I have a job interview tomorrow: Now I need to understand what they do

[XXXNoahXXX]

I am in my first year of law school and am in the process of applying to positions for this summer. Company X is an investment management firm that manages $150B in assets for over 100 investment companies as well as institutions (corporations, universities, trusts, etc.) I have an interview with Company X tomorrow for a summer internship in their legal department. (It's actually a series of five consecutive interviews, which is new to me).

Anyways, I get what the company does as a whole, but was hoping some people could shed some lights on the details.


An excerpt from the job posting:

[ QUOTE ]
The intern will be helping the department in areas such as regulatory reporting and prospectus review, among others. There will be opportunity to work on special projects as needed.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been googling and researching this specific company as well as the field in general, but I still have some questions that people might have some answers to.


1. What exactly would I be doing day to day?

2. Exactly what type of "regulatory reporting" would be done, and what would my role be?

3. What would the legal department's role be as far as "prospectus review." What are these "special projects likely to be?

4. If they ask me what areas of law I am interested in, what areas of law and what type of classes would cover this?

5. What things should I emphasize or steer clear of during these interviews?




6. Any random advice related to interviews in general or more specifically doing multiple interviews back to back?


7. I always feel like I don't have any real good questions, when they ask if I have any, so what are some good questions to ask without sounding like I had some canned question i don't really care about?

8. Any advice in general would be appreciated.

[plzleenowhammy]

Job interview tips. best of luck.

[UnlikelyNinja]

Your job is to stay on top of new regulations affecting your clients' portfolios. Much of your time will probably be spent combing through the Federal Register, staying on top of brand new and relatively new regulations issued by the SEC, among other agencies. You may also be looking for regulations pertaining to the businesses of your clients, such as new EPA rules affecting air quality if your portfolios include heavily polluting industries, like coal or cars.

Remember, you're in a business. Your job is not the wisdom or legality of various regulations, but how those regulations could affect the businesses your clients own a piece of.

Good luck.

[Howard Treesong]

Regulatory reporting sounds as though it involves ensuring that your company has complied with various regulations that apply to it -- and the regulations at issue are very different depending on whether it's a private or public company. For example, there's a reg that says that any stockholder has to report himself to the SEC if he owns (defined broadly, including through intermediaries) 10% or more of a public company's stock. There are zillions more.

Administrative law and securities regulations, neither of which you've taken given that you're a 1L.

Most employers hiring you after your 1L year entirely understand that you really don't have any idea what you want to do for a law career.

When a company issues securities, they must publish a prospetus that describes the investment. They're typically written in dry legalese that exaggerates all of the possible risks so that no buyer can go back and sue on the grounds that there was some risk that wasn't disclosed. They're terribly dull documents, but occasionally actually offer insight into the potential investment. You'd be reading them looking for specific issues, although what those issues might be is anyone's guess.

Get used to seriatim interviews. It's de rigeur in law firms and other legal employers. Interview tips: stay away from any non-PC conversations of any kind. Try to engage on some substantive intellectual issue; you might try asking the precise questions you've posed here: "what specific sort of regulatory reporting is involved? What regs and for what entities? You as a company or with respect to potential investments? What would I be looking for in prospectuses?

I'm curious how this turns out. PM me with more specific questions if you like.

[eviljeff]

gunner

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

"The intern will be helping the department in areas such as regulatory reporting and prospectus review, among others. There will be opportunity to work on special projects as needed."

you get people coffee.

[kerowo]

A summer intern? You'll be doing other peoples research and scut work. Ask them about working hours, parking, and if there is a career path from interning in the summer to going full time with when you graduate.

[Kayla Chinga]

These questions actually landed me a job (a real live professional job at that...) last fall.

Tell me about a time when you disagreed with how a problem should be resolved on a team you were on.

What is your department’s most pressing concern in the next 6 months and how do you want the person hired for this position to support your implementation of the solution?

If you could have one thing provided for you from the the person in this job right now (that you don’t get right now), what would it be?

[ilya]

don't talk too much about money if they ask why you're looking to go in this direction

[XXXNoahXXX]

[ QUOTE ]
gunner

[/ QUOTE ]

lol i think searching for a summer job in late april prevents me from being called a gunner.