Introduction

This case study has been designed to provide commercial law candidates with practice for their future case study/presentation interviews. This case study includes:

1. A full-sized mock case study: this has been composed from scratch and made to read and feel like a real assessment centre from a top commercial law firm.
2. Background materials: comprising information spread across a suite of different documents, which you must quickly read and analyse (as interviewees must often do during case study interviews).
3. A commentary which has been written by our team of qualified lawyers and is an expert-level walkthrough and model answer to the exercise. Our commentary gives you a qualified lawyer’s perspective on the matters at hand, thereby giving you the tools to check your answers and to improve them beyond what is usually expected of a candidate. 

This set of materials has been designed to give you a sense of what a real case study/presentation exercise is like. The documents provided as part of the case study’s materials strongly resemble, in both quality and quantity, those that a leading law firm might give you in an assessment centre. 

• You should also think about the sequencing of which materials to read. Do not assume that the materials are naturally in the most helpful order to review.
• Your supervisor’s email helpfully lists out all of the documents included in the case study. It’s worth considering whether it makes sense to read these in the order that they are presented or if a different order is helpful.  For example, we find it easiest to read the covering email and then the marketing material first.  

The materials have been prepared by qualified lawyers who actually interview candidates at their respective law firms. Although law firms’ case study/presentation exercises will vary in content and format, this case study has been designed to cover the main topics that often come up during assessment days at large City law firm. 

At a glance: the case study 

The case study concerns a fictional transaction between Panacead, a German pharmaceuticals company, and Kryonxi, a British healthcare equipment manufacturer. 

You are a trainee at a commercial law firm, Young & Page. Your supervisor, John Smith, has sent you an email with some context to the transaction, a series of attached documents, and a list of questions.  

John is out of the office right now; however, he will be back in 45 minutes. In the meantime, he has asked you to review the documents attached to the email and be ready to brief him on the matter, specifically answering the questions listed in his email.

This case study exercise covers many issues, all of which the top commercial law firms may well expect you to know about. For example, you will be probed on issues relating to: 

• Representations, warranties, and indemnities.
• Structuring and financing an acquisition.
• Microeconomic and commercial acumen. 

Naturally, though you may know about these areas in abstraction, it is the application of your knowledge to commercial scenarios that the case study/presentation exercise tests. 

Next steps 

Keep the following in mind whilst working through the case study.

Before starting the exercise

• Avoid looking at the commentary – it is always better to attempt the exercise and learn from any mistakes than to get your answer perfect by copying the model answer.
• Using a watch, clock, computer, phone, or another device, set a timer for 45 minutes, starting it only when you begin the exercise. It does not matter what device you use to time yourself; however, make sure you are not disturbed during the allotted time.
• Pour yourself a glass of water and keep it nearby. 45 minutes may not seem too long but keep yourself comfortable and focused. 

During the exercise

• Do not worry if you find that there is too much to read, or the questions too challenging. This is part of the learning process. Keep your focus and do your best to complete the exercise as well as you can.
• If you are struggling to answer a question, or do not understand some information, skip it and move to the next section. In the real thing, your interviewer will understand if you do not quite comprehend something – the exercise is designed to push you! However, make sure you cover as much as you can and use the commentary, after the exercise, to learn from your mistakes. 

After the exercise

• Ordinarily, in a real assessment centre setting, there would be a two to five minute break between completing your case study preparation and presenting your findings to a partner. Take a minute to rest – have a sip of water, stand up, and have a short walk around the room.  
• If you would like to, try giving an oral presentation based on your preparation. Record your presentation and watch it back afterwards. This is a hard thing to force yourself to do, but it is one of the very best ways to prepare effectively. 
• Check your answers against the commentary. Although you may be tempted to finish your preparation after completing the exercise, the true value of doing this kind of mock exercise comes from checking your work against a model answer. 
• You must make sure to read the commentary carefully – we suggest making notes on (1) what you got exactly correct, (2) what you got “half correct”, (3) what you got wrong, and (4) what you missed entirely. This will allow you to get the most out of the exercise as you will know precisely what to improve on and look out for in the real assessment centre.

Finally, we wish you the very best with the case study exercise and for your future applications and interviews!