New Threads

Hello everyone! I'm currently trying to apply to Open Days and am wondering if the deadlines for all the firms have already been compiled in the forum for the 2022 cycle.

Hi all ,

Thanks for your support and advice thus far, I really appreciate it!

So...

After speaking with Ulaw this week, I've decided to apply for their MA Law (SQE1) course.

Since it's cheaper to do online , it looks like I'll have to take that option as I'd only have to top up just over 1k after my student finance.

(Not sure where I'd get this from as I'm a person who is considered to have a a MH disability, and I'd be coming off of benefits after some years to go back into work.)
I know I'm eligible for the Disabled Students Allowance, but not sure this can go towards outstanding course costs.

The other option is to apply for scholarships in the hope I'd be able to get either the full time - in person *or* online course completely covered.
Having researched , it looks as if I'd be eligible for quite a few scholarships, but I'm wondering if there's any point in also trying to apply for any TCs as I'm a career changer with a non law degree.

Also, is there anywhere I could possibly get some guidance or help with these applications ( Uni and scholarships) and somewhere I could have my CV revamped in order to show my transferable skills? ( Admin, PA, teaching)

Thanks in Advance!

Hi all,

I hope that this isn’t against forum rules (I had a check and it didn’t seem to be, however let me if it is!) but I thought I would share this competition as I imagine it’d be of interest to some people on here!

The International Law Book Facility (ILBF) is running a student essay competition this year to celebrate its 15th anniversary. It’s a great opportunity to engage with some key topics in the legal industry (such as tech and diversity) so would help with developing and demonstrating your commercial awareness! The essay topic is:

“Looking back from 2030 what should we do now to transform the legal profession (including by the use of machine learning technology) to ensure access to justice for all and that the profession is as diverse as the communities and businesses it serves.”

Max word limit: 2000

Here’s a breakdown of some key info about the competition:
- The prize is a week-long internship in 2022 at international law firm Brown Rudnick’s London office, with £500 to cover expenses;
- The winning essay will be published in the IBA Litigation Committee Newsletter & on the websites of the ILBF and Brown Rudnick;
- The 2 runners-up will have their essays published on the websites of the ILBF and Brown Rudnick;
- The competition is only open to law undergraduates; and
- Deadline for submissions is 28th February.

If you’re interested in entering, you can find the full details here: https://ilbf.org.uk/ilbf-student-essay-competition/

I am one of the junior judges which means I will be looking at the entries after the deadline and shortlisting entries! They will then be passed on to The Rt Hon. the Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd (former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales) and Professor Richard Susskind OBE who will select the winners. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me on here! Should you decide to enter, good luck

I have always encountered this question in SJTs a lot and always struggled. I guess a more general question is that should we always go for the most obvious "righteous" action or something that's more flexible and for the best interests of our client. I'd appreciate any help!

Hi guys,

I wanted to ask whether it is possible to ask graduate recruitment to convert a summer vac scheme offer into a spring vac scheme offer. Obviously, they will already have given out offers, but is it possible to be shortlisted if someone else drops out? Or alternatively, could I be shortlisted for a TC? I have had ACs for several firms with vac schemes that overlap, so I wanted to know what position I am in if I get offers from more than one.

Thanks in advance!!

Hi all, I am Neha Khera and i recently joined the forum. Could anyone help me with Clifford Chance practice Watson test answers?? Also let me know if 72% is a good score?

Hello everyone,

I am currently completing an LLM at a top 3 UK university. I have a first class LLB degree from a top 15 UK university and some relevant legal experience.

I am on track to achieving a merit overall (there’s still a chance it could be a very high pass), but my grades are most likely to be all over the place. Mainly merits with a couple pass marks. Will a merit overall hinder my chances of obtaining a TC at a top City firm? Does GR value my LLM over my LLB since it is more academically harder? Is a pass mark the end of my TC at an international firm dream?

I achieved all firsts in except 1 first year module (69%) and 1 third year module (67%) if that helps

Sorry if this is not clear. It’s been eating my head for the last few days and fuelling my anxiety.

Hi all,

We are introducing a new opportunity to win one of TCLA's coveted 'Forum Winner' awards this month

@George Maxwell, @AvniD, @Jessica Booker and I work hard to address all of the queries that arise throughout the forum, especially on threads which seek expertise on certain issues! We often do a pretty good job too (at least the three of them do)

Nevertheless, it is very clear that the most remarkable resource for issues relating to application experiences, commercial knowledge educational situations and more is all of you The members of the TCLA forum absolutely have more to offer than the mere four of us!

With this in mind, we are introducing an additional opportunity for you all to win a free month of TCLA Premium and you will have this opportunity on a regular basis. Many of you know about our current 'Forum Winner' awards where TCLA members are rewarded for excellent contributions to the forum throughout the preceding week.

Now, we are introducing an additional award for members who are able to respond to threads which @AvniD, @Jessica Booker, @George Maxwell and I identify as requiring outside expertise. When the four of us see a thread that we feel we cannot provide the most thorough response to, then I will add three stars either side of the thread's title and it will be posted here!

You will then all have seven full days (until 11:59pm on the seventh day) to check out the thread and see whether perhaps you are able to offer a better response than we have done, or whether you are able to provide one at all! After the seventh day deadline, we will then choose the best response to the thread and the member who posted it will be entitled to a free month of TCLA premium

We are very excited to hear all of your expertise over the coming weeks - scroll to the bottom of this thread to see the latest Starred Thread awards up for grabs!!

Hey guys! hope everyone is okay i was just wondering if anyone has recieved a VI for kennedys sqe yet?

Hi all,

Almost a decade ago, I was stopped and searched along with my friend as he was smoking a cannabis joint.

I recently completed a Met Police SRA which came back with 'no further action' and under the Arrest section it states 'not applicable'.

Apart from this incident, my record is clean - my ACRO SRA also came back as "No Trace" and, since the above incident, Enhanced along with Standard DBS checks have always come back with no issues.

I have a TC and am hoping to qualify within the next few years, is this something I would have to declare to the SRA?

Thanks all

I have been working as a journalist and researcher covering climate change and energy policy for nearly three years, and although I enjoy the work, the pay is abysmal and the job security is effectively non-existent. I am not sure if I have a future in the profession. However, having written extensively about litigation cases brought against fossil fuel companies and governments, I have become interested in pursuing the emerging field of environmental law. Unfortunately, I have no legal work experience aside from having attended a couple of open days with regionally sized firms.

Will the fact that I am a career changer count against me when applying for training contracts? Should I make sure to secure a TC before applying for the PGDL course?

Hello,

@James Carrabino kindly suggested that I should create a thread for this. To reiterate my idea, I was thinking about a peer to peer case study exercise whereby we would prepare a case study in advance and someone would play the interviewer and the other one the candidate and then switch roles. I think it would be a great simulation exercise with "interview" conditions. Good way to learn from each other two! Two people already messaged me and so we are having a call tomorrow but please let me know if anyone else would be interested in joining in the future!

Has anyone done an assessment centre with KMPG? Do you think it's worthwhile training at an ABS, also with the SQE route?

In continuation to my previous thread, I've been offered a job as an Archive Assistant (12 months FTC) with Mishcon de Reya. It's a big formidable firm and a big name, however I'm unsure if it's the right step to take. I graduated in December from a (UG) Politics and International Law degree, and started doing legal-y things last year (done 2 legal internships with boutique small firms, did 2 other internships with human rights legal organisations, as well as started writing for Legal Cheek, and did a business start-up internship last Summer as well) I want to be a commercial solicitor and from what I've seen over my last years of research it's a cutthroat dog-eat-dog world from recruitment to the end of the partner line. My fears are that working in a non-legal practice, business services archive assistant job will lead to a 'stickiness' in my career trajectory and it would be difficult for me to progress; if it were a paralegal position, I would take it in a heartbeat. I've applied to tons of Vac Schemes this cycle and so far no luck (got through to interview stage for Simmons and Simmons but got really nervous with the non-human recorded video portion).

Should I take it and just be happy I have the name of a big firm on my CV, or should I not take it and try to get something closer to what I want? Or otherwise, get a job where I have more room to not do monotonous tasks (or have a higher level of responsibility in my tasks) - like try and do consultancy or something more 'commercial'? Will the secretarial characteristic of the Business Services archive team be looked down upon when I do further legal apps? Many people will have Goldman Sachs Intern on their CVs and I'll have Mishcon Archive Assistant. I am at odds, please give me advice!!!

TLDR; In summation, I've been offered an archive assistant job at Mishcon de Reya, but am unsure about whether that's the right step to take at the moment as it's not a job that will give me commercial experience directly, or in which I will work directly with live cases. That being said, it's a quite a big firm and name. And I've graduated already from a non-law UG degree.

Hello! I recently received my first video interview/written exercise for Dechert. Does anyone have tips on the best way to prepare at this stage?

Hello, guys. Hope you are doing well. Could you please help me out with something related to commercial awareness here?


According to this news story, Bruce sold his entire collection for the said amount. In another article covering the same story, I read something on the lines of how record labels are now going to have it slightly tougher because more artists would like to keep the rights to their music themselves in the hope of getting a similar paycheque 20 years down the line. My question here is that what are the emerging artists even going to negotiate for, because (and please correct me if I'm wrong here) the #1 reason why the record labels spend money to market young artists and to help them produce music is that they want to keep all the copyrights themselves. I really don't see a way in which an artist can get signed to a record label and also keep the copyrights to his/her music.

Thanks a lot.

does anyone have any tips for the written exercise for decherts round 2 of the application process please? i.e. how to prepare, what to read up on, has anyone already done it and willing to share some insight? thanks!

Hello everyone.

A bit of background about me. I graduated from my LLB in 2016 and worked for two years as a legal assistant for a national firm. I them moved to London and completed my masters degree in IP law and now working for a scientific research company in their IP department.

I now want to further my career and progress to be coming a solicitor. After seeing the SQE pathway I’ve decided to go for it. The question I have is regarding the qualifying work experience. I’ve been working for my company just over two years and im planning to do my SQE 1+2 over the next two years part time.

I want to ask my line manager whose a solicitor if they’ll confirm my experience. They are really nice and been working as a solicitor for over 30 years. I’m just trying to work out the best way to ask them. Does anyone have any tips? I’m hoping that if I give them the information I have that it’ll be fine.

Thank you!

It feels like it should be an easy question to answer. However, most of my work experience has been in areas where certainly a lot of unexpected stuff happened on a daily basis, but I can't share any details about specific scenarios, because of client confidentiality.

I'd rather just give this question a one word answer, "life", but I guess that wouldn't go down well...

How would you answer it? I promise not to copy! I just feel like it'd be helpful to get some pointers.

As you all already know, almost all the major vac scheme deadlines for the Magic Circle and generally large firms are in December/January. I have been so busy with Uni and working part time and running a society that i ended up doing only one vac scheme application (Linklaters). They still have not rejected me but i have been on hold for while now that i'm starting to feel like i will be rejected anyways. Its also my final year of Uni. Apart from 2 months of experience at a small firm doing conveyancing and immigration i don't really have much else going for me. Just feel like i missed the boat this year, does anyone relate?

Hi everyone,

I hope that you had a lovely weekend! I hope that this post might brighten your Monday morning a little.

I have been wanting to set up this thread for a long time now to recognise the HUGE number of community wins we have been having over the past few weeks. In the last week alone, I found more than 100 posts by different users containing some positive news.

For the users that have been tagged below, I wanted to congratulate you on your win. Whether it was a vacation scheme, an AC, a telephone interview or a vacation scheme/training contract. The TCLA team (@Jaysen, @Jessica Booker, @James Carrabino, @AvniD and @Dheepa) have noticed and want to celebrate with you!

This list is of course non-exhaustive and I am sure that I will have missed posts here and there. If you are a user reading this who has been missed, please do message me and I will include you for next time!

I have also only been able to look at posts since last Monday. Again, if you have previously experienced success and have been missed off, please message me! I want to hear what the firm was, where you got and how your other applications are going!

Lastly, it is possible that there are users on the list below who have since experienced rejection (perhaps even following their ‘win’). If this is the case, I hope you do not mind still being included. If this post inadvertently triggers any negative feelings, I really am sorry. This thread is intended to be a positive community initiative more than anything else. If you have been offered a training contract too, please keep in touch. Your presence on the forum will enhance our community discussions and knowledge base.

Finally, I wanted to say that even if ultimately you were unsuccessful following an application win, it is important to take note and reflect on your successes. It is easy to forget the achievement of being progressed to any stage of the legal recruitment process, so take stock and celebrate where you can . I hope that this post might help you do this.

So without further ado, I want to congratulate the following users for their application successes since last week:

@machingkiubrian1234 @Anoned @Adrian_S @Ella98 @London1021 @AW_08 @ZaraB @Abii @BioSTEM @eal @gt1465 @lhs444 @RP @manchester12 @LawfulRust00 @Legalmel_99 @SOAS22 @sxw517 @jacobdarcy1997 @M.G @lawvc2021 @OB @Sophh182 @syw @Law2021vacschemer @jessicamcnamara @gracelaw_ @hopefullylaw2000 @buerheibai @deckoking123 @ek125712 @LeannBThompson @Strugglinglawstudent @SCN @Commerciallaw @awd1998 @SK16 @Lumree @ellek @avaelle42 @Crystal86 @mailer @lawstress @TCG @MNK @ImTheBoss @Donuttime @starbright @AAA_a @Lilrob @M26 @lawgal101 @Hamilton @Praying4TC2022 @captainhilts @imdeded @unserious candidate @lisa0410 @FK7991 @Sanjay Sanjay @Limanehious @GXA123 @gracelizabeth8 @Irena @A92167!8 @OreoShake @Zubin @amf2805 @emilyrose99 @Jessica444 @Desk Chair @eleven14og @TCApp2021 @isaacsj @TC4me @antisocial applicant @Palilegal @chan030 @M991 @nonlawht @Amy_WS @YUKI1201 @CorporateCrayfish @gkadh03 @amzey2 @moneymoneymoney @RkRk0681 @HopefulForALawJob @LegalNim @YJ @Leightoncass @Legalmel_99 @Brandon @grwls_ @p2bv @gt1465 @thirdtimelucky @eleven14og @unserious candidate @IsaacDundas @Sfernan21 @Arche172372 @captainhilts @aspiringlawyer22 @GNewick304 @Atharva @JSM123 @curious_cat @art @rose0904 @esther18

Please do let me/us know when you find out and about any further successes! Really excited to hear from you

Hey, I have my VS interview with S&M soon, I was wondering if anyone had any tips?

Hi Everyone

I've recently come across the below article on the FT which discusses Jones Day's involvement in a controversial use of Texas statute with Johnson & Johnson:


I've tried to do some research on the original basis for the statute and why Texas has provided a mechanism to split a company into two in the first place but am not getting any luck. Would be grateful for any insight!

Thanks

closed

Hi,

I am delighted to have received two TC offers at Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May. I just wanted to preface this by saying that I’m aware of how lucky I am to be in the position of having two offers! However, I’m struggling to decide between the two and would really appreciate any advice on how to do so.

The main things that differentiate the firms are:

- Training - Clifford Chance have an amazing suite of support throughout the TC and paid LIFT internships to help build commerciality before the TC begins whereas Slaughters training is less hands on (from my impression)

- TC seats - CC require you to do three transactional seats (corporate, capital markets, and finance) plus one other whereas Slaughters only require two transactional seats

- Work/life balance - CC has 25 days annual leave whereas Slaughters has 30 days and Slaughters have no targets for billable hours which I imagine helps reduce a face-time culture at the firm

- International secondments - CC has offices all over the world whereas with Slaughters you’ll likely be seconded to a ‘best friends’ firm

There may be some major differences that I’ve missed e.g. practice areas but as I don’t know where I want to qualify yet, this is unlikely to have a huge impact on my decision

I would be really grateful for any advice on this!