Assessment centre insights - Commercial Law Academy

Trowers & Hamlins (x3)

Trowers & Hamlins Vacation Scheme – February 2025

What was the full recruitment process?

1. Application: 4 x 250-word-questions

2. Psychometric test: Capptivate assessment

3. Assessment centre: online written assessment the week before the interview/group exercise. In-person interview and group assessment the following week, approximately 3 hours.

Which aspect does this report cover?

Vacation scheme assessment centre.

Where did the assessment centre take place?

The written task and trainee Q&A took place on Zoom (although I submitted the written exercise through a different platform). The interview and group assessment took place at the office I applied to.

What did the assessment centre involve?

1. Written exercise: receive instructions (5 minute), draft an email (20 minutes) then write answers to questions reflecting on my performance (10 minutes).

2. Trainee Q&A: 40 people on a zoom call - we had the chance to ask roughly 1 question each. We were told this was unassessed (~45 minutes with 2 trainees)

3. General interview: competency, motivation and commercial awareness questions (1 hour, with a partner and a senior associate).

4. Group assessment: preparation, group discussion and presentation (~55 minutes, with a partner and senior associate).

Written exercise

The written assessment formed part of the overall assessment centre, it was just held the week prior. Grad recruitment said this was because sometimes it's awkward sitting in a room with people on their laptops.

I was on zoom being monitored throughout the exercise. We weren't allowed to use our phones / external sources.

Task 1 involved drafting an email to a colleague summarising some information on a business trend, and making my own recommendations for how a fictional company could implement it.

I was given information regarding the future of data literacy in various formats. This included a blog post with various information, as well as employee surveys from the fictional company, graphs on employee performance in various areas, and information about the company’s current operational processes. The information included both written and numerical data, including a number of different graphs.

This task did not require any specialist knowledge and we were not allowed to use the internet for additional research.

Task 2 involved answering questions reflecting on my performance in the first task, including reflecting on the suggestions I had made, and how I could personally contribute to helping the fictional business to implement the strategies.

This was followed up by a 45 minute Q&A session with two trainees from different offices.

This exercise tested my ability to analyse information, determine the most relevant points, and summarise this in a short period of time. There was no word limit.

General interview

Initial warm up question

Tell us what you like to do in your spare time.

Motivation questions

How does Trowers differentiate itself from other firms in the market?
Why do you want to work in commercial law?
Why is Trowers the firm for you?

Competency questions

If you have a difficult decision to make, how do you make it?
How do you prioritise your tasks?
What traits do you find useful in a team member?
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing trainees in the future?
What legal tech do you personally find useful?

The last two questions above two were definitely in the competency section and not commercial awareness - I think they wanted me to relate to personal circumstances (I had mentioned I’m a paralegal).

Commercial awareness questions

How do you see the legal industry advancing in the future?
Following on from that… what issues do you see this causing and what opportunities will it present?

Group assessment

We were in a group of four for this assessment. We had access to an online platform to complete the exercise (as the assessment centre was online).

We were given three different proposals for innovation projects, for the same fictional company as the written exercise (however, the two assessments were otherwise not connected). It was approximately 55 minutes long.

The different proposals were accompanied by metrics rating the impact on a number of different aspects of the business as either positive, negative or neutral.

We had ten minutes of silent reading to digest the information and decide which proposal we would recommend. We then had twenty minutes of discussion time as a group, to bring our ideas together and pick which idea to present. Halfway into the exercise, an alteration was announced that meant we may have needed to change which proposal we had decided on.

We then had ten minutes to present our findings to a partner and senior associate, and ten minutes to answer questions on the decision we made, and to reflect on our performance in the exercise.

What was the outcome?

The firm told me I had been successful and invited me to join the vacation scheme ~2.5 weeks after the assessment centre.

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?

The interview was clearly structured into three different sections but still had a conversational tone. I was encouraged to elaborate on my experiences. Some of the questions were more focused on how I would react in a hypothetical situation, rather than directly asking about my personal experiences. The commercial awareness questions seemed to be asking for my opinion, as well as just demonstrating my commercial knowledge. There was an opportunity at the end to ask questions.

The written exercise had to be completed in a relatively short period of time, which was challenging. I do not think that much can be done to prepare, other than making sure you can write concisely and accurately. There is a lot of information to be digested in a short period, so make sure you allocate enough time to write your answer. When reading the information, focus on what recommendations you would make.

For the group assessment, there was less information to read through, so focus more on which proposal you would choose, and the exact reasons you would choose it.

Keep an eye on the time and make sure you reserve time to prepare a presentation

Be prepared to answer questions explaining your thought process and reflecting on how you reacted.

Trowers & Hamlins Vacation Scheme - February 2024

What was the full recruitment process?

1. Application: 4 x 250-word questions

2. Psychometric test: McQuaig Mental Agility Test (I found a lot of practice tests available online that were very similar to the one I had to take)

3. Assessment centre: virtual (approximately 5 hours)

4. Vacation scheme

Which aspect does this report cover?

Vacation scheme assessment centre

Where did the assessment centre take place?

Virtually via Microsoft Teams

What did the assessment centre involve?

1. Written exercise: draft a report acting as a business analyst for a client (70 minutes, followed by 10 minutes to email the document to graduate recruitment).

2. General interview: competency, motivation and commercial awareness questions (1 hour with 1 partner and 1 senior associate)

3. Trainee Q&A: video call with approximately 10 other candidates and 2 current trainees, where we could ask questions (we were told that this was not assessed)

Written exercise

The written exercise tested my ability to analyse information, reach conclusions, generate recommendations and present these recommendations in writing. There was no word limit.

We were given 9 pages of information regarding a pharmaceutical company and the performance of one of its representatives, including information such as the company’s goals and future growth plans, products, competitors’ products, market share and market performance, as well as information about the representative’s personal performance). We then had to generate a report covering how the representative could improve sales for the next year.

The information provided included numerical data and came in a variety of formats, including simple text, tables, pie charts and graphs.

The task didn’t require any specialist knowledge and we were discouraged from using the internet for additional research (as it was unnecessary).

General interview

Motivation questions

How would you pitch Trowers & Hamlins to a client?
What attracts you to commercial law over other areas?
How do you think Trowers & Hamlins differentiates itself in today’s legal market?

Competency questions

Tell me about a time you worked in a team.
Are you a team-player or a leader?
What is the best quality in a teammate?
What is your biggest failure?
How do you define success?
Tell me about a time you had to manage a high workload and what strategies did you use?
How do you prioritise your tasks?
Tell me about something that you never manage to tick off your to do list.
Tell me about a time you had to adapt very quickly.

Commercial awareness questions

What is something that is changing the legal industry?
A follow up to this: do you believe this is a positive or negative change?

What was the outcome?

The firm emailed me approximately two weeks after the assessment centre to offer me a place on the vacation scheme.

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?

The interview was straightforward and not very technical. The interviewers were very friendly and did a good job of easing me into it. I noticed that if I spoke about a specific skill in reference to a particular experience, the subsequent questions would then dive deeper in that skill (we went into more detail about organisational skills and teamwork, for example). This made it feel more like a conversation rather than a rigid interview. There was an opportunity at the end to ask questions.

The written exercise was challenging due to the time pressure and the numerical information we were given. To prepare, familiarise yourself with the structure of a business report (ensure that you include an executive summary at the start and a conclusion at the end). Do not be thrown off by the vast amount of information provided as some of it is purposefully irrelevant, and make sure you have a clear grasp of the task so you can start making notes on the content as you read it as it is really easy to run out of time and rush through the writing of the report itself. It is better to give a well-structured and thorough answer than to try to work out all the numbers and be more technical.

Vacation Scheme - March 2023

What was the full recruitment process?

1. Application: 4 x 250-word questions

2. Psychometric test: McQuaig Mental Agility Test (I found a lot of practice tests available online)

3. Assessment centre: Virtual (approximately 4 hours)

4. Vacation scheme

Which aspect does this report cover?

Vacation scheme assessment centre

Where did the assessment centre take place?

Virtually via Microsoft Teams

What did the assessment centre involve?

1. Written exercise: draft a report acting as a business analyst for a client (70 minutes, followed by 10 minutes to email the document to graduate recruitment).

2. General interview: competency, motivation and commercial awareness questions (1 hour with 1 partner and 1 senior associate)

3. Trainee Q&A: video call with approximately 15 other candidates and 3 current trainees, where we could ask questions (we were told that this was not assessed)

Written exercise

The written exercise tested my ability to analyse information, reach conclusions, generate recommendations and present these recommendations in writing. There was no word limit.

We were given 9 pages of information regarding a pharmaceutical company, including information on the company’s background, suppliers, territory, products, recent performance, market share, sales targets, and marketing strategies. The information provided included numerical data and came in a variety of formats, including simple text, tables, pie charts and graphs.

We had to act as a business analyst for the pharmaceutical company and prepare a report (based on the information provided) discussing key factors affecting the company’s performance (including pharmaceutical sales), and providing recommendations for an action plan to help increase the sales of particular drugs over the following 12 months.

General interview

Motivation questions

How would you pitch Trowers & Hamlins to a client?
Why are you interested in working in the Birmingham Office?
How do you think Trowers & Hamlins differentiates itself in today’s legal market?

Competency questions

Tell me about a time you worked in a team.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced?
Tell me about a time you had to manage a high workload.
Tell me about a time you had to work under pressure.
How do you prioritise your tasks?
Are you a team-player or a leader?

Commercial awareness questions

What challenges do you think are currently facing the legal sector?
Is legal technology taking over the role of solicitors?

What was the outcome?

The firm emailed me approximately two weeks after the assessment centre to offer me a place on the vacation scheme.

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?

The interview was fairly straightforward and felt very conversational. I noticed that if I spoke about an experience or event, the interviewers would ask me further question on what I had said, so be prepared to elaborate on your answers. There was the opportunity to ask questions at the end.