DWF Vacation Scheme - March 2025

What was the full recruitment process?         

1. Application

2. Video interview

3. Assessment centre

4. Vacation scheme

Which aspect does this report cover?

Vacation scheme assessment centre

Where did the assessment centre take place?            

The firm's Leeds office

What did the assessment centre involve?      

1. Group exercise: group discussion and presentation regarding a fictional commercial case study (~70 minutes with 1 partner and a director). 
2. Written exercise: fictional proof-reading exercise based on instructions given by a partner (~35 minutes). 
3. Interview: motivation, scenario-based and strengths-based questions (~60 minutes with an associate and a member of graduate recruitment) 

Group exercise

There were 3 members in my group. 

We were given a case study, with background information about a fictional client (a beverage and snack manufacturing company), including goals the client wanted to achieve, the criteria the client used then deciding on an investment, and the support required from us to make it happen. There were 4 investment proposals – we each focused on one, then worked together the consider the fourth. 

The proposals included: 

• Investing in partnering with another company to create environmentally friendly products. 
• Investing in a subsidy scheme for employees (increasing minimum wage for employees).
• Investing in developing a range of vegan products. 
• Investing in expanding the client’s range of potato chips.  

The background information was given prior to starting the exercise by the partners who were assessing us. We were then each given a unique piece of written information about a different investment option. 

We were given 10 minutes of independent time to go through our investments. We then had 50 minutes to discuss, as a group, which proposal the client should invest in and rank each investment. We had to rank in order of priority and justify why we thought a certain investment was more favourable than the other. 

Halfway through the exercise, we were given additional information. Following an acquisition, the client had brought another food and beverage manufacturing company. We had to take this into consideration when deciding on the ranking of each of the investments. 

We then had to present to the assessors. There was a time limit of 10 minutes. After presenting, the assessors asked the following questions, which we each answered: 

• What did you find difficult about this task? 
• How did you feel when your investment was chosen to go last? 
• On the contrary how did you feel when your investment was chosen to go first? 
• How did you feel when the new information was presented to you? Did it make things difficult? Did you consider changing your rankings?  
• Upon reflection, what would you do differently?  

Be prepared for a grilling if you mention something incorrect or refer to something in the wrong way! But don’t lose focus; maintain confidence and correct yourself in a polite manner. This is done to test how you handle the pressure. 

Written exercise

This task was completed via an online platform called TopScore - a laptop was provided for this purpose. The documents were provided in both electronic form (on the laptop) and in paper format. 

I was told that I was acting as a trainee. I was presented with 8 pages of background information (one was a memo from my supervisor, one was an email that had additional information relating to the contract, and 6 pages consisted of a fictional contract). 

In the memo, my supervisor outlined that I must look for any errors including spelling, grammatical and formatting errors. I was also asked to fill out some information in the contract itself. The missing information was provided for in the email. 

Here’s an example of how to format an error on TopScore: Clause 1.2: spelling of “employmynt” should be “employment”.

This task really tests your attention to detail since not all mistakes were spelling mistakes. There were issues with commas, colons, brackets being misused, titles not in bold, inconsistencies in formatting and names of people being stated wrongly or the wrong way around (i.e. instead of John Mathew it would read Mathew John). 

There is definitely time pressure, so when you are reading the text make sure to check things carefully. I found it useful to only look at the paper documents and keep the memo and email separate from the contract itself. I used the laptop only for highlighting what I had found. 

Don’t forget that the email has additional information that is NOT in the contract. 

Interview 

Competency questions 

• Tell me about something you are passionate about. (this was the only question that was not assessed. The rest are assessed!)

Motivation questions 

• Why do you want to pursue a career in commercial law at DWF? 
• What do you think a commercial solicitor does at DWF? 
• How do you stay driven and motivated to complete tasks? 
• What strengths do you have that will help you as a trainee solicitor?  

Strengths-based questions 

• How would you adjust to new seats at DWF? 
• What would you do if someone had a different opinion to you? 
• When would it be okay to change your opinion? 
• How would you go about changing your opinion on something you are passionate about? 
• How would you work on developing a good rapport with your team? 
• How would you build relationships with your team? 

Scenario, legal and commercial awareness questions 

• Its late in the evening, and your supervisor asks you to review a task you have spent hours on (the supervisor has flagged mistakes throughout your work). How do you respond? 
• You are told to assist a trainee on a task. The trainee has more knowledge about that particular client and has a different approach to you regarding working on that kind of task. What would you do? 
• A partner in your team is working on a charity event that you want to attend, but you are quite busy for the rest of the week. What would you do? 
• How will you develop your commercial awareness during the course of your study and before you start your training contract. 
• Which one of our practice areas do you like the most and why? 
• How can DWF work on building relationships with clients outside of providing legal advice? 
• If a railway carriage crashed and caused damage, how could DWF help and which of our practice areas would you rely on for advice? 
• As a trainee, how would you organise a business development event for our clients? 

What was the outcome?                                                  

Unknown at the time of writing. 

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?

Group exercise

• Paper is provided for you. USE IT! Write down the instructions that the assessors give you prior to the task and make a note of what the client wants (always keep this in mind when considering your ranking). Instructions are provided in the documents, but there will be no time to read these later on. 
• Be sure to make notes of what others are saying because each proposal is different. This is important because you will be asked what you think of your peers’ proposal. Be sure to allocate time to discuss the final proposal. 
• If you don’t understand a part of someone else’s proposal, ask them to repeat themselves or clarify. This task is not about having specific industry knowledge but rather how well you work in a team (and admitting when you don’t know something can be a positive trait). It’s better to ask for help in this moment than risk the partner asking you about it during the presentation and you not knowing what to say. 
• Use a pen or highlighter to underline any important information to inform you decisions. 
• Remember, law is a client-focused industry, so you need to focus on how your investment or your peers’ investment fits what your client has instructed. 

Written exercise

• This is a straightforward proof-reading exercise that assesses attention to detail. You cannot really prepare for this. Just make sure that you are checking things carefully. 
• If you have any time left, go through the contract once more. 

Interview

• The interview is scripted, and everyone is asked the same questions (from what I understand at least). I faced no specific commercial awareness questions that asked me to recall a specific news article etc.  
• Instead it may be worthwhile to embed commercial awareness into the answers you give regarding specific practice areas. 
• Outside of this, be sure to practice common competency based and motivation-based questions available via the resources provided by Commercial law academy.  
• Be prepared for follow up questions regarding why you would do something, what additional factors you would consider etc. 

DWF Vacation Scheme – March 2024

What was the full recruitment process?         

1. Application

2. Video interview 

3. Assessment centre

4. Vacation scheme

Which aspect does this report cover?

Video interview and vacation scheme assessment centre.

Video interview            

The interview took place via the Shortlister platform. I had to answer four questions. I had 30 seconds to prepare an answer to each, and two minutes to record my response. There was no option to re-record answers.  

I was asked the following questions:

• Some seats at DWF have higher volumes of work than others; how would you prepare for this as a trainee? 
• What differentiates DWF from its competitors? 
• You and a trainee disagree over how to approach a task; what do you do? 
• DWF has recently been acquired by private equity partners Inflexion. How would you expect this to impact DWF?  

I received an email a few weeks later to inform me that I had progressed to the assessment centre. 

In terms of how to prepare: review a variety of motivation, strengths-based, scenario-based, and commercial questions. Know how the firm works and read about any major updates at the firm. The questions are ones that can all be prepared for. 

Where did the assessment centre take place?            

The firm's London office

What did the assessment centre involve?      

1. Group exercise: group discussion and presentation based on a commercial case study (~70 minutes, with a member of graduate recruitment and a partner) 

2. Interview:  motivation, scenario based and strength-based questions (~ 50 minutes with a fee earner and a member of graduate recruitment). 

3. Written exercise:  draft an email based on instructions provided by a fictional supervisor (~35 minutes)

Group task

There were four members in our group. 

We were given a case study, with background information about a fictional client (a leading beverage and snack manufacturing company), including what the client was looking to achieve and how we would need to assist it. 

The background information was given orally at the start when we were briefed by our assessors. We were then each given a unique piece of written information about a different potential investment option.

We were given 5 minutes of independent reading time. We then had 45 minutes to discuss, as a group, which proposal the client should invest in. We had to rank the four proposals in order of priority, with the first being the one the client would invest in.

Proposals included:

• Client investing in partnering with another company to create environmentally friendly products.
• Client investing in a living subsidy scheme for employees.
• Client investing in developing a range of vegan products.
• Client investing in expanding its range of potato chips (it had a competitor in this area).

Halfway through the exercise, we were given some additional information. The client had recently acquired another company, which was also a food and drink manufacturer. We then had to consider the investment proposals in line with the goals of the new target that had been acquired.

We then had to present our responses to the assessors. This was not time-limited, but it took us approx. 5-7 minutes. After presenting, the assessors asked the following questions, which we each answered in turn:

• How did you find the task?
• Upon reflection, what would you do differently?
• How did you feel when the new information was presented?

Written task

I was told that I was a trainee in the energy department. My supervisor had attended an energy conference and taken notes – these were abbreviated/in short hand. There were approx. 7 documents of notes, and the key topics discussed were ESG, electric batteries, and (briefly) sustainability in the shipping sector.

I was tasked with summarising the notes he had made so that they could be sent to a client of the firm. For some of the notes, the supervisor had included question marks or a note to ‘follow up on’ some of the points. I had to remind the supervisor in the email that he had to follow up / elaborate on these points. In addition, I had to comment on whether a particular client of the firm could consider investing in any of the areas mentioned.

I had 35 minutes to complete the task. It was completed on an online platform called Topscore. The firm gave us laptops to complete the task on.

There is definitely time pressure, so when you are reading the text, make sure you keep in mind what the task requires so that you can highlight relevant information as you go along. Also be sure to dedicate enough time to cover all the sub tasks.

Interview

Motivation questions:

• Why do you want to pursue a career in commercial law at DWF?
• What strengths do you have that will help you as a trainee solicitor?
• How do you stay driven to complete tasks?

Scenario-based questions:

• Your supervisor gives you a task, but it keeps being sent back to you, flagged with mistakes. How do you respond?
• You are told to assist a trainee on a task. The trainee has more knowledge about that particular client and has a different approach to you regarding working on that kind of task. What do you do?
• A partner in your team is working on a task that is of interest to you, but you are not assigned to that project. What would you do?

Strength-based questions:

• What are your achievements?
• How would you work on developing a good rapport with team members?
• How will you adjust to new seats at DWF?
• What would you do if someone had a different opinion to you? 
• When would it be okay to change your opinion? 

Commercial awareness and legal industry questions

• How will you develop your commercial awareness during the course of your study and before you start your training contract?
• What are the issues affecting the legal industry?
• How can DWF work on building relationships with clients outside of providing legal advice?
• How does DWF differ from its competitors? 

What was the outcome?                                                  

Unknown at the time of writing. 

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?

Group task: as soon as you enter the room, take a sheet of paper, and write down the instructions that the assessor gives you. The instructions were not on the information packs, so if you aren’t listening carefully, you will miss the brief.

• Be sure to take notes on what other people are saying, because each person had a separate sheet of information they had to review. This is important, as it enables you to engage with the material everyone was given (you are expected to discuss everyone's proposals).
• If you don’t understand someone else’s proposal, tell them to explain again. It’s not about having perfect knowledge or getting things on the first go; it’s about how you work as a team to help each other and come to a well-substantiated conclusion.
• There can be quite a bit of information to digest, so think about approaches that could help you when trying to get to grips with a large amount of text (I usually need to have a highlighter when I am skimming through a lot of information.)
• Be sure to stay focused on the task and work on contributing to the discussion.

Written task: you cannot really prepare for the substantive content of the task. However, to get an idea of what comes up and to replicate the feeling of working under pressure, I would recommend reviewing the Commercial Law Academy interview case studies course and completing some written tasks. DWF also has a sample written exercise. 

Interview: the interview is scripted, and everyone is asked the same questions, meaning the questions are predictable. Consider potential answers to common motivation, strength-based, and scenario-based questions. The assessors do not engage with you much, as they are making notes, so be sure to elaborate on your answers as you will not be prompted.