How to upsell yourself in applications & interviews with White & Case

Chambers Student: What made you decide that you wanted to become a lawyer and what has kept you in the profession?

Kinzah Khan, trainee: I first started looking into law after my second year of university. From going to open days, talking with trainees and solicitors and doing my own research, I felt that law offered a great intersection between the elements I was looking for in a career.

Jonathan Toffolo, associate: In terms of what's kept me in the profession, I think it’s the people that you get to work with, whether that's on the client side or your colleagues. They can be intelligent and driven but also often have an excellent sense of humour. It can be a stressful line of work at times, but there's a real sense of achievement once you get through those challenging periods. Also, I’m someone who likes organizing things and helping people find solutions to problems, which is an integral part of being a lawyer. When you've come up with a way to figure out a particularly tricky problem, it’s incredibly rewarding and you feel like you’ve helped make someone’s day easier.

CS: And Vuyo, are there other reasons that people may give for wanting to become a lawyer that are quite common?

Vuyo Kwitshana, early careers recruitment manager: Often, people have just always dreamed of becoming a lawyer, a sentiment frequently expressed during interviews and the application process, and it’s always heartening to witness such enthusiasm. This aspiration may stem from early personal experiences where legal professionals significantly helped them or their families, casting these lawyers in a highly respectable light. It can start from something as small as that which leads them to aspire to become one themselves.

CS: What was the process for applying for your training contract?

KK: I applied for the vacation scheme in the 2019-2020 application season, which started off as a written application with a cover letter. After submitting that, I heard back regarding the video assessment and then got an invitation for an in-person interview. This was then followed by an offer for the vacation scheme, during which we had the opportunity to convert to a training contract.  As my vacation scheme was in the summer of 2020, it was all online, but the training contract assessment process stayed the same. There was a written assessment, a group exercise, and a partner interview, in which you give a 10-minute presentation on a topic. Those were the formal assessments, and then you're also assessed on the work that you do during those two weeks.

VK: It’s worth mentioning that most trainees come through the vacation scheme route - about 80% of our trainees did a vacation scheme at White & Case.

KK: Even if it’s the smoothest process in the world, things can always get stressful for the applicant, especially when you’re waiting to hear back in between stages.  I prepared as much as I could, but the best practice is from doing the real thing, and I hadn't done the real thing very much at that stage! I remember that with both the vacation scheme and training contract interviews, the more I prepared the more confident I felt. It was more of a conversation, which I really appreciated. Even with the partner interview, after I did my presentation we had a chat about the topic, which was great. I don't think that it was as stressful as I imagined it to be, and I think that's down in part to the environments that were created, but also my own preparation.

CS: What tips would you have for prospective trainees looking to market themselves and their experience in their applications?

JT: For me, it’s a case of nailing the question about why law and why this firm, which may sound obvious, but it’s probably the hardest question to answer convincingly! It's crucial to link your answers back to your own personal experiences, especially those where you feel like you've excelled; this will give the application more personality and relatability. Often you will have developed an interest based on a particular experience (e.g. attending a career fair / speaking to a contact / having a legal issue yourself), but what I’m keen to understand is what you have done since that initial interest. I want to understand your journey going from that experience which piqued your interest in law to a vacation scheme application. How have you interrogated that to understand what a lawyer actually does? That can be quite hard if you're not from a law background. There are a lot of resources out there now, so if you're still giving quite a vague answer to the ‘why law’ or ‘why W&C’ question, it's difficult for me to follow your journey and understand what your motivations are.

KK: It really is the most basic questions that you need to sell yourself on. Just knowing exactly what the job is is so important in demonstrating that you’ve done your research. The job of a trainee also varies depending on what department you're in. So, whenever people ask me how to prepare now, I say: “Talk to trainees from different practice areas and ask them exactly what their job is, what tasks they do and how that job has varied in between seats.”

CS: Is there ever a sense that you’re interviewing the firm as well?

JT: I think that that should probably be the mindset. You have to see if they’re right for you just as they’re seeing if you’re right for them. I think getting a handle on the culture can be quite difficult, and it often varies between firms, so it’s important to do your due diligence and decide if this is the place you want to practice. After all, it’s not a commitment to take on lightly. Open days will help with that as will meeting people on campus. Don’t be afraid to use social media as a tool too; LinkedIn, Instagram, and X are useful ways at keeping yourself engaged with events the firm is putting on. It was very important for me, for example, to work at a firm that goes above and beyond on diversity and inclusion, for example, so I would check what the firms were doing (or weren’t doing!) in that area.

CS: And then Vuyo, what are you looking for from applicants in the interviews?

VK: It is essential to demonstrate your dedication to commercial law and a genuine interest in White & Case and the type of work we do. We expect you to have conducted thorough research, which should reflect in your understanding of our firm’s culture, values, and the specific skills we are looking for, and we want to see that these aligns with you and your aspirations. While it may be tempting to tailor your responses based on what you believe the firm is looking for, authenticity remains key in an interview setting.

CS: Do you have any other advice that you'd give prospective applicants working out how to best navigate both interviews and applications?

VK: Know what the firm is looking for. There are many different firms that candidates can apply to. They all have their different processes, application deadlines and skills that are important to them. So really spending time understanding the individual processes for each firm and all the various stages (and what is being asked of you at each stage) is essential.

CS: What sort of experience should they be highlighting and what experience could they be getting?

JT: Many people worry about obtaining legal work experience, and I know that presents one of the key barriers to accessing the profession. These kinds of opportunities for unofficial work experience aren't necessarily open to everyone. I think that can sometimes put people off who don’t have the contacts to secure that kind of experience. On the contrary, I'd much rather hear an example where someone has worked in retail every summer during COVID, or in a pub, or a restaurant, and dealt with customers in that environment. That’s more valuable (and tells me more about someone’s work ethic / ability to work under pressure) than someone who may have done a court tour once. Obviously, court tours are interesting, but it's not really telling me much about your ability to actually do the job day-to-day.

KK: I came from a non-law background, and while I had done work in the NGO and journalism spaces previously, I had only done a very minor stint in a law firm. I think the more valuable legal experience I had was from attending open days and going for coffees with trainees where I could. But in terms of actual legal work experience, I really didn't have any. That meant my focus was on drawing out what skills I had from other experiences and applying them to what I understood the role to be. I did also draw on the skills I got from my degree and societies as well. Don't undervalue the role the societies play in terms of skill development; it doesn't have to be a law society either.

CS: How did the application process prepare you for life at the firm, did you get a good idea of the firm through that process?

KK: The White & Case vacation scheme is incredibly useful at mimicking trainee life in a convincing way. Obviously, it can't be fully representative because it's only two weeks, and it's not meant to be as intense as actual trainee life, but it's a good first taste of the kind of work that you do. It also depends on your initiative. I went out of my way to organise calls with as many people as I could from the different presentations we had. It’s also hugely important to be commercially aware and showcase that knowledge. But the biggest thing I took away from the vacation scheme was that I really liked the environment, and I liked the people. I liked the support that was offered and the value that people put in helping trainees learn.

CS: Do you have any tips or advice for someone who is on the lookout for some opportunities that we haven’t mentioned?

KK: I think that since COVID, one thing that's great now is that there are a lot of virtual events. So, I'd say keep a look out for virtual law fairs and virtual talks. Any opportunity that you have to interact with the firm, keep a lookout for that. That being said, I think one of the best things you can do is to attend an open day. I did an open day, and it was a really good insight into the firm.

VK: I would also add that there are now lots of different virtual learning experiences. There is a platform called Forage, which house various virtual experiences, and White & Case has a virtual internship on there where you can put yourself in the shoes of the trainee. It's useful experience and I know a number of different firms that have also got virtual internships on that platform. So, if you're struggling to get some tangible experience, that's a great way to do it. During the autumn term we attend careers events such as law fairs, and host a number of workshops, webinars and open days. These are all great opportunities to network and learn more about the firm and its culture.  

CS: Do any of you have any final points around upselling yourself in applications and interviews?

VK: We’re looking for a genuine interest in our business, our clients and our firm, and we’re also looking for people with a global mindset. So, making sure that you understand what that actually means practically is quite important for us. What I would also say is that a lot of people tend to think ‘oh it’s a big firm so no point applying’, I think the first step is submitting an application form regardless of what you think we are looking for, or any other misconceptions you have. Spend some time on it and put your best foot forward.

JT: I agree. Make sure that you put yourself into the application and the interview process. Make sure that you and your personality comes across.  Don’t forget that there are many routes into this profession. I think people sometimes think that there's one established, well-trodden path, and that's what you've got to do to get here, and it's just not true anymore (or is increasingly less true!)

KK: The main piece of advice that I always give is just to be authentic, both for the sake of the firm, but also just for the sake of the applicant as well.  I think that if you do that, then the application becomes much easier, purely because you have genuine answers to the questions that people are asking. The authenticity of it comes across more clearly, and already elevates your application in a way that that it wouldn't if you were forcing it.