Gibson Dunn Vacation Scheme - January 2025

What was the full recruitment process?         

1. Application

2. First-stage interview

3. Assessment centre

4. Vacation scheme

Which aspect does this report cover?

First-stage interview and assessment centre

First stage interview            

This took place online, via Zoom. It was a 30-minute interview consisting of a combination of motivation and competency questions with two members of graduate recruitment. Questions included:

• Tell me about by yourself. 
• Why did you choose your non-law degree and why did you want to change to commercial law? 
• Tell me about x experience. 
• What have you done to keep up with legal/commercial trends? 

This interview was very conversational, and the interviewers seemed genuinely interested in getting to know me as a person and had a genuine interest in my non-law experiences. So, I think building a rapport with the interviewers is really crucial to getting them on your side. Feel free to ask questions yourself and continue the discussion.  

I received an email at the end of the day to invite me to an assessment centre. 

Where did the assessment centre take place?            

On Zoom

What did the second-stage interview involve?      

1. Graduate recruitment briefing: quick chat with graduate recruitment 30 minutes before the first interview essentially detailing how things are going to run (i.e. the order of your interviews and who your interviewers are)

2. Competency and motivation interview: questions on my application, interests, motivation to join the firm, and understanding of being a trainee solicitor (30-minute interview with 1 partner and 1 associate).

3. Commercial article discussion: oral discussion about a topical issue (25-minute reading and preparation time, 30-minute interview with 1 partner and 1 associate). 

Graduate recruitment briefing

Graduate recruitment essentially just told me the names of my interviewers, which interview I had first, and how they would generally run. I was asked about where I was at with other applications and was given the opportunity to ask any questions about the process. 

They also sent me the article for the article discussion 15 minutes before my first interview, so I had a little extra time to prepare for the article discussion. 

Competency and motivation interview         

Competency questions 

• Tell me about yourself.
• What do you think are the key skills required of a trainee solicitor?
•  What was the most significant thing you learnt/what stood out to you from x experience?

Motivation questions 

• Talk me through your journey into commercial law. 
• Why are you attracted to the sector of the legal market that Gibson Dunn sits within, and why are you attracted to Gibson Dunn specifically? 
• Why the solicitor route and not the barrister route?

This interview was very straightforward. They really go through your work experiences, written application and motivation to join the firm, so it is important to know your experiences and the firm inside out. I got the impression that being authentic was a big help, as well as having your knowledge of the firm naturally shine through in your answers, so while preparing well is important, being yourself is equally so. 

Commercial article discussion

Although I was notified beforehand that it would be a ‘commercial article’, the article chosen was one from the BBC on the assisted dying bill. I had 25 minutes to prepare (+ some extra time immediately following the graduate recruitment briefing) before I had to discuss key elements of the bill and the article with a partner and an associate at the firm (who were different to those that interviewed me for the competency/motivation interview). 

When I was sent the article via email, the email included the following question to help me guide my thinking: what do you think were the main reasons why MPs were given the free vote on the Assisted Dying bill?  

In the interview itself there were a number of scripted questions to guide the discussion, although based on what I said the interviewers asked follow-ups to challenge my views. The scripted questions included: 

• Could you summarise the article?
• What are the key issues that the article discusses? 
• What requirements need to be fulfilled in order to be eligible under the Assisted Dying Bill?
• What are the pros/cons of the free vote on the Assisted Dying bill and why might it have been implemented? 
• Should free votes be used? 
• How might religion be of importance? 

What was the outcome?                                                  

One of the interviewing partners called me 1.5 hours after the interview to tell me I had been successful. 

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?

The commercial article discussion was a surprise as I thought it would be more commercial, so be prepared for anything topical and keep up with current affairs. Although the interviewers will challenge you, I think it is best to stay relaxed and not get too defensive; show that you can be flexible in your thinking if an interviewer makes a good point. I would also say make sure you know the article inside out in the preparation time as they might quiz you on certain aspects of it, as they want to see how quickly you can retain and analyse information and reproduce it for the benefit of the discussion.