Eversheds Sutherland Training Contracts & Interview Questions

Competency Interview

There are no commercial questions in this interview, nor anything about the firm.
Expect questions like:
– What is your motivation for studying law?

– Why do you want to work here, at Eversheds Sutherland?
– What do you enjoy doing?
– How would you feel if you were asked to work late because another colleague chose to leave early?
– How can you demonstrate your ability in teamwork to us?
– How can you demonstrate your communication skills to us?
– Please provide an example of your communication skills being vital to your work in the past.
– Are you aware of any recent cases that the firm was involved in?
– Please identify your primary strengths. How have you demonstrated these strengths?
– Please identify your primary weakness. How can you deal with this weakness. When has this weakness affected you?
– Tell me about your work experience.
– When did you decide to become a lawyer and what did you learn about yourself through the process of this?

Internal Meeting Simulation / Partner Interview

There are conflicting reports on what is involved here, and it seems Eversheds have been recently revamping their approach to assessment. However, the overall approach here appears to be as follows:
– You will take part in some form of role play exercise. This will involve you being provided with a set of documents to read, or a ‘fact pack’ of some sort. Essentially, you will need to quickly assimilate some information. You will then be tasked with representing part of the firm in order to make a decision. This will involve you attending an internal meeting with a lawyer (partner) from another department of the firm. Here, you will discuss the issues in the documents and try to come to an amicable conclusion. You will need to argue your case, and protect the interests of your side, whilst remaining tactful and respectful of the other side and their arguments.