Herbert Smith Freehills Practice Tests & Graduate Recruitment Process (2025)

What is the Herbert Smith Freehills Assessment?

Every Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) applicant undergoes a series of psychometric tests developed by SOVA, a leading provider of aptitude tests tailored to the legal industry's requirements. The HSF assessment is a pivotal step in the recruitment process that offers valuable insights into a candidate's skills and potential via challenging questions and fictional scenarios. Excelling in these tests showcases a candidate's knowledge of diverse competencies and their ability to thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic environment, guaranteeing a potentially more successful hire at the firm.

You can expect three general aptitude test questions: SJT (situational judgment), verbal reasoning, and personality/behavioural. Our expert test developers meticulously designed our HSF practice test following SOVA methodology, including answers and constructive feedback to provide invaluable insights for candidates navigating and excelling in the Herbert Smith Freehills Assessment.

The HSF Test in Focus:

• Situational Judgment Test: Face 12 questions involving workplace-simulated scenarios where you rank several responses according to the most adequate course of action in each scenario. Demonstrate prioritization, ethics, client-facing, and time-management skills.
• Verbal Reasoning Test: Evaluate and interpret 11 questions with complex written paragraphs to draw conclusions and differentiate opinions from facts – an essential skill for a successful career in law. Ultimately, you should be able to handle time-limited pressure effectively.
• Personality Test: Expect to answer 26 behavioral questions to provide HSF with an understanding of your fit within their work culture. Your responses gauge your predominant personality traits.

Ready to get started? You can also take a complimentary Sova Assessment Practice Test or have a look at the practice tests we have developed for diverse Law Employers.

Relevant Information:

• The HSF aptitude tests have no specific time limit. On average, it takes approximately 35 minutes to complete.
• The time you take is a relevant factor in obtaining a high score.
• Your scores, combined with your application form, influence the decision to invite you to progress to partake in the assessment day.

Note: The Herbert Smith Freehills assessment day involves a whole day exercise at the firm's London offices, allowing the graduate recruitment team to assess your skills and abilities face to face.

💡Tip: Determine who the key stakeholders are in the scenario. Avoid selecting responses to scenarios that may compromise integrity or negatively impact the business strategy or relationships.

💡Tip: Focus on the precise wording and nuances to make an accurate assessment. In other words, pay close attention to specific details, and avoid assuming information beyond what is given. 

💡Tip: When responding to these types of questions, consider your natural tendencies and preferences. Reflect on your typical behavior rather than an idealized version. 

HSF Recruitment Process in Detail

As previously mentioned, Herbert Smith Freehills is one of the UK's leading law firms, with an application process befitting such a firm.

Working at Herbert Smith Freehills is no easy feat. Besides being a highly prestigious place of employment, the firm provides employees with numerous benefits: a competitive salary, flexible working configurations, and a supportive atmosphere. The firm also offers various services to employees, including professional growth programs, mental health aid, and access to wellness programs. Moreover, HSF is also committed to diversity and inclusion, winning the “Most Inclusive Firm for LGBT+ Lawyers” award at the 2020 Chambers Diversity & Inclusion Awards.

Accordingly, you can be sure you will face plenty of avid test-takers aiming for only the best scores that guarantee a way inside the prestigious firm. Thus, we are serious when we say preparation is vital, and we want to provide you with enough tips and information on how to do just that. 

Herbert Smith Freehills Application Form

Herbert Smith Freehills receives over 2,000 application forms each year. You have to make yourself shine to get an invitation to the assessment centre. The Herbert Smith Freehills form is straightforward: it asks for your academic details, language skills and work experience. The only open-ended question in the application form includes your extracurricular activities, where you need to make an impact. 

Herbert Smith Freehills is looking for applicants who are more than just a lawyer, so make sure to include your interests and all things interesting you have done. Show that you have had a broad range of experiences.

Herbert Smith Freehills Assessment Day

Group Exercise

The purpose of the group exercise is to allow the recruitment team to observe how you interact in a group setting, which may mimic a real-life situation. For this exercise, you receive a brief and a role to play within your group. You have a short period to revise your role, make notes, and ask any questions for clarification before the discussion begins.
During this exercise, your behaviour and contributions, and how you work within the team, will be assessed, including quieter participants. You must show evidence of the desired skills, particularly your commercial skills. Note that the group exercise is not a competition with the other candidates or members of your team, and you do not need to make the most comments. They are more interested in the quality of your contributions.

Getting the balance right in a group setting can be challenging; see how JobTestPrep's group exercises practice can provide you with tips to take with you.

Case Study Presentation

In this exercise, you have 45 minutes to analyze a case study, answer questions on what you have read, and prepare a ten-minute presentation to deliver to two partners at the start of your interview. Your interviewers will ask you questions about what you have read, but not necessarily based on your presentation or the questions you have already answered. 

The case study exercise contains several key elements. First, there is the topic of the case study itself, which cannot be predicted ahead of time. A good tactic involves focusing on the key issues the case study tackles while preparing concise answers to questions on all the documents you have read.

Through the case study exercise, Herbert Smith Freehills is looking to test your ability to absorb and present information, as well as your commercial dexterities. The topic of the case study will be business-related. An example of a common topic was a UK-based legal services firm struggling at home but exploring options for expanding into Europe.

HSF recommends you build up and develop your commercial knowledge and understanding thoroughly. The next element of the case study is how to deal with the case study itself. And finally, there is the presentation on the case study.

Interview

The Herbert Smith Freehills interview is the last part of the assessment day. You can expect two partners to interview you, and that it lasts approximately an hour, covering three main sections. The first ten minutes of the interview involve answering questions about the previous case study, focusing on its commercial aspects. The next section of the interview is competency-based, where the interviewers are interested in how you solve problems and structure your answers. In the final 30 minutes of the interview, the partners will discuss your CV and motivations for a career in law. This section aims to help the partners learn more about you and the activities you enjoy.

Herbert Smith Freehills' advice to candidates:

• Think in advance about the type of questions you may face.
• Research the firm and articulate why you want to join, including any famous deals or matters they have participated in.
• Reflect on why you have chosen a career in law.
• Prepare questions in advance to ask the interviewers, showing genuine interest in the firm's work.
• Consider having a mock interview.
• Prepare examples to use when answering questions.

Some questions and topics asked in previous interviews include:

• Why not a barrister?
• What would you do if you were an advisor to a national leader for the day?
• Tell me about a commercial issue that has interested you.
• Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Interview preparation is vital! Even Herbert Smith Freehills advises you to partake in a mock interview to improve your interview technique.