Norton Rose Fulbright's first test has no questions: Arctic Shores tasks, then video and a centre

Norton Rose Fulbright's online stage is an Arctic Shores task-based assessment with no questions, so no reasoning test is a direct rehearsal for it. Our reasoning test is useful later, for the timed case study at the assessment centre, where you read material quickly and present a view.

The Arctic Shores tasks measure how you approach problems rather than right or wrong answers, and the firm offers its own practice task for them. Our test does not resemble that format at all. Norton Rose Fulbright does not publish the benchmark you must meet, so we cannot say what score clears it.

Norton Rose Fulbright says its Arctic Shores assessment may be different from anything you have done before: it has no questions and uses a series of tasks instead. The firm describes it as based on neuroscience research and says to allow about 35 to 60 minutes.

Task-based assessments of this kind are designed to observe how you approach problems rather than whether you know an answer. There is nothing to memorise. The useful preparation is the practice task the firm provides, so the interface is not a surprise.

The vacation scheme page sets out the order: if you meet the minimum benchmark on the online test, your application is screened against the firm's criteria. In other words, the tasks act as a gate before the written application is assessed.

That ordering means the online stage deserves calm conditions. Choose a time when you are alert, close other tabs and notifications, and follow each task's instructions exactly. Trying to second-guess what the tasks measure tends to produce inconsistent behaviour, which helps nobody.

Candidates who pass the screen are invited to record a video interview on Willo, a pre-recorded platform. The firm does not publish the questions on the pages we read, so prepare the obvious ones: why law, why commercial law, why this firm, and a time you worked well in a team.

Record yourself twice on your phone before the real thing. Watch for answers that run past two minutes and for the moment you lose the thread. Our video interview guide covers how other firms set and review these.

The assessment centre has three parts. First, an individual timed exercise in which you review a case study and present your thoughts to an assessor. Second, a group negotiation. Third, a partner interview. Together they test commercial reading, persuasion and judgement in quick succession.

The case study is where reasoning practice pays off. Under time pressure, separate the facts in the pack from your assumptions, put a recommendation first and keep two numbers you can defend. Our free reasoning test is a quick way to rehearse reading data at speed.

The 2027 spring and summer vacation schemes share an application window from 7 September to 4 December 2026. The spring scheme runs from 5 to 16 April 2027, and the schemes are open to penultimate and final year students and graduates of all subjects.

The firm's RISE work experience programme uses the same Arctic Shores test, so earlier RISE participants will recognise it. Pages differ on whether assessment centres are in London or virtual; the vacation scheme page, which looks newer, says London.