New Threads

Hi everyone,

I've just completed my practical legal writing exam and I realised that I did not follow the marking criteria correctly. In essence, the letter was for a client (non-lawyer and it wasn't going to the company's in-house counsel) and I specifically mentioned/discussed case law several times in my written work. Apart from that, the letter was written in plain English and does not have legalese. I was wondering if someone was deemed 'competent' in the past despite not following this part of this marking criteria? For the sake of reference, I study the LPC at BPP.

Thank you!

Hi, I have read through a few of the TCLA forum posts and found much information covered by Jessica really helpful. However, I realised that many discussions are not really directed at international students (which is the reason why I opened this thread). It would also be extremely helpful if anyone can give me some advice on the next step in my career application.

I am an international student currently in the final year of LLB at an RG uni (with an expectation of mid-2:1). I have 2 legal-related experiences in my home jurisdiction. In this cycle, I applied to a few VS and TC (I am aware that there is a good chance that I will not hear back). So I am planning what I would do in the upcoming year if I don't get a TC. I am currently considering 4 options and I want to know about their pros and cons before deciding which road to opt to. (in addition, I have enough funding to complete any route below without any financial difficulties)

1.) Self-fund SQE whilst seeking VS and TC: The key question I want to ask is, will self-funding + passing the SQE exams really increase my chance of getting a TC? Some TCLA forum posts said, if the firm has a funding scheme, it is likely that they won't see a candidate already passing SQE more advantageous than someone who didn't. And, Jessica covered somewhere that it might place candidates at an 'odd position' where they are qualified but without QWE. Some also said that firms might have their own desirable structure of SQE that they want their trainee to complete so it's not wise to do it yourself. My question is: at the time being, are these claims above myth/truth? Is self-funding SQE a good option for someone who wants to secure TC in the future?

2.) Paralegal whilst seeking VS and TC: from various resources I read, this seems like a desirable route to pursue as some firms recruit internally. However, there are two issues I am concerned about.
1. Are firms normally willing to sponsor a working visa for their paralegals? if not, it means that I would need to do paralegal on a Graduate Visa (PSW) that expires in 2 years, which is quite horrifying (lots of pressure ). I also heard that they are very unwilling to recruit international students because of the sponsoring issues, is this a myth?
2. A lot of them seem to require previous working experience. What is the chance for a new LLB graduate to secure a parallel position?
3. What is the best place to look for para-legally positions? Any tips and advice would be appreciated!

3.) LLM at RG University. A big advantage of this is that Visa would not be a problem (same as the Self-fund SQE course at ULaw option) as it extends my student visa status. And it almost acts as a filler year + gives me one more year to go through the VS and TC cycle. However, My question is, does studying LLM really advance my position as a VS/ TC applicant? Would they prefer a candidate who spends a year doing paralegal/SQE than studying LLM?

4.) Enroll on non-law graduate schemes and apply VS and TC during the scheme. I applied for a 2-years graduate scheme in a government body (and have a good chance of being accepted). The work mildly overlaps with Trainee's work (it could be a seating option for the trainee). I personally don't mind delaying the process of qualifying as a solicitor for a few years (however, my ultimate goal is still to become a qualified solicitor). I am wondering, what is the chance of getting back into VS/TC whilst on a non-law graduate scheme, or should I opt for paralegals? and, is there a point of doing this year as it seems to divert my career path?


A last general question is that, given I am committed to pursuing the career of a solicitor + securing a TC. Which route should I opt to consider my status as an international student and my qualification? Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I recently submitted my PLR exam and made a few annoying mistakes. Worried that I might fail the writing component of the PLR exam. I realised I made a few grammatical errors (6 or 7) and forgot to add full stops to my numbered lists. Two of the sentences of the numbered lists also begin with capital letters when it shouldn't. I also forgot to add a heading after the words "dear..." as the price prior house style recommends. Do you guys reckon this would mean a failure for the letter writing component? How badly must one mess up in order to not pass the letter writing component?

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Hey guys,
Has anyone completed the Reed Smith final interview? Mine is this week and not sure what to expect from the case study / trainee in tray. Not sure if there’ll also be group work or a presentation involved?

Thanks in advance

Hi, does anyone have experience with the Debevoise Open Day? Is the interview based solely on the article? If yes, what kind of questions can one expected? Is the interview application/CV blind? Thank you!

Hi everyone!

I'm a politics and philosophy undergrad in my final year. I'm also an international student in South Africa. I'm hoping to learn more about UK law and how it operates with other systems of law around the world, particularly in Africa. My aim is also to secure a vacation scheme.

So I'm happy to have found this site. And just saying hi

Hi all and @Jessica Booker

This year I got through to three final interviews for direct TC, but I sadly got rejected. My feedback for all was generally positive - very strong commercial awareness and strong motivation for a career in law, and my written experience was good.

One common feedback was my lack of understanding the firm and the role of trainees. I was confused. seriously.. pretty devastated. no idea where the interviewers got the impressions despite my strong motivation and successful written applications which put me through to the ACs. Wondering if it is related to the fact that I haven't had any VS experience - as a career changer, still working full time in finance. Instead I have lots of experience with open days, workshops, and legal advice centres.

I do want to improve and fix this to move forward. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!

I am a student at Oxbridge and am thinking of applying for Law, however I got 60, 56 and 55 in my preliminary first year exams.

Please could you let me know which law firms don't require transcripts to be submitted. Also if I did have to submit the transcript how much would this disadvantage me?

Thanks and kind regards

Hi! I was wondering if anyone here might know how similar the assessment day for the NRF Business & Legal Ops scheme would be to that of the NRF VS/TC assessment day like whether the group exercise and case study would be the same, and if the nature of the interview may be similar.
I'm not really sure if this is the right place to create this thread, so if anyone here knows anyone that has gone through the process for this graduate scheme or knows of any good information/resources out there about it, then I'd really appreciate if you could point me in this direction! There really doesn't seem to be much out there for the alternative legal career space graduate schemes in terms of resources for preparation.
Thanks in advance!

I am researching material for TC applications and I came across these terms in a Law Society report. I understand that they stand for 'Business-to-Business' and 'Business-to-Consumer'.. but what does that actually mean in practice? Could someone very kindly break it down in the simplest terms! Would greatly appreciate it!

A family member has recently become very sick and there is no possibility I can continue on in London without being there for them. They live in Dublin and I cannot go back and forth to see them and do the LPC.

I have not spent a dime of the maintenance provided and will return that in full. However, will the law firm (one of the MCs, if that helps for details) make me pay for the month (3 weeks, to be exact) I spent on the course? Another worry I have is that they are refusing any treatment or insight into their medical reports (without giving too much details, they are also struggling mentally and really difficult to work when it comes to this stuff) so I have no possibility of providing any evidence into the condition. Will this work against me?

Thank you for any advice.

I interviewed for a vac scheme last week, and yesterday I received a rejection email with no feedback. I requested feedback and just heard back from the recruiter. I was told that I did not provide 'extensive responses' to questions. The interview was scheduled to be a 15min interview, and I was cautious of the time, so I did not go into unnecessary detail (we overran by 5mins).

I am upset because I done my best and feel as though the allotted 15mins did not give me enough time to really go into detail.

I don't know what to do with this feedback or how to improve in the future. I thought my responses were detailed enough, given the time.

Is it OK to go over the allotted interview time?

Hi all,

I have an upcoming AC with Fladgate and was wondering whether anyone who has completed their AC would be kind enough to provide any guidance and tips.

Would really appreciate the help!

Hi there,

Has anyone who applied for a direct TC at Osborne Clarke received an invitation for the second round AC?

Hello. I received a rejection from Clifford Chance's spark scheme today, based on the Watson Glaser exam I took yesterday.

I am reaching out to investigate, did anyone feel there was something wrong with the test? I ran out of time so though in the first two sections, I scored 80-90%, overall my results say I did not complete 12 questions. I don't think that's right. I was on the last section and thought I had only two q's remaining when I was cut off.

The whole thing was very bizarre. Did anyone else have a problem? Clearly I don't want to write to graduate recruitment with my suspicions if it was 'all in my head.'

It seems very strange that their practice tests are 50 minutes long, but the actual test allows only 30 minutes. All 40 questions. It was moving so so quickly compared to the heaps of practice tests I've undertaken.

Thanks all. Good luck in this recruitment cycle.

Hi,

I recently applied for A&O First- when should I expect to hear back?

I did the application on Friday, then the SJT test yesterday but didn't hear anything back. Is that bad?

I recently applied for Allen & Overy's A&O First Insight scheme. Just applied on 10 Feb (very last day!) & did the Situational Judgment Test yesterday (could do it within 48 hrs). I didn't hear anything back after the SJT test though. Is that a bad thing??

I got into Aspiring Solicitors' A&O Women in Law and mentioned that I'm supported by Aspiring Solicitors in my application. Will that help? A&O seem to favour Oxbridge candidates judging from LinkedIn and I'm in a non-UK uni (Irish, so similar legal system).

Any insight would be much appreciated, thanks!

Hey everyone, I have been invited to complete a video interview for Charles Russell Speechlys.

If anyone has any advice on the types of questions that come up as well as how long you have to answer each question, I would be so grateful to know as I have to complete this ASAP. Thanks

The TCLA guide recommends that students use a separate work experience entry to write about an insight event / open day that they attended at Freshfields. Is this only for competitive open days or also for insight days that merely required registration and not a competitive application?

Hi guys!

I'm sure this comes up every year but...

Does anyone have any advice regarding London accommodation for summer vac schemes? I live miles away so will need to move to the city and I am keen to find somewhere around the 300/350 p/w mark if possible! I've been looking at London uni rooms, but there don't seem to be many going atm and they're all slightly out of my price range.

I'd really appreciate any tips!!

Hi all,

I'm currently completing the final months of my LPC (final exam being June 7!) and I'm starting to think about what I want to do after my TC. My TC is currently starting in 2024, but I want to plan in case my TC gets moved forward to 2023.

If this happens, then I will start my TC in late August 2023. That would leave roughly 2.5 months of free time between the end of my LPC and the start of my TC. During that time, I want to continue living in London and work during that time. I will be getting my last maintenance instalment from my firm before then, but I don't want to rely on this alone.

As such, is it possible to secure short-term paralegal work or something of that nature? How/when should I start looking for this? If not, then how do people normally spend that free time between the LPC and their TC start date?

Any advice appreciated

Not a 100% sure if I'll even make it to the interview stage but if I do I want to be prepared - what did the interview involve? How did you tackle the questions?

The question was: What are your reasons for applying to the RPC Virtual Bristol Insight?

I aimed to hit all the major points:

1. why law?
2. how law would build on my previous experiences
3. how I'd fit into the firm
4. what areas I'm interested in, why
5. why the firm specifically
6. what I'd gain from the insight day, goals

I'd appreciate any feedback on the structure, tone, keeping the language clear and simple, or the content of course.
Thank you!

-

I want to attend the Virtual Bristol Insight Day because I am looking for a career in which I can work collaboratively with other people to make an impact. In my philosophy courses, I've immensely enjoyed the challenge of clearly delivering a complex message by improving my written communication skills. I hope to pair this attraction to analytical work with the social tact and confidence I've been pursuing during my volunteer work connecting secondary school girls with 'next-step' insight from undergraduate students. This effort, I believe, would thrive because of PRC's especially social character.At the insight day, I aim to learn how this social character is harnessed during projects and come away with more actionable steps toward preparing for RPC's vacation scheme.

I'm especially interested in the property and corporate areas of law. Property first excited me when I moved to Cape Town for university. As an older city, it inspired my curiosity about the logistics of using and maintaining old buildings, particularly how people's relationships are governed to do so. Since the Bristol office works in property and casualty insurance, this insight day is an opportunity for me to gain more focused information about career opportunities in property law. Considering land and property in the context of South Africa, I naturally became captivated by matters of dispute. As a class representative during the COVID-19 lockdown, I negotiated with faculty. A significant draw to RPC is its expertise in disputes and litigation. During the insight day, I plan to gain information on how I might be able to exercise such interest further in the coming years.

Ultimately, this open day is an opportunity to learn more about the firm and use that insight to define my goals for growth over the next few months. Afterwards, I aim to be one step closer to a career in law with RPC.