asked about the firm’s training culture from a partner’s perspective.

Interview C

This interview was less formal than the other two. I was asked questions, but felt I could steer the interview in the direction I wanted to. The senior associate introduced themselves and told me about their journey into law and at Davis Polk. I was the asked to introduce myself and talk about why I wanted to work as a lawyer at Davis Polk. From this point, it was mostly me asking questions about the senior associate’s work and the firm’s culture. 

What was the outcome?                                                  

I received a call from one of my interviewers two days after my interview to offer me a place on the vacation scheme.

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?

Know your CV and cover letter inside out. The interviewers had read them, and questions were based largely on my experiences. It is difficult to distinguish between the three interviews, but in general, be comfortable with your answers to “why law?” and “why Davis Polk?” as these came up in all three. Finally, try to show your personality as much as possible. 

Davis Polk Vacation Scheme – January 2023

What was the full recruitment process?         

1. Application

2. Interview

Which aspect does this report cover?

Interview

Where did the vacation scheme assessment centre take place?              

Via Zoom

What did the assessment centre involve?      

There were 3 interviews conducted by 3 different people which lasted for 20 minutes each. The first interview was conducted by the training partner, the second one was with a normal partner and the third one was with a senior associate. 

Interview 1

This was a conversational interview. It started off with basic why law and why Davis Polk. Some other questions that I was asked were:

• Why did you want to study law? What about studying law do you enjoy the most?
• How do you find university?
• The asked me if I thought I was a hard worker or just smart (because I had firsts in all my modules).
• Have you read about any of our recent deals?
• How did you learn about each deal? Do you listen to the FT podcast or read the FT? 
• What are the basic requirements for the formation of a contract?

Interview 2

This interview was very similar to the first one. I was asked questions including:

• Why law?
• Why Davis Polk?
• Which other firms have you applied to?
• Why do you want to work in the UK? (I am an international student)
• Have you read about any of our recent deals that interested you?
• What do you do outside of university?

Interview 3

I was only asked why law and why the firm in this interview. I then had the chance to ask the interviewer questions about their journey and the culture at Davis Polk (I didn’t have the opportunity to ask questions in the other two interviews).

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?     

The interview was very conversational. The interviewers just wanted to get to know me as a person. It was more like a personality assessment to ascertain whether I would fit within the firm. 

What was the outcome?                                                  

The firm emailed me 2 weeks later to tell me I was unsuccessful.