Ace the Hogan Lovells Assessment Day and Watson Glaser Test With Accurate Practice Tests

This PrepPack™ combines Pearson Watson Glaser-style critical thinking tests, drills and guides.

You can also read about the Arctic Shores Test, which is occasionally administered by HL as well.

The Hogan Lovells recruitment process has been specially created to aid both parties, Hogan Lovells and yourself, to see whether the match is right. The Hogan Lovells assessment days are held at the Atlantic House London office. Therefore, you’ll get a feel of the company right away. If you’re applying for an insight day for a first-year student, you won’t need to take part in assessment days. However, for all other vacation schemes and training contracts, the Hogan Lovells assessment centre involves the following events:

• An introductory session to the firm by a Hogan Lovells partner or graduate recruitment.
• A Hogan Lovells critical thinking test, which differs slightly from the online test.
• A casual lunch and guided tour of the London offices with trainee solicitors.
• A Hogan Lovells commercial business exercise for the training contract applicants, created to test teamwork abilities.
• An interview with a member of the Hogan Lovells graduate recruitment team; this interview will assess the knowledge of the legal and business worlds.
• Following this, there are two more Hogan Lovells interviews. One with a partner and one with graduate recruiters. These interviews are more personal and seek to understand the interest in a legal career, check the knowledge of the applicant and, finally, asses the ability to handle work-like situations that probably arise in the office.

If an application for a campus ambassador role has been submitted, the assessment day will consist of the Hogan Lovells critical thinking test, an interview and a presentation skills exercise, specifically designed by Hogan Lovells.

The Watson Glaser test is split into five sections. The old and long variation (Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal - Form A) consisted of 80 questions that had to be completed in 60 minutes. The new and short variation consists of 40 questions to be completed in 30 minutes. The Hogan Lovells critical thinking measures the following abilities: recognising assumptions, drawing conclusions and evaluating arguments. There are five sections to the test, each assessing a different ability. Every Watson Glaser test section consists of a short text passage that is followed by a question or statement, which the examinee needs to engage with in some way, according to the section. To successfully pass the Hogan Lovells Watson Glaser test, it is important to practise these skills and to get familiar with the thinking methods this test is based on.

Learn the basic principals of the WGCTA with sample questions and key tips:

For free Watson Glaser practice questions, click here!

The online application form is your first opportunity to impress the company you hope to work at. With over 2,500 applicants for training contracts, the answers you give on the form must help you stand out from the crowd.

Competency-based questions will ask you about your work experience to date and your personal development. You are expected to elaborate on your answers and there is plenty of space, so make sure you utilise it to the fullest extent. They are not just looking for legal work experience; therefore, list all work experience to demonstrate how you understand business, time management, communicating with people and meeting deadlines. Show how the skills you have picked up in your student jobs can be transferred to your future career. Moreover, provide examples of where you have interacted with the law, in order to show how you have thought about your career, looked into it and made decisions based on what you have learnt from your research.

The recruitment team is also looking for you to demonstrate how the way you work fits into the core values of the firm. These core values will run through all parts of the application process.

The core values of the firm are:

• Clients come first
• Excellence in all we do
• One team worldwide
• Commitment to our firm’s success
• Good citizenship

The application form is the only opportunity you have to present your experience and a CV upload is not included. As a result, this form is like a tailored CV and the questions the company asks, help you address the information they want to know about you.  

The Hogan Lovells assessment day is a whole day event at the firm’s headquarters in Atlantic House, Holborn. The day is designed to offer you more information about the firm and for them to assess you further in on whether you have the qualities they are looking for. The good news is that once the assessment day is over, there are no more application activities for you to carry out.

There are three assessed events during the day. The itinerary is as follows:

• Introduction to the firm from a partner and associates
• Critical thinking test
• Informal buffet lunch with trainees
• Commercial business exercise
• Interview with two partners and a member of the graduate recruitment team
• Guided tour of Atlantic House

Teamwork is a core value of Hogan Lovells. The commercial business exercise is a group activity designed to see how you work as part of a team, similar to a team meeting where the team works together to address a question affecting their work. The exercise will be based on a problem a client has brought to the company in the past. The commercial exercise will not test your technical legal knowledge, but how you approach the issue and work through the problem. Although you are assessed alongside your fellow candidates, the exercise is not a competition. Getting the balance right in a group exercise can be difficult.

The Hogan Lovells partner interview will typically last 45 minutes to an hour. The interview will serve two main functions: to ask you your reasons for pursuing a legal career and your understanding of the legal and business world; and assess your ability to respond to common situations that trainee solicitors deal with.

Hogan Lovells’ top interview tips:

• Prepare thoroughly - know about the company and current news within it.
• They are looking for commercial awareness - read up on businesses; follow a company currently in the news; read about their case from a number of different sources.
• Take your time when answering questions in the interview. If you need more time to think, ask for it.
• Answer honestly - do not answer what you think the interviewer wants to hear.
• Be prepared to ask questions of the interviewers, but make sure they are original, have not been covered in anything you have heard during the day and are not too easily answered by your own research into the company. Questions can include asking about the interviewers and their career paths, what they like about working for Hogan Lovells and their clients.

Hogan Lovells will perform checks on the information you have given them. These are conditions to the offer of employment, which include checking your academic qualifications and professional memberships, credit checks, criminal record search, employment history and legal right to work in the UK.

First, make sure you have your CV memorised, so you can easily discuss past work experiences and skill sets that you have listed. Think of the Hogan Lovells phone interview as an initial fact-checking mission by the company to put you on the spot, so make sure you do not stutter and come across as confident.

The hiring process depends on the number of tasks you have to fulfil. Typically, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of candidates applying for the same job. Whilst most of them are filtered out through the use of online tests, that still leaves many who have to go through face to face assessments and interviews. We can make some generalisations though. Online tests and automatic application screening typically take no more than a week. However, you will only know if you have gotten through to the next stage of the application process once the job posting has been closed. The company will normally take a further month to come up with a shortlist of candidates who should attend interviews and assessment centres. These assessment centres usually take place in the first three months of the year and you get the results typically about a week or two afterwards. We can, therefore, say that the entire process can take up to six months.

An assessment centre is often a day that constitutes the final stage of the application process. These assessment days will either take place at the employer’s offices or at private centres. You are evaluated through a series of assessment centre exercises, including both individual and group tasks. These give your prospective employer a rounded profile of your competencies and an insight into your performance in the workplace.

Hogan Lovells was formed in 2010 through the merger of the UK firm Lovells and the US-based firm Hogan and Hartson. It is a major international law firm, which sits just outside the magic circle of law firms in the UK. The Hogan Lovells application process is competitive and is designed to help the company pick out the best candidates to join the firm. Sign up and practise to increase your chances of success!