Hogan Lovells

Hogan Lovells is a leading global law firm, with 2,500 lawyers working in over 40 offices in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States. Our scale and capability positions us amongst the global elite of law firms, and provides our trainees with an international stage on which to develop their legal career.

Areas of Work

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Our international strength across a wide range of practice areas gives us a strong reputation for corporate, finance, dispute resolution, government regulatory and intellectual property. This provides good training opportunities for those joining us.

International Offices

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Abu Dhabi, Alicante, Amsterdam, Baltimore, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Caracas, Colorado Springs, Denver, Dubai, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Houston, Jeddah, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New York, Northern Virginia, Paris, Philadelphia, Prague, Riyadh, Rome, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo, Warsaw, Washington DC, Zagreb

UK Offices

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Atlantic House
Holborn Viaduct
London
EC1A 2FG

Hogan Lovells Interview Questions

Hogan Lovells Training Contract Interview and Application Process

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The Training Contract interview procedure at Hogan Lovells is as follows:

  • Online Application
  • Psychometric tests
  • Individual interview
  • Assessment day

Assessment Day

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The assessment day lasts from 10am to 4pm. It consists of:

  • Meet and greet
  • Psychometric reasoning test
  • Group exercise
  • Lunch
  • Interview

Psychometric test

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You will be given a 20-minute Watson Glaser psychometric reasoning test. Hogan Lovells will send you a practice test to prepare with before your assessment day.

Group exercise

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You will have a 40-minute group commercial exercice, based on a scenario involving a supermarket looking to expand and diverisify. You will be given 20 minutes to read the proposed scenario and must then discuss a series of questions as a group, about how you think the supermarket should expand (merger or strategic alliance), how to finance the expansion (debt or issuing shares) and various other non-legal questions.

Lunch

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Over lunch applicants meet up with current trainee solicitors for an informal (unassessed) chat.

Interview

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During the day you will have a one-to-one interview with a partner or associate. This will last about 45 - 60 minutes. In the past, candidates have been asked:
  • Explain the difference between Contract and Tort
  • Give three arguments for and against trial by jury
  • Have there been any commercial situations in the news recently that have caught your attention?
  • What steps have you taken to research becoming a solicitor?
  • Why do you want to be a solicitor?
  • Why Hogan Lovells?
  • Where else have you applied?

It is important to do plenty of reserch into the firm and to keep abreast of current affairs (particularly business), although you do not need to go into too much detail during your interview.

Try and identify key trends in current affairs before your interview and why they should interest you as future commercial solicitor.

Some questions do require you to have some legal knowledge.

Hogan Lovells Training Contract

Training Contract

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We have an intake of up to 75 trainee solicitors per year, composed of law and non-law graduates. A trainee at Hogan Lovells spends six months in four different seats to gain as broad a range of experience as possible. All trainees spend six months in a corporate or finance seat and six months gaining contentious experience in a dispute resolution seat. In the second year of training, there is the option to spend a seat on secondment either to one of the firm's international offices or to the in-house legal department of one of our major clients.

From 1st October 2011 we are recruiting training contracts starting in August 2014 and February 2015.

Training Contract Salary

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From 1 May 2011, the starting salary for trainee solicitors will be £38,000 per annum, rising to £43,000 in the second year. For qualified lawyers the salary upon qualification is £61,000. According to Hogan Lovells own statistics, the firm retain around 75% of trainees upon qualification.

Training Contract Benefits

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Lovells offer to pay GDL and LPC course fees and provide a maintenance grant of £8,000 for all students reading the LPC and GDL in London and £7,000 for students reading the GDL elsewhere.

In addition, the firm offers one of the most financially rewarding benefits packages to pre-joiners of any law firm in London:

  • £1,000 advance in salary on starting your training contract
  • £500 for a First Class degree result
  • £500 for getting the top overall marks within the Lovells LPC cohort
  • Interest-free season ticket loan (for London Underground and over ground services) during the LPC year
  • Hogan Lovells discount card offering discounts at retailers who are local to the firm.

Application Requirements

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We look for a strong consistent, academic performance and candidates must have achieved, or be likely to achieve, at least a 2:1 (or equivalent consistently through their degree). Our reputation means that we attract the brightest and most able graduates, but we are looking for more than academic qualifications. You will be happy working in a team yet capable of, and used to, independent action. You will demonstrate ability and desire for lateral thinking and will be capable of close attention to detail. Above all, you will have a single-minded ambition to succeed in a top law firm.

Hogan Lovells Vacation Placements

Vacation Placements

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We offer up to 50 places over two summer vacation schemes. Each scheme is carefully designed to give students the opportunity to gain a broad insight into the work of the firm, as the time is split between three of our major practice areas.

Applications for our summer 2012 schemes open in 1st October 2011 and close on 31st January 2012.

We also hold open events throughout the academic year for final year non-law and penultimate year law students, and for first year law students. The events are carefully structured to give you a detailed insight into the work of a City law firm and life as a City lawyer. For further information on the dates and application deadlines for the open events, please see our website.