I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Morton Fraser MacRoberts (Edinburgh, Scotland) in Oct 2023
Interview
Online application, then a group interview over teams. There were about 8 other candidates and first you went round introducing yourself and then HR went round each person with 2 surprise topics you had to choose to talk about for strictly 3 mins. No one knew what topic you would get. After that you get emailed a task where you have to write a memo for a meeting in 1 hr and email it back to HR.
If successful they invite you to their Edinburgh office for a face to face interview and case study task.
When you get the invite, you also have to do a personality and psychometric test. It produces a report to summarise your personality and work ethic based on the results. I found the questions to be repetitive but the end result in the report was completely inaccurate to how I am and how I intended to answer the questions. I feel it gave me a bad impression to the recruitment team. Speaking to other candidates, they felt the same. You were also not given a chance to explain yourself in the interview nor to challenge what the report said.
The interview was with 2 partners and it was disappointing when they openly said that they hadn’t even read the applications (which candidates put a lot of time, thought and effort into) and the interview itself felt like an interrogation where it was strictly a question from them and you answer, no room for a chat or anything to get a feel for the firm itself. Also no opportunity was given for candidates to ask their own questions at the end of the interview. Based on the questions asked I felt they were more interested in candidates with sales experience rather than anything else and didn’t seem interested in getting to know you as a person. I feel like I didn’t get an opportunity to sell myself or my skills and instead they just wanted to see how I would make business as a trainee - which I understand is very much part of the job but i know its not the only thing that makes a good trainee (thats my impression anyway)
The case study was straightforward- read a case and summarise the key points in a 15 min presentation in front of 2 partners
Interview questions [5]
Question 1
Sell the firm to me if I was a client looking for a lawyer
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Morton Fraser MacRoberts (Glasgow, Scotland) in June 2024
Interview
Shortlisted candidates are invited to a virtual group interview conducted via video conferencing. During this session, each participant introduces themselves and engages in two impromptu speaking exercises on surprise topics, assessing their communication skills and ability to think on their feet. Subsequently, candidates receive a written task via email, requiring them to analyze provided documents and complete specific tasks within a strict time limit, evaluating their analytical and written communication skills.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Role-Play Exercise: Candidates are presented with a scenario and engage in a simulated client meeting, demonstrating their interpersonal and problem-solving abilities.
I applied online. I interviewed at Morton Fraser MacRoberts
Interview
Applied using a fairly standard application form that was straight forward enough.
Interview consisted of a partner and HR rep panel. Generally it was a discussion about my application form and what I could bring the firm.
The HR Rep was nice enough but the partner was somewhat condescending and difficult - almost at times looking to trip me up, rather than engaging with my CV. I got the impression I wasn’t what the partner was looking for and so they didn’t bother trying to get to know me.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Chatted through CV and why I wanted to be a commercial lawyer.