Herbert Smith Freehills Assessment Test, Recruitment Process & Interviews Online Preparation – 2025

What is Herbert Smith Freehills?

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is an international law firm headquartered in London, UK, and Sydney, Australia. The firm was founded in 2012 and has 25 offices worldwide and more than 2,600 lawyers on their staff.

The firm has expertise in a variety of sectors, including:

• Energy
• Infrastructure
• Financial institutions
• Mining
• Manufacturing and industrials
• Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare
• Automotive
• Real estate
• Technology, media, and telecommunications

They also provide legal services for several challenges, including business and human rights, corporate crime and investigations, and crisis prevention and management.

Working at Herbert Smith Freehills

HSF is looking for professional individuals who are experts in their fields and looking to make a difference as part of a global law firm. There are opportunities available for legal and business professionals at HSF and a summer program opportunity for recent graduates to gain experience and mentorship in their chosen profession.

Employees of the firm will enjoy the following benefits:

• Dynamic and diverse culture
• Learning and development opportunities
• Leading base salary with bonus potential
• Pension plan with generous employee contribution
• 25 days of paid time off
• Medical and health insurance

Job seekers do not need previous law experience when applying for a role at HSF. The firm strives to build a diverse company and happily seeks candidates with different backgrounds and skill sets.

Online Application

The first stage in the HSF recruitment process is the online application. All applicants must provide their contact details, academic background, and previous work experience. You’ll also have a chance to upload a current CV that details your skills and qualifications for the position.

Additionally, applicants must complete three written responses during the application process. These questions are broad and will give you a chance to express your interests to the hiring team. For example, you may be asked why you are interested in applying for a position at HSF or introduce a topic and explain why it interests you.

Your responses will be limited to 300 words per question and must be error-free. The application will be your first impression on the hiring team. You want to ensure that it is a good one and that you stand out from other candidates from the beginning.

Herbert Smith Freehills Psychometric Tests

Applicants who pass the initial screening will be invited to complete aptitude test and personality test. These tests will have question types from three common pre-employment exams: verbal reasoning, personality, and situational judgement tests. The exam will not be timed, but you should allow yourself about 35 minutes to complete it.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal reasoning is the ability to read and comprehend written information. For example, in the legal profession, there are case studies, arguments, and other written statements that you must be able to interpret daily. The verbal reasoning exam questions will assess this ability by asking you to answer multiple-choice questions based on a passage you are asked to read.

The questions on the exam will ask you to draw conclusions from the paragraph, identify whether a statement is true or false, and differentiate between fact and opinion.

Personality

Personality and cultural fit are essential to any company, especially a law firm where colleagues will work closely together in stressful situations. To ensure that all employees are a good fit with the company culture, HSF asks that all candidates answer questions relating to their personalities.

These questions will require you to identify if a given trait describes you on a scale of “most like me” to “least like me.” It is essential to be honest during this section as you want to be sure you end up in a situation that allows you to thrive and perform at your best. Take a free personality practice test.

Situational Judgement

In addition to your personality traits, HSF is interested in how you behave in workplace scenarios. The situational judgement test (SJT) questions will present a fictional workplace scenario involving a situation you must respond to. The scenario will be similar to something you will likely encounter in the role and can include challenges such as ethics, time management, management, or client-facing scenario.

You must read through the scenario and rank the response options as most likely or least likely. When responding to the scenarios, it is crucial to consider the company’s values and culture. HSF wants to hire someone that exhibits their fundamental values and works toward their company’s goals.

Assessment Day

The final stage of the hiring process is assessment day. This event has three interview-based elements you must thoroughly prepare for in advance.

Case Study Interview

First, you will encounter a case-study interview. This will involve you reading through a case study based on a scenario you may encounter in your role and presenting your opinions and advice to a partner at HSF. This interview examines your commercial awareness, ability to work under pressure, and ability to synthesize information into a strong and coherent argument.

You will receive a list of questions to base your presentation on and have 45 minutes to prepare a 10-minute presentation. Afterward, be ready to answer questions about your thoughts and further defend your argument in a discussion.

Scenario-Based Interview

The second element, the scenario-based interview, is similar to the case study but will be focused on a current, real-life commercial scenario. This will likely be one the partner is actively working on, and you will not be expected to have in-depth knowledge of the case.

This discussion shows the hiring team that you can effectively think through problems, discuss your opinions with a senior colleague, and stand your ground when defending your ideas.

Competency Interview

The last phase of the assessment day will be a competency interview. This will be with a senior associate, and they will ask why you want to pursue a career in law, at HSF in particular, and what skills you bring to the table.

Researching the firm and preparing responses to some expected questions is crucial. The more prepared you are for this interview, the more confident you will be, which will show in the discussion.

How to Prepare for the Herbert Smith Freehills Assessment?

While HSF seeks out diverse backgrounds and skill sets for its team, they want all employees to be competent and passionate about their work. Therefore, you must do well on the online assessment to show the hiring team that you have what it takes to lead a successful career at the firm.

The online assessment is an objective way for the hiring team to compare candidates and see who is most likely a good fit for the firm. Therefore, receiving a high score on this exam is essential to show the hiring team you are qualified and set you apart from other candidates.

Online practice tests are the best way to prepare for online assessment. These tests will provide sample questions that you can use to practice for the actual exam and answer solutions for questions that you answer incorrectly. These will give you an idea of what to do on the actual exam and tips for approaching similar questions.

Candidates who prepare for the hiring process using online practice tests are significantly more likely to do well on the exam.