Inside the Process
The Interview Prep Packet
Before an interview, you should know who you're meeting. Every Mosaic candidate gets a written briefing on those people.
The firm's website is a useful start, but it won't tell you much about the people interviewing you. Each has their own practice, history, and reasons for asking you questions. Before every round, we write a packet to help you understand them.
Our packets usually run nine to fifteen pages, depending on how many people you're meeting. The example below shows the structure and level of detail. The firm and its lawyers are invented; real candidate packets stay confidential.
See what a packet looks like Eight pages. Illustrative example using a fictional firm. View sampleHide sample
Illustrative example · fictional firm
Smirkland & Pallas LLP does not exist, and neither do the lawyers in it. The layout, sections, and level of detail are taken from real packets. The substance of a real packet is confidential to the candidate.
Interview Preparation
by Mosaic Search Partners
Round 1 · Smirkland & Pallas · Fund Formation
Smirkland & Pallas
Briefing for your screener next Tuesday. Thirty minutes on Zoom with the partner who runs the firm's fund formation practice out of . This is a strong match on paper. Honestly, the person you're meeting is the person who would shape your work.
Join link
Role: Fund Formation Associate · New York · 3 to 6 years
Prepared by Bryson Malcolm · Mosaic Search Partners · Strictly Confidential
Contents and Logistics
Schedule
Prep at a Glance
The setup. He is head of the fund formation practice firmwide, based in . He came out of , and his practice is . He deals with on a regular basis.
What I think he'll be listening for. One, whether you actually like this work as a career, since this group is first. Two, real reps. Three, comfort with the current wave of work, which is heavily .
Worth knowing before you dial in.
I. R. | 1:30 PM ET
He leads the firm's fund formation practice. He represents and their sponsors across matters. He spent time at before private practice, which is why side of his book runs so deep.
Practice
What Chambers and clients say
Representative work
Background
II. The Fund Formation Practice
This is the group you would be joining, and he runs it. Here's what I think matters about how it's built.
The two decade Chambers run
Who the group serves
The focus areas inside the group
What the work actually looks like
III. Who Runs the Group
The firm's own directory returns professionals in this practice, and the posting describes it as more than lawyers. Either way, a real group with depth, small enough that you would know everyone. Here is who carries it.
R. · Partner · head of the practice
A. · Partner · New York
D. · Partner
R. · Of Counsel
A. · Partner
IV. The New York Office
You are in for New York. The listing went out for two offices because the group staffs across both, but your submission is to New York and that is the seat we are talking about.
New York
Why New York holds up for this practice
V. Smirkland & Pallas
The firm runs over attorneys across offices. The bench breaks down as roughly . Revenue and profits per equity partner: .
The structural change worth knowing about
Where the firm is strongest
Culture and identity
The blacked-out passages show where the detailed research goes. In your packet, those sections are filled in for the firm and people you're meeting.
What is in it, section by section
We start with the people you'd work with, then cover the practice, office, and firm.
Prep at a glance
The front page is the version to reread ten minutes before the call: the setup, what I think each person will be listening for, and a few things to know before you dial in.
Logistics that actually work
Date, time in your time zone and theirs, format, the live join link, dial-in numbers, and for in-person rounds the address plus what to tell the person at the security desk. Small things, but they are the ones that go wrong.
A section on each interviewer
Each interviewer gets a section in the order you'll meet them. It covers their practice, career, matters, recognition, place in the group, and questions we'd ask. In a round with five or six interviewers, these sections make up most of the packet.
The practice group
What the group actually does day to day, who it serves, the focus areas inside it, and the ranking history behind the reputation. This is where you find out whether the work is what the job posting implied.
Who runs the group
We explain who leads the group and how the other partners fit in: who holds the rankings, who runs the transactional work, and who knows the group's history. We also look at the partner closest to your seniority, whose career can show you what the role is intended to lead to.
The office you would actually sit in
The office's size and address, the practice's place within it, and whether the role is based there in substance or staffed from another city.
The firm
The firm's headcount, structure, revenue, and profits per partner, along with any partnership tier changes. We cover its strongest practices, how the posted pay for your role compares with the market, and what the culture rewards.
Every round gets its own
The first-round packet covers the firm and practice in detail. For the next round, we focus on the new people and update anything that's changed since we last talked. By the final round, you've built up a detailed picture of the group.
Why we do it this way
Knowing who's interviewing you helps you ask better questions and decide whether you want the job. Candidates sometimes pass after seeing the group laid out this way. We'd much rather you learn that before an offer than eighteen months after accepting one.
Want to see one built for you?
If you're weighing a move, we're glad to start with a confidential conversation about your situation.
Talk with us