Dechert sends problem-solving student to NY

A law student has won a trip to New York after topping a problem-solving challenge designed by Dechert.

Students had to demonstrate their problem-solving abilities by working through an imaginary day filled with complications and setbacks.

The day involved a fictional Dechert lawyer called Dexter who had travelled to Paris to work on a deal. While on the Eurostar, Dexter realised his bag containing his passport and contracts for the deal had been stolen.

The character had planned to propose to his girlfriend in London that day. Students had to submit ideas on how to negotiate Dexters way out of his various problems.

Dechert graduate recruitment manager Julie Williams said: The aim was to highlight some of the key skills we look for in recruits namely the ability to think laterally and be resourceful. Prizes were awarded to the students who we felt had come up with the most creative answers.

Jeremy Seeff, a penultimate-year law student at Christ Church, Oxford, won first prize in the competition, which had more than 80 entries. His entry enabled the reader to choose their own response to the problems faced by Dexter, like a childrens choose-your-own-adventure story book.

Five further students were runners up, including Man Er Kong, a law finalist from Kings College London, and Herman Pang, a second-year student at the University of Durham. They picked up iPods as their prizes.

Dechert highlighted the high level of research that students had clearly done, including visiting the Eurostar website to find out how many staff are on board each train to help solve Dexters bag issue.