Rampant exaggeration
A White & Case partner has cautioned students not to use AI to “punch up” their CVs, after reviewing hundreds from aspiring lawyers seeking training contracts.
Ferdinand Mason, a global M&A partner at the firm, said that students had claimed significant experience in multi-billion pound deals after only a few weeks on vacation schemes, discussing the “AI slop grenade” in a recent LinkedIn post.
“More than a few arrive with two full pages of M&A deals off the back of a few weeks on a vacation scheme,” Mason commented. “Reading the roles claimed, you do wonder how the firm managed to keep the lights on before they arrived.”
Instead of AI-exaggerated bluster, Mason urged candidates to give their own experience, even if their tasks were more mundane:
“If your vacation scheme actually involved legal research, checking definitions and sitting quietly on calls, put that down. That sounds rather more like reality, and there is plenty in there to talk about.”
The important thing, Mason highlighted, was to for students to explain what they learned, rather than trying to impress with eyebrow-raising experience: “If you understood why the client was happy to give away one warranty in the SPA but refused to budge an inch on another, tell us about that. You do not need to have led the negotiation to have picked up the commercial point behind it.”
Mason did not suggest students abandon AI altogether, advising them to “use AI to tidy up your drafts”. He added that they should “read the CV through before sending it, and ask yourself whether you could comfortably explain every claim across the interview table.”
Mason said he understood the competitive field of law applications, comparing it to “the Hunger Games”, but reflected on his own beginnings: “I started out as a paralegal after plenty of rejections of my own. There are a lot of us on this side of the table who still remember needing someone to give us a chance.”
Use of AI in applications is nothing new. In 2024, 21% of those surveyed told Legal Cheek they had written their applications with the help of an LLM, while top law firms like A&O Shearman and Shoosmiths accept the use of AI in applications made to the firm, so long as skills and experiences are not misrepresented.