HFW Vacation Scheme - February 2024

What was the full recruitment process?         

1. Application

3. Assessment centre

4. Vacation scheme

Which aspect does this report cover?

Vacation scheme assessment centre

Where did the assessment centre take place?            

Virtually, via Zoom.

What did the assessment centre involve?      

1. Written exercise: drafting a memorandum on a fictional commercial scenario (~1 hour 30 minutes)

2. Watson Glaser test: 30 minutes on a personal computer.

3. General interview: competency, motivation, and commercial awareness questions (~30 minutes with a senior associate and a member of HR)

4. Networking: not assessed (with trainees)

Written exercise

I was tasked with advising a manufacturer and vendor of pipes on a deal which involved a fictional sanctioned country – Badlands. 

In my memo, I advised on the relevant EU sanctions which could affect the client as well as the commercial implications. All the information, including legislation, was provided in the background documents I was given.

Watson Glaser test

I had 30 minutes to complete the test on my laptop as part of the virtual assessment process.

General interview         

I had an interview with a senior associate and a member of HR. It was very relaxed and conversational. I was asked questions including:

• Why commercial law?
• Have you considered other career paths?
• Why HFW?
• Tell me about a time you dealt with a challenge.
• Tell me about a time you solved a problem.
• Tell me about a commercial topic in the news currently and how it affects our clients.
• What commercial changes will law firms have to adapt to?
• If you worked at HFW, where would you open a new office and why?

I then had 5 minutes to ask questions at the end.

Group exercise

The exercise centred on a case study involving a large gas trading company (our “client”) which purchased Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to sell for commercial and maritime bunker fuels. 

The client was looking to engage an Australian producer and wanted to enter into a 35-year agreement with them. Our client sought to enter into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Australian producer, which would later develop into binding Heads of Terms and subsequently a full agreement.

I had 30 minutes to read several relevant papers on LNG and Cop21 and a further 30 minutes to discuss this with my group. In particular, I was tasked with discussing the following questions with my group:

• What are the commercial pros and cons of entering into the agreement?
• Are there any red flags the client should bear in mind and if so, how should they mitigate these?

Networking / Q&A

The day ended with a 30-minute chat with trainees where I asked several questions without supervision. 

What was the outcome?                                                  

A member of HR called me the following week to offer me a place on the summer scheme.

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?

The group exercise requires you to share your ideas but also enable others to voice their opinions. Be conscious of speaking over people/speaking for too long and, conversely, not adding much to the conversation. Try to take initiative such as by offering to be the timekeeper or the person who summarises/concludes the task/opinions.