Norton Rose Fulbright and McLaren Mercedes’ ‘great partnership challenge’ won by Manchester students

A team of first-year undergraduates from the University of Manchester have won Norton Rose Fulbright and McLaren Mercedes’ ‘great partnership challenge’, which gives contestants a chance to win a week’s work experience at Norton Rose Fulbright and a trip to the McLaren Technology Centre.

The challenge asked students the question, "What makes Norton Rose Fulbright and McLaren Mercedes such a great corporate partnership?" Teams of three or four were invited to submit 350-word answers, also explaining why they should progress to the final. Entries were judged by Norton Rose Fulbright partners on creativity, attention to detail, strength of argument, and evidence of in-depth research.

Five teams – from Bristol, Durham, Exeter, Manchester and Sheffield universities – made the final, in which they were required to work through a mock scenario, as well as prepare and present commercial advice to the judging panel. The team from the University of Manchester were declared the winners, with the teams from Sheffield and Exeter taking second and third places respectively.

Duncan Batchelor, trainee recruitment partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, commented: "We have been very impressed with the strength of the applications for the great partnership challenge and the hard work of all the students who took part. Commercial awareness is crucial to our practice, and the challenge enabled students to gain a unique insight into the relationships we have with our clients and how we work together to achieve great results."