Do you need to tailor your work-exp to specific areas?

From my research on assessment centres so far, it seems that a group exercise is very common and can be to do with absolutely anything. The idea is just to see how people interact, whether they're able to put ideas across, listen to others, compromise, etc. I know some firms also do some sort of in-tray exercise, where they give you a pile of stuff to go through. You then have to put things in order of priority and decide what to do with each one, e.g. a letter in reply.

Absolutely, this is what the firms are looking for during group exercises

Mine involved being put into a group (obviously ) and we were given 20 mins to read a scenario on a failing business, and come up with strategies for damage limitation, and to turn the business around.
We then had to present the strategies we'd devised as a group. We had 5 additional minutes to present.
We were observed the entire time, throughout reading, negotiating ideas, etc etc.

Did you really have to use the legal knowledge that you had at the time or was it case of just using your common sense?
Would some relevant legal knowledge have come in useful?

They expect no legal knowledge at all, hence why non-law applicants stand a chance at these things!

Well there could have been a separate procedure in place.

Well there could have been a separate procedure in place.

That wouldn't be a fair process though would it?

No, 100% common sense. (although stuff I've picked up at business A-Level probably helped, but not essential)
A lot of the applicants were non-law students who intended to undertake the conversion course, and the content of the assessment day throughout reflected this to ensure law students were not at an advantage. Seriously, if you'd just walked in and observed, there was no way of knowing the assessments were for a law firm.

There was:
- A maths question, again, based around financial data from a business scenario.
- The group activity I've just talked about...
- Essay questions based on the same business scenario the maths questions were based around - they were mainly marketing questions I think, based around the marketing of a trendy hairdressers and their products.
- An individual interview with one person from HR from the actual firm. Well it was more like a presentation actually, the firm sent me points to address in advance, I had 5 mins to present my "argument" on why I thought I would be an asset to the firm, what I thought constituted a good solicitor, etc., and then the interviewer asked me questions on my presentation.
- A logical thinking type test, where we all sat in exam conditions and had to pick multiple choice answers to these completely random questions It was the weirdest thing I'd ever done, and the first thing to do during the day, and it really got me off on the wrong foot!!!!!

I think that was about it... oh and they held us in this big social area with sofas, drinks, snacks, etc., for lengthy periods throughout the day, and staff from the assessment centre and people from the firm mingled and chatted with us regularly... I've since discovered (from a partner in the firm when I eventually went to do the vac scheme there) that this is a *huge* part of the process as well - they like to observe your social skills, how to interact with people, what part of the "hierarchy" you form when you meet new people, etc.

I think I've still got my information about the presentation, what points I had to address and how I addressed them, so if anyone thinks that might be useful to them once they get their assessment day criteria through, PM me