Deloitte Legal Training Contract - November 2024

What was the full recruitment process?         

1. Application: No questions, just a form.

2. Psychometric test: online assessment including personality sections, analysing data, and verbal reasoning questions 

3. Job simulation: online assessment focussing on situational judgment questions

4. Final stage interview

Which aspect does this report cover?

Final stage interview

Where did the assessment centre take place?            

The firm's Manchester office

What did the assessment centre involve?      

1. Case study presentation and discussion: oral presentation on advice I would give to a business based on a fictional commercial scenario, followed by questions on the presentation (~50 minutes with one senior associate)

2. Skills-based and motivation interview: skills-based, situational, and motivation questions (~50 minutes with one partner)

Case study presentation and discussion     

A few days before the interview I was given a choice of case studies and had to choose one to prepare a ten minute presentation on. The case studies concerned various commercial scenarios which were fairly generic as opposed to being focused on a specific sector or deal. They concerned trends which pervade all areas of a business such as the use of generative AI. I was also given facts and statistics relating to each of the case studies which could be used in the presentation. 

The presentation itself required you to analyse one of these trends (e.g. strengths and weaknesses) and its impact on businesses, meaning there was a lot you could potentially talk about. This was presented to a senior associate at the start of the interview who then asked questions at the end of the presentation relating to what had been said.

Some of the questions asked were:

• What was your approach to preparing the presentation?
• If you were asked to do this presentation again would you change your approach?
• What do you think went well with your presentation?
• Which sources did you use for the data in your presentation?
• What do you believe would be the most significant impact of this trend on businesses and why?
• Is it worth investing resources into addressing this trend?

The interviewer then changed the case-study question slightly and asked how my answer would change in accordance with this. I was given a further ten minutes to prepare and then present an answer. Similar questions were asked to the ones above (i.e. reflection questions and questions on the actual content of my answer).

Once the presentation had finished there was a short informal chat concerning my motivations for wanting to join Deloitte Legal as well as an opportunity for me to ask the senior associate questions.

Skills-based and motivation interview     

After the case-study interview there was a ten minute break and then I was put into a different room with a partner who asked several skills-based and motivation questions with one or two commercial awareness questions as well.

Skill-based questions 

• Tell me about yourself.
• Do you prioritise getting a task completed on time or producing the best quality of work you can regardless of time?
• How would you deal with a difficult client?
• How do you form professional relationships?
• You are new to the team, how would you go about introducing yourself?

Motivation questions 

• Why commercial law?
• Why Deloitte Legal?
• What is it about Deloitte Legal’s training contract structure that you like?
• Elaborate on x experience you have just mentioned.

Commercial awareness questions 

• What are the main challenges a trainee solicitor at Deloitte Legal would face? 

What was the outcome?                                                  

The firm emailed me a month after the final stage interview to tell me I had been unsuccessful.

Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?

The case study presentation is fairly straightforward. They give you quite a few resources which are helpful in planning the presentation itself, although I would also recommend finding further information online to make your presentation more detailed and hence stand out. 

You are given plenty of time to prepare the presentation - I was given a few days - but you only really need to spend a few hours on it. The questions after the presentation are not too difficult and seem to be used to help the interviewer understand how you approach advising clients based on scenarios. 

I found the skills-based and motivation interview slightly harder than the case-study presentation. Be prepared to break questions down and know your strengths (and be able to link these to experiences).