📩 The part of your interview prep you're probably skipping

Hey

Many candidates prepare for interviews by memorising answers. They rehearse their competencies, polish their commercial awareness, and walk in feeling ready.

What they don’t realise is that a significant part of how you're assessed has nothing to do with what you say. It's how you enter the room, how you carry yourself under pressure, how you handle a question you weren't expecting, and how you leave a lasting impression in the final minutes.

On Wednesday at 13:00, Mark Dubes is joining us to cover exactly that. Mark has interviewed over 10,000 candidates and has seen every mistake, including the ones that cost people offers they should have got.

Applications

1. Research for your applications

   Access over 20 law firm profiles, complete with breakdowns, seats, secondments, and other requirements.

2. How to research a law firm

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3. Magic Circle Analysed Deals

   This breaks down recent transactions and explains how to move beyond simply mentioning a deal, towards demonstrating real commercial understanding and relevance.

4. Written Application Framework

   How to structure your answers, apply the rule of three and build a compelling narrative for your applications.

5. 15 Applications Sample Bundle

   15 real application answers samples from major firms along with an explanation of what worked and why

6. Securing a Vacation Scheme

   What to do if your efforts still aren’t converting, despite trying everything.

7. Application tracker, CV & Cover Letter Guidance

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Psychometric Tests

1. Watson Glaser Cheat Sheet

   A clear breakdown of the key skills tested in critical thinking tests, along with where to practice, mistakes and red flags to watch out for.

Interviews

1. Commercial Awareness Starter Pack

   Guidance on how to develop your commercial awareness and a worked example showing what a strong answers looks like.

2. The Interview Question Bank

   Over 80+ interview questions asked by leading law firms.

3. Video Interview Guide

   Covering common formats, how firms assess answers, and how to communicate clearly and confidently on camera.

Work Experience

1. How to gain Legal Work Experience

   This covers six avenues you could explore to gain relevant legal work experience.

2. Virtual Work Experience

   Explore free virtual internships and DIY vacation schemes. Build real-world skills you can showcase on applications.

3. Opportunities in Law

   80+ opportunities across law firms, chambers, early-careers programmes and paralegal roles.

Studying

1. First Class LLB Notes

   Includes proven tips for managing time, revision, and exams.

2. First Class Problem Question Model Answer

   How to structure a problem question answer and showcase your legal reasoning.

3. Essay Structures

   Covers how to open with impact, write clearly and finish with a focused conclusion.

4. Oscola Referencing Cheat Sheet

   A simplified guide to OSCOLA referencing, covering how to cite cases, legislation, books, journal articles, and more.

UK Banks Face Political Tax Threat

After recent political instability, banks are worried that Prime Minister Keir Starmer might be replaced by a Labour leader that is more likely to tax them. In the November Budget, banks narrowly avoided tax raises after Rachel Reeves managed to secure alternative commitments by banks to boost UK lending.

As it stands, in addition to having to pay standard corporate taxes, banks have to pay a 3% surcharge on their profits. Last year, the former deputy Prime Minister - Angela Rayner - suggested increasing this surcharge on banks to 5%, which would raise an additional £1.5 billion annually. Banks are extra vulnerable at the moment given their recent surges in share value (due to high interest rates).

The Implications

Banks are uniquely vulnerable to political stability because of their political unpopularity and high profitability. This is driven by previous financial crises, where banks have always acted as the final trigger. As such, instead of being met with gradual tax changes, banks have to anticipate more sudden surcharges to be applied to their profits and act accordingly.

The November Budget highlights this issue, with a senior bank executive describing a lack of extra taxation on the banking sector as an ‘astonishing escape. ’ Even then, banks were subject to a transactional compromise which likely only panned out in the banks’ favour because their support was so essential to propping up Rachel Reeves’ fiscal plans.

What could a change in leadership mean for UK financial services?

• UK banks face a higher political risk than other industries, where tax burdens could increase dramatically, and this in turn would depress share prices as investors become uncertain

• Political instability may weaken the UK’s international competitiveness on banking, as mobile banking services means banks can shift their operations to the EU or US

• Banks must maintain expensive governmental relations to ensure no detrimental treatment, which diverts resources away from productive business expansion activities

How to Use This In Applications

26 April 1962 — In a joint USA British venture, the first international satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

28 April 1770 — English navigator Captain James Cook and his crew, including the botanist Joseph Banks, landed in Australia, at Stingray Bay, which was later named Botany Bay.

29 April 1993 — It was announced that Buckingham Palace would be opened to the public for the first time (during August & September) in a bid to raise funds to repair Windsor Castle.

30 April 1789 — George Washington becomes the first President of the USA.

1 May 1707 — England and Scotland unite, forming Great Britain, through the Act of Union 1707.

2 May 1952 — The first jet airliner set off from London to Johannesburg. (Aviation law, anyone?)

Want a clearer route to securing a training contract?

The Future Trainee Academy brings the full recruitment process into one place, with guidance from a recruiter who assessed 10,000+ candidates and examples from future trainees at top firms.

It covers applications, interviews, assessment centres, and more. You’ll also get a certificate you can add to your CV and LinkedIn.

When you join, you will also gain access to the Watson Glaser Practise Hub where you can practise as much as you need to comfortably pass it!