Irwin Mitchell is the largest personal injury practice in the UK, employing more than 2,300 staff at the firm's offices in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield as well as the Spanish cities of Marbella and Madrid. The firm's particular strength is litigation.
Training Contract
[Edit]The firm cover fees for the GDL and LPC and also offer a maintenance grant of £4,500.
Training Programme
Training contracts at Irwin Mitchell are now streamed so that each trainee will either be undertaking a training contract based within the firm's:
- Personal Injury practice area (where you can gain experience in Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence, Court of Protection and Personal Injury Defence).
- Business and Private Client practice area (where you can gain experience in departments such as Insolvency, Commercial Litigation, Corporate, Public Law and Family).
Seats
Trainees spend the first year of their training contract undertaking three seats of four months in duration. The firm thinks that having experienced three different areas of law, trainees are likely to know in which department they wish to qualify - during the the second year of the firm's training contract trainees will undertake a twelve-month seat, in the area which they and the firm wish them to qualify into.
Vacation Placements
[Edit]The firm offer a one-week vacation placement during the summer each year.
Recent Cases
[Edit] Irwin Mitchell has recently been involved in:- The Barber pensions case
- The British Coal and Asbestos multi-party litigation
- The Bahrain boat disaster
- The access to Herceptin case
Interview Questions
[Edit]Pre-assessment centre telephone interview.
As of 2010, Irwin Mitchell appear to have introduced a telephone interview before giving places to the assessment centre (in relation to at least some applicants, if not all).
Interview Questions
[Edit]The application and assessment process for Irwin Mitchell is as follows:
- Online Application
- Assessment centre
- Final interview
Assessment Centre
[Edit] The Irwin Mitchell assessment centre consists of:- Presentation
- Group exercise
- Watson Glaser critical thinking test
- Problem solving exercise
- Written exercise
Presentation
[Edit]The presentation is a one-on-one exercise, with one member of the Irwin Mitchell assessment team. Try to be as confident as possible during this task. Don't worry too much about the content of the presentation. Although yoru content should be sensible and clear, how your personality comes across and how you present are much more important factors.
Your presentation question may be: "Describe two other law firms and how they compare to Irwin Mitchell." Try to compare in terms of size, turnover, practice areas, and how these firms are preparing for the future (e.g. with respect to the Legal Services Act).
Group Exercise
[Edit]Try to be as assertive as possible during this exercise. Be vocal, try to move the group on when necessary and be wary of the time. However, do not come across as too controlling, show an interest in others' views.
This task involves deciding on different types of activities with a set budget.
Critical Thinking Test
[Edit]This will be the Watson Glaser critical thinking test. An example of this test is available on the Lovells website.
Problem Solving Exercise
[Edit]In this exercise you will be given several problematic scenarios. It is your task to decide how best to deal with them. Think of all possible options. Your assessors do not expect you to necessarily make the right decision. It is more important to show structured and intelligent thinking.
Past candidates have been asked:- How would you deal with a secretary who is not completing your work on time?
- Would you accept a settlement offer from the Defendant that is lower than what you know your client is willing to accept?
Written Exercise
[Edit]Use bullet point and headers to make your writing clearer. In the past, candidates have been asked to reduce 30 pages of text into three sides of A4 for a presentation to give to a partner. Make sure you structure your three sides well and use your own knowledge of the firm to fill in the gaps.
In 2008 candidates were given a pack of text on the credit crunch and asked to advise Irwin Mitchell as to how it would affect them and their clients.
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