We caught up with Bright Network member Rana-Liz, who secured a Trainee Solicitor role at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP through Bright Network. Find out more about the application process along with Rana-Liz's top tips for people who want to follow in her footsteps. 
What motivated you to apply for a role at Herbert Smith Freehills?
“I was attracted to applying for a Trainee Associate Programme at HSF because of its focus on banks, financial services and energy.
When I completed my LLM Master of Laws, I specialised in corporate securities law and wrote my dissertation on Environmental, Social and Governance, so I knew I wanted to work at a firm committed to these areas. HSF’s prowess in these sectors is exemplified through its pioneering work in Section 90A FSMA 2000 Securities Class Actions and the Finance teams focus on energy transition through advice on the financing of new green asset classes like smart meters.
What also intrigued me about HSF was the fact that I could opt to be internally seconded to the ESG or pro bono teams and that the firm shows great commitment to pro bono work.”
How did Bright Network help you secure your role?
“I attended Bright Network's Commercial Law Internship Experience UK back in 2020. I was a second-year undergraduate student in law at the time who was trying to get a broader understanding of a solicitor's work and how to navigate application processes.
As part of the internship, I attended webinars on commercial law, global investigations, private equity, legal drafting skills and legal and business research delivered by top city firms. This introduced me to key functioning legal and commercial knowledge and shed light on the type of conceptual understanding and skills I should continue developing to succeed in commercial law.”
How did you make your application stand out?
“My application stood out because it was focused on HSF’s unique selling points and because I related the answers to the application questions back to myself wherever possible.
Many city firms are full-service and it can be difficult to understand their USP at a first glance. I recommend trying to understand the priority sectors they operate in, the type of clients they represent in different practice areas (FTSE 100 clients, institutional investors, hight net worth individuals etc.), why working with such clientele would appeal to you and the firm's initiatives in tech and pro bono.
When I applied to HSF, one of the application questions asked us to talk about a topic of interest and why it interested me. I think my application stood out because I traced my interest in The London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) transition to a deeply personal event: how low-balling when panel banks were setting the IBORs under the previous regime, impacted small businesses such as my family’s during the Great Financial Crisis.”
What part of the application process did you find the most challenging?
“I found that the most challenging part of the application process was the assessment centre, which consisted of three stages: a competency interview, a case study interview and a commercial scenario. The last two components are the most trying due to a lack of preparation time, the high-pressure environment and the functioning legal and commercial knowledge you need to possess to enhance your chances of success.
For the case study interview, you’re given 45 minutes to read a brief of various documents and prepare answers to questions from a partner. While some of the questions can be answered through piecing together various bits of information in the brief, in my experience, possessing some knowledge in contract, tort and corporate law proves helpful.
The commercial scenario is again, structured as an interview with a partner. The partner would come up with a legal or commercial situation, usually in areas pertaining to their expertise.
It’s helpful to have kept up to date with information featured in the news, so that you can show your commercial awareness and again having some functioning legal and commercial knowledge can generally help you advance some informed opinions. The partners want you to succeed so they will generally give you additional information if you are struggling, but this can nevertheless be a difficult exercise.”
What are your tips for tackling tough interview questions?
“Firstly, take a minute to process the question. My recommendation is to have a glass of water next to you which you can reach for while you mull over your answer. This can also help prevent you from slipping into using filler words which show you were taken aback by the question.
Secondly, the best way to ensure you tackle any difficult situation and strength-based question is to prepare in advance by reflecting on and writing down examples of situations where you displayed great collaboration, attention to detail, research and resilience using the STAR method. In my experience, if you have gone through this exercise, you can tackle other novel questions because it’s likely that upon deep reflection of your experience, you also uncovered other skills and weaknesses that would be pertinent to the question asked.
And finally, ensure you have sufficient commercial awareness to talk about opportunities and challenges to law firms and their clientele, read into international news stories and regulatory developments that could help you answer questions such as, “in which jurisdiction should we open an office next?”.
In the interview itself, so long as you have a genuine interest in an area relevant to the firm you’re applying to and an idea around technological developments that are harnessed in that sector, you should be able to draw back on this knowledge to answer general curveball commercial awareness-type queries.”
Did you get any feedback in the past that helped you with your application?
“Some of the most helpful pieces of constructive feedback I received were in the context of rejections. On one occasion, I was told I was verbose and academic in the way I write and present. Ideally, you should strive to get to the point efficiently – I found practicing explaining difficult concepts to people with no background knowledge in law to be helpful. If you’re able to do this well, it will exponentially increase your ability to succeed in your training contact journey.
Another piece of feedback I received was after an assessment centre, when I was told I have the tendency to approach some questions from a general perspective, thus not being client specific. It may be tempting to speak to different issues or to be more generalised in your answer, but the assessor is most likely also testing your ability to stay on topic and only include relevant, tangential issues in your answer.”
What three tips would you give Bright Network members looking to follow in your footsteps?
“My tips would be to attend Bright Network and firm-specific events, Open Days and Law Fairs so that you get the opportunity to meet lots of graduate recruitment teams, developing your personal brand with these stakeholders in the process.
Another piece of advice would be to start building functional legal and commercial knowledge by keeping a document divided into various topics, each covering a specific practice area and sector.
Some popular areas of discussion include:
Corporate M&A: have an idea of due diligence issues, the private and public acquisition processes
Commercial law: learn about key contractual terms such as representations, warranties and indemnities, contractual and tortious liability and restrictions in finance documents such as negative pledges and change of control clauses
Employment issues: unfair and constructive dismissal, application of TUPE in M&A, discrimination
And finally, my advice would be to stay resilient and keep applying. Securing a training contact is a highly competitive and lengthy process that often involves multiple application rounds before reaching the assessment centre stage. Don’t get discouraged if you’re faced with rejections and use each application as a new opportunity for personal growth and as a stepping stone to your future career.”
Find insight schemes, graduate jobs, training contracts and more at Bright Network.
