Kingsley Napley Training Contract - May 2025
What was the full recruitment process?
1. Application
2. Psychometric test: blended assessment including Watson Glaser test, situational judgement, verbal reasoning, and personality sections
3. Assessment centre process split into stages on separate days
Kingsley Napley does not have a one-day assessment centre. The stages of the assessment centre are split across several days and you participate in each stage and then find out whether you get progressed to the next stage
Which aspect does this report cover?
Assessment process for training contract.
Where did the assessment centre take place?
Mostly online, with final interview at the firm's London office
What did the assessment centre involve?
Video presentation task
After the online testing stage, if you get progressed to the next stage, you will do a video presentation task. I was given a candidate brief on a scenario where a private client has faced a libel situation and has to seek remedies or an injunction to defend his rights and protect his privacy.
I was given a strict time limit of three minutes to present my findings and was also given ample information on the law and legal remedies available in such a libel situation. It is about exercising judgement on which materials to include and presenting the content in a succinct way, as well as being able to empathise with the client. There is no need to do additional research; all the law you need is given to you.
Written exercise
The next stage is a written exercise. The exercise is based on a fictional immigration law scenario, whereI had to help a client apply for a specific Visa under a high talent mobility scheme. This is similar to a problem question in a law course where you have to apply the law to the scenario given. However, all the law is given to you and there is no need to do any additional research.
The test is an hour long; I felt that there was quite a bit of time pressure to be able to read all the materials and present my findings within the time limit.
I would suggest reading the information quickly at the beginning, and then going back to the information given during the task to ensure you can cover everything required. The task gives you clear directions on aspects to cover and there are mark allocations for answers to different sections. It is a task where time management is important and I would recommend tackling the questions with higher point weightings before going to the other questions.
Group interview
The next stage is a group interview. I was asked to join a call with six other candidates and we were monitored individually by members of graduate recruitment and lawyers at the firm on a teams call. There was at least one individual member of the firm monitoring each candidate.
This was based on a contentious probate scenario. The group of six were split into two teams with three members on each side. There were two sections for this exercise - a period where you discuss among yourselves in a group of three, then a period where you rejoin the main group and have a debate with the other group of three. It was apparent that concessions would need to be made in the given scenario and I would suggest stating in advance within your group what points you would be willing to compromise on.
I thought that this task was very time pressured, and there was not enough time to cover all the aspects of the case. Once time was up, graduate recruitment stopped the discussion.
The brief is designed in a way where you cannot have everything, and you must make concessions to the other side on some aspects.
Final interview
The interview took place at the firm’s office. It lasted around 45 minutes and I was asked the following questions.
It was highly structured and felt more like a Q&A session rather than a conversation.
What was the outcome?
The firm emailed me three weeks after the final interview to tell me I had been unsuccessful. I was given the opportunity to book a feedback call with the firm.
Do you have any specific advice on how to prepare?
Time management is important for the written and group exercise. You are given a lot of information and it is necessary to digest it in a short time period.
The final interview consists of motivation and competency questions. I would suggest preparing detailed examples to discuss in advance.
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