Direct training contract - 2025

What was the full recruitment process?          

1. Application 

2. Teams interview

3. Assessment centre 

Which aspect does this report cover? 

Teams interview and assessment centre

Teams interview

The Team’s interview very relaxed, with one member of graduate recruitment. The interview lasted 30 minutes and centred on 3 primary questions:

• Why commercial law?
• Tell me about a time you had to influence someone.
• Why Stephenson Harwood?

There was also the opportunity for follow-up questions.

I was told 1 week later by email that I had progressed to the assessment centre.

Where did the assessment centre take place?             

The firm's London office 

What did the assessment centre involve?       

1. Commercial awareness exercise: we received a list of four options to choose from which had to do with current economic and political stories. We were then asked to construct an argument for/against. We then had to present our argument to one partner and one member of graduate recruitment. (~35 minutes)

2. Interview: competency, motivation and commercial awareness questions (~35 minutes with one senior associate and one graduate recruiter).

3. Presentation: we received a presentation topic 2 weeks in advance and had to prepare a 10-minute presentation. (~30 minutes with one partner and one graduate recruiter).

Commercial awareness exercise

The commercial awareness exercise was the most challenging aspect of the day. 

When I arrived at the AC, I was put into a room with other candidates, given four questions to choose from, and then given 30 minutes to prepare an argument/response to my chosen question. The question I chose was along the lines of: “Should the labour government introduce employment protections from day one of employment?” I touched on points such as reputation of the government, wellbeing of employees, health of SME’s etc. 

As each question is one sentence with no accompanying information it is important that you have been keeping up to date with the news. I presented my argument using the SWOT and PESTLE frameworks, which neither graduate recruitment nor the partner were familiar with, so I don’t think that was a worthwhile approach. This was my lowest scoring element of the day with 10.8/16, so I am not sure what format they wanted.

I was also asked questions such as:

• What work would the firm do for its business clients?
• Other typical commercial questions 

Interview

This was the most laid-back part of the day; graduate recruitment was very friendly in this part. The partner and graduate recruiter seemed to be playing good/bad cop to an extent. The partner was somewhat lecturing me on a technical element of shipping, so make sure you know the ins and outs of dry/wet shipping. Another note was that graduate recruitment misinformed me and other attendees of what element we were going into, so I went into the interview thinking it was my case study, and that the first questions were normal chit-chat. Therefore, be prepared for this as they are quite disorganised.

I was asked questions such as:

• Why law?
• Why Stephenson Harwood?
• What would you be most apprehensive about starting your training contract?
• What’s your biggest weakness?
• Tell me a time you worked in a team?
• Would you rather do wet/dry shipping?
• What interests you about shipping?

There were no very difficult questions in this, but the partner did try to insert his shipping expertise into the interview. I don’t think this would be the same if it was not a shipping partner.

Presentation

I had prepared my presentation for weeks before. The question was: “What is the biggest commercial threat that Stephenson Harwood is currently facing?”  I picked political uncertainty, which they said was somewhat too large a topic. I scored 14.8/16 which they said was high on my feedback call.

The only follow-up questions I was asked were:

• How did you research your topic?
• How did you choose your topic?

What was the outcome?

I received an email a week later saying I had been unsuccessful. I had a feedback call with them the following week, which was largely positive; they just said I should work on being very concise and pointed in my answers in the interview. They also said my commercial awareness was my weakest element. I scored very strongly in other firms' commercial awareness assessments, so this threw me off. I would say you should ensure you are reading news articles daily about widespread topics, not just ones that you assume impact businesses.

Do you have any specific advice to prepare?

The competency interview was very straightforward. My only advice would be to try and be very straightforward and direct in your delivery. They said I was bubbly and charismatic, but this hindered me in my responses. Therefore, I would try and be very direct. I would also recommend looking into the specifics of shipping as I mentioned.

For the commercial awareness one, go in with an idea of how to present an answer to a very broad question. I was expecting a case study, so this threw me off. They didn’t want any legal knowledge from me at all.

The presentation is an easy one as they just care about public speaking and preparing for a topic.

Stephenson Harwood Placement Scheme – December 2022

What was the full recruitment process?         

1. Application

2. Psychometric test (Watson Glaser test, which had to be completed within 48 hours)

3. Video interview (live)

4. Written case study exercise

5. Placement scheme (the firm's equivalent of a vacation scheme)

6. Training contract assessment centre (during the vacation scheme)

Which aspect does this report cover?

Video interview and written case study exercise

Where did the assessment centre take place?            

The video interview was held on Microsoft Teams. The case study took place via a platform called TopScore.

What did the assessment centre involve?      

1. Video interview: competency, motivation and commercial awareness questions (~60 minutes with 1 graduate recruiter)

2. Written case study exercise: commercial case study (~1 hour)

Note that you have to first pass the video interview to be invited to complete the case study exercise. 

Video interview 

Competency questions 

I was asked a range of questions about my previous experiences and the skills I had developed as a result, including:

• Tell me about yourself
• Tell me about a time where you worked well in a team.
• What was your favourite module at university? I was then asked a follow-up technical question about the module I mentioned.
• Tell me about your proudest achievement.

Motivation questions 

I was also asked questions designed to test my motivation for pursuing a career in commercial law, and for wanting to work at Stephenson Harwood in particular, including:

• Why Law as a degree?
• Why commercial law?
• Why Stephenson Harwood?
• Which practice areas are you interested in?
• Where would you want to do a secondment?

Commercial awareness questions

In addition, I was asked commercial awareness questions such as:

• How do you stay commercially aware? 
• This was then followed by the interviewer asking me about a recent commercial news story which captured my interest. 

Overall, the first stage interview felt conversational, despite being based on what seemed like a fixed list of questions. Be sure to get your personality across, and if you do have a particular passion for certain sectors/departments, mention this. I talked a fair bit about the aviation sector and graduate recruitment did see my passion for it and said I would fit well into the firm because the teams are passionate. That being said, I did repeatedly emphasise my open-mindedness in terms of wanting to explore different practice areas and how I felt that the firm would be amazing at facilitating this.

I also asked graduate recruitment the following questions:

• Why did you choose Stephenson Harwood over other firms?
• How long have you been here? How has the firm changed over time?
• From your point of view as a graduate recruiter, what do you think Stephenson Harwood does better than other firms?

They are very quick to progress people to the case study. I believe I completed the interview and was progressed to the case study either the same or next day.

Written case study exercise    

The written case study took place through a platform called TopScore. We had access to the case study materials and brief for an allocated 1 hour time slot, during which I was required to write and submit a note.

The case study was predominantly commercial and centred on a fictional company. We were given background information about this company which included the industry it operates in, its performance to date and its vision for the future, as well as information about a potential strategy that the company was considering pursuing (this wasn’t a proposed acquisition). 

The task was to write a report about all the opportunities and risks that the company would face and explain how Stephenson Harwood could assist the client (e.g. which practice areas or teams could get involved). I believe there were 3 key questions which provided useful guidance as to how you should structure the report. The report was to be sent to a “partner”, who would then pitch to the (fictional) client. 

Attention to detail is crucial for this exercise. I remember having to discuss any assumptions, caveats, and incomplete information that came across in the report (this was one of the questions raised in the brief). This is very important as you have to look at the document quite critically. Here are some of the issues that may pop up:

• Incomplete information when it comes to finances. For example, some costs such as admin could be very high, so would a better breakdown of those costs help you to understand the market more? 
• Not enough information about the market in which the business operates.

My biggest piece of advice would be to keep an eye on time. The amount of information in the case study was extensive and you must go through it quite quickly to start planning your answer. Having knowledge about the firm is also very helpful here. 

My case study was about a transport company, and I remember using a lot of the research I had done beforehand for the first stage interview (for example, I knew that the firm had won awards for its transport-related work). When it comes to the structure of the exercise, keep it as concise as possible. Remember who the document will be going to. The last thing a busy partner will want is a barrage of information. I used subheadings, short sentences, and bullet points.

What was the outcome?                                                  

I was called by graduate recruitment within a week of completing the case study to inform me that I was successful. 

Stephenson Harwood Placement Scheme – December 2022

What was the full recruitment process?         

1. Application

2. Psychometric test (Watson Glaser test, which had to be completed within 48 hours)

3. Video interview (live)

4. Written case study exercise

5. Placement scheme (the firm's equivalent of a vacation scheme)

Which aspect does this report cover?

Placement scheme assessment centre 

Where did the assessment centre take place?     

The video interview was held on Microsoft Teams. The case study took place via a platform called TopScore.

What did the assessment centre involve?      

You have to pass the video interview to be invited for the case study exercise. 

1. Video interview: competency, motivation and commercial awareness questions (~60 minutes with 1 graduate recruiter)

2. Written case study exercise: commercial case study (~1 hour)

Video interview

Competency questions 

I was asked a range of questions about my previous experiences and the skills I had developed as a result, including:

• Tell me about yourself
• Tell me about a time where you worked well in a team.
• What was your favourite module at university? I was then asked a follow-up technical question about the module I mentioned.
• What was your least favourite module at university?

Motivation questions 

I was also asked questions designed to test my motivation for pursuing a career in commercial law, and for wanting to work at Stephenson Harwood in particular, including:

• Why law?
• Why Stephenson Harwood?
• Which practice areas are you interested in?
• Have you been reading about any recent trends relating to that practice area?

Commercial awareness questions

In addition, I was asked commercial awareness questions such as:

• Tell me about a business news story you have recently read about.
• How do you stay commercially aware?

Try to build a rapport with the interviewer. They were quite friendly and really seemed to appreciate authenticity (remember, they are assessing your interpersonal skills alongside your answers). There is time at the end to ask questions, so make sure you prepare some.

Written case study exercise    

The written case study took place through a platform called TopScore. We had access to the case study materials and brief for the allocated 1 hour time slot, during which time we were required to write and submit a note.

The case study was predominantly commercial and centred on a fictional company. We were given background information about this company and its market, as well as information about a potential strategy that the company was considering pursuing (this wasn’t a proposed acquisition). The task was to write a report about all the opportunities and risks that the company would face and how Stephenson Harwood could assist the client (e.g. which practice areas or teams could get involved). The report was to be sent to a partner who would then pitch to the client. 

Read everything very carefully. The case study is quite extensive, so it’s easy to accidentally miss certain information, or to forget to address certain parts of the question. Perhaps use sub-headings to make your structure clear and ensure the information is easily digestible. If you have any general knowledge of the subject matter, including this can help to demonstrate your broader commercial awareness. 

What was the outcome?                                                  

The firm emailed me 3 months after the written exercise to tell me I was unsuccessful. 

Stephenson Harwood Placement Scheme (Middle East TC) - April 2021 

What was the full recruitment process?         

1. Application

2. Psychometric test (Watson Glaser test, which had to be completed within 48 hours)

3. Video interview

4. Written case study exercise

5. Placement scheme (the firm's equivalent of a vacation scheme)

Which aspect does this report cover?

Placement scheme assessment centre 

Where did the assessment centre take place?            

The video interview was held through an online platform called Ring Central. The case study took place via a platform called Top Score.

What did the assessment centre involve?      

The video interview and case study were both part of the same assessment centre (i.e. you don’t have to pass the video interview to participate in the case study), although they took place on different days and via different platforms.

1. Video interview: competency, motivation and commercial awareness questions (~60 minutes with 1 graduate recruiter)

2. Written case study exercise: commercial case study (~1 hour 30 minutes)

Video interview

Competency questions 

I was asked a range of questions about my previous experiences and the skills I had developed as a result, including:

• Tell me about yourself
• Why you?
• Tell me about a time where you worked well in a team.
• What was your favourite module at university? I was then asked a follow-up technical question about the module I mentioned.
• What was your least favourite module at university?

Motivation questions 

I was also asked questions designed to test my motivation for pursuing a career in commercial law, and for wanting to work at Stephenson Harwood in particular, including:

• Why law?
• Why this firm?
• Why Middle East?

Commercial awareness questions

In addition, I was asked commercial awareness questions, such as:

• Tell me about a business news story you have recently read about.
• How do you stay commercially aware?

Try to build a rapport with the interviewer. They were quite friendly and really seemed to appreciate authenticity (remember, they are assessing your interpersonal skills alongside your answers). There is time at the end to ask questions, so make sure you prepare some.

Written case study exercise    

The written case study took place through a platform called TopScore. The Future Talent Team first set up a ~15 minute video conference, during which we could ask questions about the platform and raise any technical issues. We then had access to the case study for the allocated 1 hour 30 minute time slot, during which time we were required to write and submit a note.

The case study was predominantly commercial and centred on a fictional company. We were given background information about this company and its market, as well as information about a potential strategy that the company was considering pursuing (this wasn’t a proposed acquisition).

We were given clear instructions as to what we needed to cover in the written note, but I had to determine the structure myself. Broadly speaking, the aim was to present the opportunities and risks that could arise if the company pursued the proposed course of action, and outline how Stephenson Harwood could assist the client (e.g. which practice areas or teams could get involved).

Read everything very carefully. The case study is quite extensive, so it’s easy to accidentally miss certain information, or to forget to address certain parts of the question. Perhaps use sub headings to make your structure clear and ensure the information is easily-digestible. If you have any general knowledge of the subject matter, including this can help to demonstrate your broader commercial awareness.

What was the outcome?                                                  

The firm emailed me 2.5 months after the written exercise to tell me I was unsuccessful. The firm also offered an opportunity to schedule a feedback call with a member of the Future Talent Team.