How to Prepare for an Ashurst Interview: Process, Questions & Tips

Understanding Ashurst's Recruitment Process

Ashurst is a leading international law firm known for its work in finance, energy, infrastructure, and disputes. The firm attracts high volumes of applications each year, so its recruitment process is designed to rigorously assess commercial awareness, intellectual ability, and cultural fit across multiple stages.

While the exact process can vary by programme and year, candidates for training contracts and vacation schemes typically move through an online application and written assessment, a video or telephone interview, and a final assessment centre that may include partner interviews, group exercises, and written tasks. Lateral hires and business services roles follow a different path, but competency-based interviewing remains a consistent feature throughout.

• Online application: academic record, work experience, motivational questions
• Watson Glaser or similar critical thinking assessment (commonly used by City law firms)
• Video or telephone interview focusing on motivation and competencies
• Assessment centre: partner or senior associate interview, group exercise, written task

What Ashurst Looks for in Candidates

Like most Magic Circle-adjacent firms, Ashurst publicly emphasises a set of core values — these typically include collaboration, ambition, excellence, and integrity. Interviewers will be testing whether your answers and demeanour reflect those values, not just whether you can recite them back.

Beyond values, the firm consistently looks for strong commercial awareness, clear and concise communication, the ability to work under pressure, and genuine enthusiasm for the specific practice areas Ashurst is known for. Candidates who can connect their interest in law to real business contexts — rather than speaking in generalities — consistently make a stronger impression.

• Commercial awareness: understanding how legal work connects to client business objectives
• Analytical thinking: breaking down complex problems clearly and logically
• Teamwork and collaboration: evidenced through concrete past experiences
• Resilience and drive: demonstrated through academic or professional challenges overcome
• Motivation for Ashurst specifically: not just 'a top firm' but its particular sectors and culture

Common Ashurst Interview Questions to Prepare For

Competency interviews at law firms, including Ashurst, typically follow a structured format. Interviewers ask behavioural questions designed to surface evidence of specific skills. You should expect questions across three broad categories: motivation, competency, and commercial awareness.

Motivation questions probe why you want to be a solicitor, why Ashurst in particular, and why now. Competency questions ask you to draw on past experiences. Commercial questions test whether you follow business and legal news and can discuss it intelligently. Below are representative examples from each category.

• Why do you want to train at Ashurst rather than another international firm?
• Tell me about a time you worked effectively as part of a team under pressure.
• Describe a situation where you had to persuade someone to change their view.
• Tell me about a recent business or legal news story that interested you and why.
• Give an example of a time you had to manage competing priorities and how you handled it.
• What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the legal sector in the next five years?

How to Structure Your Answers Using STAR

For any competency question, the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is the most reliable framework. It keeps your answer focused, evidence-based, and easy for the interviewer to follow — all qualities that matter in a legal context.

Here is a worked example for the question 'Tell me about a time you had to persuade someone to change their view':

• Situation: 'During my second year at university, I was leading a group project where the team had agreed on a research approach I believed would not meet the brief.'
• Task: 'As project lead, I needed to redirect the group without damaging morale or the working relationship.'
• Action: 'I prepared a short written comparison of both approaches, highlighting the risks in the original plan with reference to the assessment criteria, then called a brief meeting to walk the group through it and invite their input.'
• Result: 'The group agreed to adopt the revised approach. We received a distinction and the module convenor specifically praised the clarity of our methodology section.'

Building Your Commercial Awareness for Ashurst

Commercial awareness is one of the most commonly cited reasons candidates are rejected at the interview stage. It is not enough to say you 'follow the news' — interviewers want to hear you connect current events to their implications for clients, deals, and the firm's practice areas.

Ashurst has well-known strengths in areas such as global finance, energy transition, infrastructure, and dispute resolution. Before your interview, spend time reading about recent deals or cases in these sectors, and practise articulating why they matter commercially. Financial Times, Law Gazette, Ashurst's own insights publications, and Legal Cheek are all useful starting points.

When discussing a news story, aim to explain: what happened, why it matters to businesses or clients in that sector, and what legal work it might generate or affect. That three-part structure alone will distinguish you from most candidates.

• Read Ashurst's own thought leadership and deal announcements on their website
• Follow energy transition, infrastructure finance, and global M&A news regularly
• Practise explaining stories out loud — not just reading them
• Prepare two or three stories in depth rather than skimming many superficially

Assessment Centre Tips: Group Exercises and Written Tasks

If you reach Ashurst's assessment centre, you will likely face a group exercise and a written task in addition to a formal interview. In the group exercise, assessors are not only watching what conclusions you reach but how you behave as a collaborator. Common mistakes include dominating the conversation, failing to acknowledge others' contributions, or going so quiet that your input is invisible.

The written task — often a memo or client advice note — tests your ability to organise information under time pressure and communicate clearly. Practise writing concise, structured prose: lead with your conclusion, support it with two or three key points, and avoid padding. Law firms value precision over length.

• Do: build on others' points explicitly ('That's a strong point — I'd add that…')
• Do: summarise or move the group forward when discussion stalls
• Don't: interrupt or talk over other candidates
• Don't: stay silent in an attempt to seem considered — contribute early
• Written task: use clear headings, short paragraphs, and a direct recommendation

Practical Preparation: Making Your Practice Count

Knowing the theory of good interview technique is very different from executing it calmly under time pressure on camera or in a room with a partner. The single most effective preparation habit is speaking your answers out loud — repeatedly — rather than just writing notes.

If Ashurst's process includes a video interview stage, practising on camera is essential. Tools like ScreenReady let you simulate timed, one-way video interviews and receive AI feedback on your answers, which is particularly useful for identifying filler words, pacing issues, or answers that run too long or too short. Beyond that, arranging a mock interview with a careers service, mentor, or fellow applicant will help you field unexpected follow-up questions and sharpen your instincts in real time.

• Prepare five to seven strong STAR examples that can flex across different questions
• Research Ashurst's recent deals, hires, and thought leadership in the week before your interview
• Prepare two to three considered questions to ask your interviewer
• Time your answers — aim for 90 seconds to 2 minutes for competency responses
• Review your application form before every stage so your answers align with what you submitted