Please note that, since this post was first published, it is thought that Clifford Chance no longer use the situational judgement test as part of their training contract procedure (unlike in 2010 and 2011). You should check with the Graduate Recruitment team of Clifford Chance after consulting their website, if necessary. You should also note that, at the time of publication, the Eversheds situational judgement test uses a different format, but it may test similar competences.

A few weeks ago, I decided to do a legal recruitment experiment. You know how desperately fond I am of legal recruiters. Legal recruiters are the gateway to the industry, and they have very concrete ways of doing things. Clifford Chance and Eversheds are two firms that utilise the ‘situational judgment test’ (SJT) – in other words, they plonk you in the middle of various scenarios, and ask you how you would react. Normally these tests are untimed, and the score resulting from the total of your correct responses will normally determine whether you get invited back for more – perhaps a verbal reasoning test, a numerical reasoning test, phone interview or ‘real’ face-to-face interview. For the last two years, it is widely acknowledged that the questions in the SJT for Clifford Chance have been nearly the same, if not the same. SJTs are popular with recruiters, because it gives ‘busy’ legal recruiters a chance to whittle down a proportion of the applicants without looking at the CV, it gives the legal recruiters a good chance to see whether the candidate would fit in successfully into the mentality of working for the corporation, and it gives recruiters and associated stakeholders a sense of power. Questions often tap into appropriate conduct of a solicitor, such as issues of confidential’ it’s apparently useful for candidates to familarise themselves with the SRA’ ‘Code of Conduct’.

My experiment was this. I invited people following the Facebook page and the Twitter feed to respond exactly how they would in such a test. This is clearly different to how law firms usually set up their SJTs. Normally, legal recruiters, with the help of SHL Direct, calibrate their population with real associates, or even partners.

88 individuals took the LegalAware SJT test, and here is a breakdown of the results.

1. You are a trainee. You find that a document summarising the background of a client, which your Managing Associate has prepared and circulated to your group, contains some factual errors about the client. You know the client’s history well as you once did a research project on them at University. You are at a meeting, with your Managing Associate and Partner present. Which of the following courses of action do you take?

Half-way through the group meeting present your own Powerpoint presentation outlining the Managing Associate’s mistakes. (0%)

Have a private word with the Managing Associate early on in the meeting, to ask what he would advise.  (91%)

Immediately seek the attention of the Partner to express your concerns. (9%)

2. It is your first day on a team of a trainees consisting of four people (including yourself). Your Managing Associate has asked your group of trainees to find the relevant cases relating to a transaction you are about to start. He has previously given you a list of the cases. This is an area which you studied in a module at University, and you feel you know it well. What do you decide to do regarding finding the cases?  

Assemble your own list of cases, and obtain case judgments for all of them, and photocopy them. (7%)

Introduce yourself to the other trainees, and discuss with them how they wish to proceed in finding the cases. (90%)

Find your own list of cases, and ask the other trainees to find them for you.  (2%)

3. Your friend, who has always been your competitor at law school, is about to give a Powerpoint presentation on share acquisitions in Korea as a trainee, and you know that the Managing Associate is looking forward to this presentation with interest. However, there appears to be a mechanical fault with accessing Broadband, and the only copy of the file is an email which she sent to you to check yesterday. You saved it on your memory stick, which you happen to have brought to the meeting. You know the memory stick is compatible with the computer she is using for her presentation. How do you decide to proceed?

Pretend you have forgotten the memory stick, and you cannot help. (0%)

Offer to upload the presentation on her computer using the memory stick, but to offer also to download the file from the internet if that fails from a neighbouring computer. (94%)

Ask the Managing Associate for help, to demonstrate that you enjoy teamwork. (6%)

4. You have about sixty documents relating to a financial transaction which you have inherited this morning. It is your first morning in a new seat with five new trainees, and one of your two Managing Associates (the one who was due to meet you) is late for work. What do you first?

Introduce yourself to the other members of your team. (86%)

Phone the other Managing Associate, and insist on him or her being there to lead your business meeting this morning. (1%)

Arrange the documents into five piles of twelve documents, and ask each member of the team to provide details about them for use in an Excel spreadsheet. (13%)

5. You are a trainee, nearly concluding a very important transaction. Your client has asked you to fax to him a copy of a document, but the only person who has a copy of it is your (only) Managing Associate, but he is on holiday in Tenerife and is completely unavailable. All the other members of the team are currently listed as ‘available’ in your head office. Which of the following people would you like to contact first for help?

Another trainee (16%)

An associate (67%)

A partner (17%)

6. You have written a report on private equity in Japan, and you have ten minutes before the deadline, to send it to your supervisor. You are aware that there may be some cases with incorrect citations referenced. Which of the following do you do?

Check thoroughly for spelling and grammar errors. (5%)

Identify urgently the references in an accurate way, and amend your report. (78%)

Ask for an extension (a few hours in addition) so that you can vastly improve your report potentially. (17%)

7. You are close to the final weeks of your first seat in technology in London. Your team is considering proposing a new office in an international jurisdiction to further your commercial interests abroad. The other trainees have asked you to present what you think is the most important aspect of that proposed office, as collectively your Supervisor has asked you to assemble a report on the subject by the end of the week. Which of the following factors do you think might be most important for opening this new office, which you choose to include in your report?

The quality of legal services to be offered by your firm in that particular office. (58%)

The price of legal services to be offered by your firm in that particular office. (4%)

The range of legal services to be offered by your firm in that particular office. (38%)

8. You are a trainee in the corporate finance seat in London where all team members are extremely busy. You have recently been liaising with ten particular clients on an almost daily basis in France. Your Supervisor has asked you to canvass for opinions of various clients in different countries towards the recent fall in stock prices in the European markets. You feel you do not have time to do this task on your own in time. Which of the options do you consider first?

Seek help from other trainees to help you to write the report, and ask other trainees which clients should be contacted. (24%)

Seek help from other trainees to help you to write the report, and contact some or all of the ten clients to ask them for their opinions. (47%)

Research the information which could be obtained from the clients and punctually write a report. (28%)

9. You passed your advanced elective in intellectual property in your Legal Practice Course. You are in a small team of five trainees, and you are all working on an urgent case the preparation of which must be concluded by the close-of-play tomorrow night, Your Managing Associate has asked you to consider where a series of claims in a patent diverges between your client and the party making a claim against your client. She is experienced in intellectual property. You have not looked at the case yet, but already three people think the claims diverge at step 12, but one person thinks the claims diverge at 23. Where the claims diverge is important for your case. Which of the following options do you pursue first?

Analyse the case first to make up your mind about where you think the claims diverge, and discuss further with your team. (93%)

Ask all other members of the team to compile (and email to you) a written report to send to your Managing Associate so that she can decide. (4%)

Ask your Managing Associate to meet up with you urgently to resolve the dispute. (3%)

10. You are a trainee in a law firm, and your best friend is working in a rival firm. You get on well with your Managing Associate, as your firm is reputed to be ‘small but very friendly’. She is very good at keeping secrets, according to your colleagues. Your friend is acting in the team for the opposing client, and has told you informally that it is widely believed in fact that the share acquisition does not fit in with their corporate strategy, despite what is reported in the Financial Times. She has asked you not to tell anyone, but the information could make a critical difference to the success of the transaction of your client. What do you do?

Decide to keep this information confidential, but consider the information as part of your preparatory research, as available from public sources. (58%)

Tell your Managing Associate immediately in private, but request politely that she does not tell anyone. (11%)

Ignore the information, as it could be totally untrustworthy anyway. (31%)

 

A summary of the first 100 responses thus far is here.