Mayer Brown Assessment Day, Verbal Test and Interview Preparation

Mayor Brown’s application process tests you in numerous ways as you progress through it. Specifically, the graduate trainee recruitment process is a very difficult aspect of the Mayor Brown recruitment to go through. Other applicants will find elements of this page useful as they apply to their own application processes.

The Mayer Brown application form is the first time the firm will see any information about you. It is important to make it count. As well as the usual questions about education and work experience, there are two sections which need more attention - the covering letter and the interests and responsibilities section.

The covering letter is a crucial part of the application form. Mayer Brown staff and recruiters do not give any information regarding what they are looking for; you are simply told to write a covering letter and pick out what you think is the most relevant to include. However, it is safe to say that what they want you to provide will include:

• Tell the firm why you want to work in law and why you want to work with them.
• What you offer the firm.
• Evidence that you have researched the firm and know what they do.
• A fully structured letter, with all spelling and grammar checked over for mistakes.

Although they do not specify what they want to see in the covering letter, Mayer Brown employees do ask that covering letters are kept short and to the point. The challenge will be in getting the information you want into the letter without going on for too long. 

Following on from the covering letter, you are given a section to tell the firm about your academic and non-academic achievements and interests which have not been covered elsewhere in the form. You have 1,000 words available for this section, which should be enough to ensure that you do not need to put any of this information in your covering letter.

The next stage of the application process is the telephone interview, which is provided by the Mayer Brown Graduate Recruitment team. Before the Telephone Interview, make sure to extensively research the company and the position you wish to fill. Make a list of points that highlight your past achievements and write open-ended questions to learn as much as you can about the company, division and how management operates. Remember that the interview is two ways: while they interview you, you should interview them as well. When faced with interview questions regarding your weaknesses, be open and honest, but also demonstrate how you resolve or work around them efficiently as possible.

Following on from the application form, you are likely to be asked to sit an online verbal reasoning test. The verbal reasoning test is designed to test your ability to comprehend, analyse and interpret written text, some of the key skills that you must have as a lawyer. The best way to improve your score in such a test is to practise ahead of time.

See how this PrepPack™ can help you prepare for a verbal reasoning test.

Note:

The Mayer Brown SJT test is used to evaluate applicants' decision making abilities when introduced with made-up, daily office situations. The Mayer Brown Situational Judgement Test doesn’t have a specific format and will often have different criteria. Therefore, they are usually harder to study for. Use the situational judgement preparation package and start preparing immediately.

Applicants for the Mayer Brown graduate training contract, whose application forms have impressed, are invited to a whole Mayer Brown assessment day at the firm’s offices. During the day, you will take part in a range of exercises, all of which are taken into consideration when assessing who will be offered a training contract.

This fact-finding exercise has been developed specially for the Mayer Brown recruitment process. In this exercise, you are given a scenario and some information about it; your role is to ask questions of an associate, in order to come to the correct answer for the client in the scenario. This exercise is designed to discover your abilities to think when new facts are placed in front of you. No legal knowledge is needed, just your common sense.

The fact-finding exercise is essentially a case study that you need to analyse and come to an answer. See how this product can help you learn how to tackle case studies here.

The Mayer Brown written exercise is a business analysis exercise. You are given a series of documents about the case study to absorb information, analyse and prepare a presentation about. This test is designed to test your timekeeping, commercial awareness, common sense and your ability to follow a brief and take instructions. This test requires you to use your case study analysis skills, as well as testing your ability to prepare and give over a presentation.

In the group exercise, you are put in a group with five other candidates in order to solve a brief. In the group exercise, you are being assessed for your team working skills, your ability to make a contribution to a case and how you listen to the contributions of others. It is important you ensure that your contributions are original and add to the group, that you are heard, but that you are not aggressive.

The final test of the day is an interview with two Mayer Brown Partners. The interview questions are a mix of competency and commercial questions. Mayer Brown interview questions include your motivations for working in law and working with the company. The interviewers have your CV, so expect questions on what you wrote on your CV and application form. Other questions test your knowledge of the legal services industry and how current affairs can impact on the work of the industry and the firm. Don’t forget to prepare for the interview, both by revising your CV, research into the company and keeping up with current affairs; and practising the skills you need for the interview itself. The PrepPack™ can help you prepare in real time for your interview with the interview preparation package.

Mayer Brown is an ambitious firm, with aspirations to keep on growing and moving forward. The firm is looking for trainees and workers who match these aspirations and who can help take the firm forward. Their application process is designed to help them identify just these people. This page has been written to give you a guide to the process and help you identify the resources you need to prepare for each stage.

If you're interested in other law firms' hiring processes, check this page.