Farrer & Co Vacation Scheme and Training Contract Application...

Farrer & Co Vacation Scheme and Training Contract Application Question Answers

1. Covering letter (Please provide your covering letter in the box below in letter format. Please note that we are aware that formatting, such as tabs, alignment, bold, etc, is not retained as this is a plain text box.) 350 words max.

Dear Sir / Madam

I graduated from the Oxford University with a 2.1class degree in law in 2015 and I am currently pursuing an LLM at LSE. I am applying for a training contract with Farrer & Co.

I am attracted to a career as a solicitor at Farrer & Co because I would like to work with many types of businesses and private clients from different sectors. On a daily basis, I will be required to keep abreast with the latest developments and challenges facing these clients and develop innovative solutions in order to address unique and unprecedented legal and commercial challenges. I feel that this experience will make my work environment extremely rewarding and aid my personal development as well as guarantee my job satisfaction.

During my previous legal experience and my football practice sessions, I extremely enjoyed working in teams because this allowed me to build up my network of personal contacts, exposed me to new perspectives and made my life more interesting. I feel that Farrer & Co will provide me with an opportunity to work in relatively small and friendly teams in which I will be able to make a substantial contribution and put my views forward, which would not be the case at other law firms.

I am a very creative person who looks to do things differently. This approach will help me to deal with complex and unprecedented problems with relative ease and contribute cutting-edge ideas to the table. I feel that Farrer & Co will provide me with the best platform to apply my innovative approach and creativity to the cases that I work on because it has a very entrepreneurial and independent business structure.

I believe that my outstanding interpersonal skills, legal and commercial experience as well as my creativity and sociable character coupled with my fluency in foreign languages will make me a real asset to the development and success of Farrer & Co.

Having undertaken work experience in both Russia and the UK, I have acquired a comparative perspective to law and gained valuable international experience which I will be able to apply to add value to my work and deliver seamless legal solutions to international clients.

I thank you for your consideration and look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

[full name]

2. Please provide details of your extra-curricular activities and responsibilities whilst at secondary school. 250 words max.

Whilst at school, I was an active member of the Russian Youth Organisation in Russia where I was in charge of organising social events and leading a large group of people. I played for the school’s football team at the Moscow Games. I organised and wrote the speeches for our teachers at graduation and rehearsed them with the entire grade. I was given a budget and designed the leaver’s year t-shirts, contacted printing firms and liaised with my classmates on their choice and size. I also took on the responsibility of organising our ‘prank day’ having regard to the rules and limitations that were given to us and ensuring that my fellow students were complying with them. Moreover, I played baseball twice a week and attended an art club.

3. What activities have you participated in and what responsibilities have you taken on whilst at university? If you are a graduate, please also give details of your current interests, activities and responsibilities. 250 words max.

During my time at the Oxford University, I wrote articles for the student publication, the ‘Young Lawyer Magazine’, on some interesting topics such as on the emergence of fashion as its own field of law and different ways of protecting an app.

During my spare time, I regularly practice boxing at my local gym as a way of keeping fit and perfecting my technique. I also regularly play football with my local team and friends. I played for the Russian national team at the European Moscow Games 2011 in Vienna and at the Moscow Games 2013 in Samara.

During my active involvement at the Russian Youth Organisation in Russia, I played an active role in organising various events and demonstrated exceptional leadership skills by encouraging people to develop alternative perspectives and think more laterally.

I was involved in organising a fashion show for a charity event and promoting it through social media. I supervised the dress rehearsals, attracted sponsorship and designed invitations.

In 2015, I attended the IBA-ELSA Law Students’ Conference at Queen Mary University. The topics included were working within the field of corporate law, lessons learnt from the financial crisis and an M&A case study.

4. How have you spent your university holidays (if not already covered)? 250 words max.

During university holidays I travelled to different countries in order to learn a new culture and experience something new. With a passion for cooking and fine dining, I hosted several dinner parties for my friends. I have also used my university holidays to gain legal and general commercial work experience. In order to pay for my bills, I worked in a bakery where I made sandwiches, coffee and managed the till as well as interacted with customers. I took Arabic lessons and surfing classes.

5. Please list any other accomplishments, interests and responsibilities and anything else you believe strengthens your application. 250 words max.

I have a strong interest in art and regularly attend art exhibitions and events. In September 2015, I will be commencing a master’s degree in Art, Law and Business at Christie’s. I enjoy watching and performing ballet and I was chosen to act as a cover for an older and more experienced ballet dancer for a show on television in case she had to cancel last minute. I was chosen to ballet dance each year at the Russian National Theatre in front of an audience of approximately one thousand people.

6. Give details of any university prizes, exhibitions or scholarships awarded. 250 words max.

I was awarded one of the Oxford University’s Achievement Awards funded by the scholarship department. This award is only given to ten students in each year based on their attainment of overall academic excellence.

In my EU law module, I reached the top 31 out of 432 students, and attained a 79 in my coursework on the preliminary reference procedure. The coursework required a critical analysis of the relationship between national courts and the European Court of Justice. My aptitude for comprehending the problems faced by the supranational state in its mission to harmonise areas of law will allow me to have a more nuanced approached to the study of intellectual property law and commercial law.

In, Civil Law and Legal Systems, I additionally received a 74 in both pieces of coursework. One of them involved a comparison of the protection extended to freedom of religion within secular or pluralist states within Europe. The other concerned the Abstraction and the Separation principles of Russian law. I believe that these three pieces of coursework illustrate my understanding and interest in the interpretation of various international laws, a comparison between them and an analysis of their interaction.

7. Why are you applying to Farrer & Co? 250 words max.

I am applying to Farrer & Co because I am attracted by its friendly and inclusive culture as I feel it will help me to be myself and make the most out of my skills. I find the firm’s relatively small size to be especially appealing because it will present me with greater access to the firm’s leading solicitors and provide me with substantial and personal involvement in every case I work on. I find that this will help me to apply and develop my skills and qualify as a well-rounded and successful lawyer.

I find Farrer & Co’s prestigious client base to be very appealing because I will receive an opportunity to work on some of the most complex and challenging yet exciting cases with unique problems. This will see me work in highly integrated and personal teams, which will make me a privy to new ideas and approaches.

I like the fact that Farrer & Co maintains its full independence when working on international cases since it is not tied down by international offices or networks. I feel that this flat and entrepreneurial structure will allow me to develop my own approach to cases I work on and allow me to develop into a free-thinking lawyer in an open environment.

I find Farrer & Co’s handling intellectual property issues on behalf of clients such as the National Gallery very appealing because I would like to gain experience in the arts sector.

8. Describe a particularly challenging experience you have faced and the way you dealt with it, with tenacity, team spirit, humour or otherwise. This could be an incident from any part of your life; do not feel it has to come from a work environment. 250 words max.

During my work experience at Hogan Lovells, I accompanied the firm’s partners to a client meeting in Mayfair. The client sought advice on winding up a company in the UK and incorporating a new company in the US to publicly trade on the US stock exchange. I found this situation challenging because partners and the clients asked me questions which I felt put me on the spot. I was required to draw to my knowledge of the facts of the case and apply it to the client’s unique commercial requirements before communicating my ideas in a simple and pragmatic manner. To deal with this challenging situation, I had my notes on my laptop and whenever I did not know an answer to a question, I looked it up. If I could not find the answer to a question, I consulted the partners and even sent meetings to our team at the office to assist. Overall, I dealt with this challenging experience through my dynamic, calm and proactive approach because I felt that it was important to go out of my way to deliver an excellent customer service. I felt that my calm and collected approach helped me to find solutions to problematic situations.