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Mishcon de Reya - Spring Vacation Scheme 2026

I saw other people do this and i think i am reaching the point of no return in terms of motivation so I am posting this to keep myself accountable and try this year.

So, I have been working as a paralegal (firstly in private practice and now in house) for a year and a bit and I've been applying for TCs as i go. I literally cant get past the first stage and this year i just want to be successful.

Last year i applied for 10 firms, got 10 rejections and just thought law isnt for me. This year, i have a few firms in mind that I will be applying for and hoping for the best.

The game plan:
applications for CMS and Irwin Mitchell done by November 1st
WG practice weekly
taking my commercial awareness SERIOUSLY- so i will be trying to listen to podcasts on my way to work or in the gym. I have also subscribed to Watson's daily (to the lovely human being from TCLA who told me about this, i hope your pillow is cold on both sides for the rest of your life- you are amazing).

Other firms of interest are:
Browne Jacobson, K&L Gates, Shoosmiths, Howard Kennedy

If anyone has any tips on any of these firms or application process' please help a gal out!

I'll update on my process weekly and lets all hope that this year is my year. I'm losing alot of faith in myself and Im not sure how many more rejections i can handle alas, diamonds are made under pressure so lets see if this year a diamond forms as a result of my immense stress (diamond being a TC offer pleaseee)!

Hi all,

I wasn't sure where the right place to post this was, but I have an interview with STB next Friday which consists of a 30 minute test + 30 minute discussion. I just wanted to see and ask if anyone had any experience, thoughts and tips on how I could approach this interview? It's for their general debt finance/ private credit team.

Thank you!

Greenberg Traurig - Training Contract

Got a Sidley Austin WVS offer today.

Hi everyone,

I hope you'll join me in extending a very warm welcome to Patrick Fermin Ryan, the recruitment advisor at Osborne Clarke.

He is live in the forum right now to answer any questions you have. You might like to ask any questions relating to:

• What makes Osborne Clarke different
• What graduate recruitment looks for
• The application process at Osborne Clarke
• How to write a standout application

Or anything in between!

Wishing you the best of luck this cycle.

Jaysen

--

And here are the upcoming Osborne Clarke Deadlines

Vacation Scheme 2026 (Bristol/London/Reading): Apply by 15 January 2026

Training Contract 2028 (Bristol/London/Reading): Apply by 15 January 2026

Hello! I am a penultimate student at a lower-ranked Russell Group, currently doing a placement year at a magic circle firm. I am wondering for the following firms if I have a chance of applying for their direct training contract. I am not against vacation schemes, however, as I work full time, i am limited in the number of days I can take off, and would therefore prefer to apply for a direct TC if the odds aren't super against me lol.

For work experience, I have done a week at a regional firm and in my current placement year, where I am in capital markets. I have also worked for 6.5 years at a grocery store.

- Mayer Brown
- Gowling WLG
- CMS
- BCLP
- Baker McKenzie
- Orrick
-Fried Frank

There has been some discussion of the low pass rates with the SQE 1 summer exams in recent weeks. As low as 41%...


How are people feeling about this?

If you are preparing to sit SQE 1 in summer 2026, are you concerned?

Hi all,

I was wondering about the best structure to answer this question:

What impact do you want to make at CMS? (max 200 words)

Can I just list the impacts (e.g. support clients to a high standard so that they want to come back to CMS, build good relationships with colleagues across the firm, uphold CMS' reputation)? Or do I need to additionally provide evidence of times when I have achieved something similar elsewhere for each point (e.g. a time when I built good relationships with colleagues).

Thank you for your help.

Hello everyone,

A pleasure to meet you!

I’m a mid-30s career changer who studied law at an RG.

I attempted to pursue a career in law after university, but being honest, I wasn’t mature enough at the time and didn’t appreciate the effort needed, or how much more I should have done during my university years.

My furthest progress back then was reaching an assessment centre for a TC with a silver circle firm, but I had no resilience at that point and was put off by the feedback. That was compounded by the fact I’d only just managed an 2:1 average after a second year that was heavily disrupted by a housemate who, on reflection, was struggling with serious mental health and issues. At the time, we really weren’t talking about those things — and I also never applied for mitigating circumstances, which again shows my naivety back then.

Following university, I moved into sales, first as a junior and then rising into leadership roles. I went on to run two of my own businesses, one of which I successfully sold. Throughout this period, I always held on to the quasi-legal work from a client-side perspective and became involved in some really interesting matters, particularly disputes around employment and commercial leases.

Over the past six months, I’ve been reflecting on what I enjoy most about my work, and it’s consistently the legal side. I now feel that I’ve developed the soft skills, organisation, and mental stamina that I lacked in my early 20s, and I believe these, combined with more than 15 years’ commercial experience, would allow me to make the most of working in commercial law. My current work doesn’t stimulate me intellectually (except when dealing with the legal elements), and I’d love to be surrounded by colleagues who are equally smart and professional, and who challenge me to push myself further.

I’ve been engaging with as many webinars and events as possible, and speaking with alumni friends who are now 10+ PQE. These conversations have convinced me that this is the career I want to commit to for the long term.

That said, I do have some concerns:

• My degree result (a 2:1 with a 58 average, including several thirds in my second year).
• My A-levels (AABB, plus an A in General Studies — though admittedly I did place in the top 3 nationally for that).
• My age — I worry firms may think I don’t have the stamina for long hours, though in reality I’ve often had more stamina than colleagues in their 20s.
• Location — my work so far has been outside London, but that’s where my wife and I ultimately want to move.

Reading the VS 25/26 thread last night, I was struck by people worrying that they’d be filtered out for averages in the low 60s, or firms asking candidates to explain even a couple of 2:2 results. That made me anxious, as my second year was littered with 3rds.

So my question is: do my degree results and A-levels mean I’ll still get automatically screened out, or are firms more flexible when it comes to career changers? Is there a way to make my experience count for something on applications, so that I get the chance to actually meet people and demonstrate what I can offer?

Thank you all in advance for any advice.

Hi. This is an unusual situation. I’m not a lawyer/Solicitor but my son is. He has finished his training contract but was not retained by the company. He qualified in corporate finance. He has spent the last year being my carer after a transplant surgery.
My issue is that he keeps telling me that I don’t understand how corporate finance works anytime that I want to speak with him about his job hunting. I really know zilch about it.
He has struggled to get a job in his area of qualification and want to suggest that he retains in another area that he’s interested in.
My question is whether this is possible? I don’t want to get into a chaotic discussion with him without understanding what is possible.
I’d be grateful if anyone could explain this to me please. I’d also appreciate it if anyone in similar circumstances would be willing to share their experiences.
I just want to be of help to him especially after he has looked after me for a whole year while I recover from the surgery.
Thanks in advance

I thought, as many others do, to start this thread as a way to keep myself accountable. I certainly haven't done it due to being unemployed and bored...

My background: I just graduated from a good RG (Durham, KCL, Warwick) with a law degree. I finished strong in my final year with a very high 2.1 leaving me with an overall grade of 65%. Not amazing, not terrible. Decent.
A Levels: I achieved 3A* from a well-known private school in England.
GCSE's: 7A* 3A

Not to go into too much detail but last cycle I received a TC offer post vac scheme, but I realised it wasn't the type of firm I wish to train in. Toughest decision I've had to make, but one that I can live with. Anyway, enough of the boring old past.

This cycle, I will only be applying to US/MC/SC firms. Someone please let me know whether this is a hubristic approach. Like, genuinely please do let me know, especially within the context of my academic profile.

Applications so far:

Jones Day: Rejection post-app
Sidley: Rejection post-app
Paul, Weiss: waiting, post-app
Gibson Dunn: waiting, post-test
Cleary: waiting, post-app
Hogan Lovells: waiting for test
Slaughters: waiting, post-app
Dechert: Written Exercise Invite
Willkie: Video Interview Invite

I will prepare as much as I can for willkie and Dechert this week, and cross my fingers I can get through to the next stage. Although, I am not confident. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Truthfully, I am really excited for this application season. It has started well with 2 next stages already, but I am aware of how quickly things can change once rejections come through. I have created a list of about 20 more firms that I will apply to in the coming weeks/months, and will keep this updated as often as possible.

If anyone believes there are firms I shouldn't be applying to with the grades that I have then please do tell me. For example, I am more than certain slaughters will be a rejection, given the fact that my grades were relatively inconsistent, despite an ok average.

Overall, I back myself once I get to face-to-face interviews or assessment centres, but it's just a matter of passing the preliminary stages. That's where I feel I might struggle. Or, what could be worse, I am rejected post-app at most places given I am aiming for the highest echelon of firms.

Let me know how your applications are getting on, any advice you may have, any advice you may need, or just any thoughts in general. They are all welcome.

Best of luck to everyone!

Hi everyone! This will be my 4th application cycle and am truly hoping that it would be my last :") I was inspired by the threads created by everyone from previous years and have always wanted to post one myself but was always too afraid to. But this year, I decided that enough was enough and wanted to hold myself accountable as I would really like to be employed!

I am a recent graduate from a RG uni but got a low 2:1 (62%) unfortunately, and had really low first and second year grades due to serious mitigating circumstances. However, during my final year I worked incredibly hard to get high 2:1s and a first so that I could get an overall 2:1 I'm also currently studying for my SQE1 which I'll be taking in January so will have to be very productive with my time.

In my most recent application cycle, I was able to make it to Bristows' virtual interview stage but unfortunately was rejected in the end However, I am very determined this time around and am looking forward towards being more intentional with the firms I apply to, so that I can craft better quality answers I also intend to really work on my WG/verbal reasoning/deductive reasoning tests as I usually get rejected after this stage...

Here are the firms I intend to apply to this year (for now):
- Osborne Clarke (my dream law firm but didn't apply to them last year because I was too insecure about my grades)
- Taylor Wessing
- Bristows
- Ashurst
- Simmons & Simmons

Life has been incredibly tough so far but I believe we can get towards our dreams/successes and get employed! Let's work hard together friends!!

Hi everyone,

I'm very excited to be joined by Reed Smith's graduate recruitment team @ReedSmithBecca and @RikPalmer-ReedSmith. The team are live right now to answer your questions.

They will also be joined by three future trainees/SQE interns on Wednesday:

• Christelle Dantziguian
• Abbie Whitlock
• Destiny-Dunn Browne

Please do use this thread to ask any questions you have, whether that's learning more about Reed Smith, the application process, or what the graduate recruitment team looks for.

Thank you!

Jaysen

---

And here are the upcoming Reed Smith Deadlines

Vacation Schemes

Winter Vacation Scheme: Apply by 19 December 2025
Spring Vacation Scheme: Apply by 19 December 2025

Open Days

Trainee Solicitor Open Day: Apply by 20 October 2025

Hi everyone, I have just graduated and am applying for VSs. My grade average overall is 67%. I performed pretty poorly in one of my modules (Jurisprudence) in second year. I got 56%. I just want to ask if this will set me back significantly in terms of applications? For context, I am applying to regional firms rather than city firms.

After mulling it over for the last couple of weeks, I've decided to start a thread here to try and hold myself accountable and maybe get to know others in the TCLA community this way. I also want to share my experiences going down this challenging career path in the hopes that it might inspire others just as others' stories have inspired me. I did a wee introduction in the other sub-forum last week but I will share some extra, and I believe, relevant details here.

I graduated in 2020 with a 2:1 Scots Law degree, which is four years long and considered non-law in England & Wales. My university uses a unique grading system, and they've issued official guidance that it should not and cannot be adequately converted into a percentage scoring system, giving me plenty of headaches.

Anyway, only certain courses in 3rd and 4th Year counted for my degree classification, and, as far as I can reasonably convert my grades, I have several 2:2 modules and even two 3rd modules throughout the four years. It doesn't help that I had no awareness of the concept of extenuating circumstances back then either, and had always accepted that my grades were me reaping what I had sown, but I now know better and try to make points about extenuating circumstances in my applications.

This has been a source of frustration over concerns about my eligibility for many VSs and TCs, but I've finally accepted that I can't change these grades. I can only look ahead and sell my other experiences. I didn't do much in terms of extracurriculars during university either because I lived at home and had my main interests in cooperative online video games. Video games have given me invaluable transferable skills such as teamwork, organisation, resilience, communication, conflict resolution, and learning. I think it's always difficult to sell video games as a source of transferable skills but I'll break a glass ceiling here if I have to.

I have also since worked outside of law, volunteered locally, and tried to improve myself in other aspects since my last application cycle in 2019-20. It is now up to me to present the skills and experiences that I do have as best I can in my written applications.

As of today, I'm having some friends and family help review my cover letter for NRF's WVS ahead of tomorrow's deadline (thank god they're non-rolling), and I have attended a series of virtual events both open-access and through applications. As this will be my first VS/TC application of the cycle, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for it.

In the weeks ahead, I'm looking to apply for Open Days and VSs with mostly US firms as I sincerely believe deep down, after a lot of reflection, that they have the best cultural fit for me, in spite of my subpar grades and extracurriculars.

And just to end this post on a small win (I wouldn't have said this five years ago, but I think the small wins should be celebrated), my application for Skadden's Open Day was accepted and I'm actually quite excited for it!

Thank you for reading up to this point as it's a lot and please look forward to the next update!

Hello, Does anyone know the difference between the LLM Law Conversion with SQE1 (BPP) compared to the MA Law Conversion (SQE1) (ULAW)? Is an MA or LLM better?

Hi all,

I am starting the SQE LLM in Feb 2026 at BPP on the CCP, and am beginning to work out what I need to do to prep (not starting prep yet obviously!!). If anyone has any experience, recommendations, or criticisms of the various textbook providers, please could you tell me below. I would like to purchase a set of textbooks, as I have heard the BPP ones aren't hugely strong. Thanks!

Osborne Clarke Training Contract

Sullivan & Cromwell Training Contract

Morgan Lewis Summer Vacation Scheme

Sullivan & Cromwell Summer Vacation Scheme

DLA Piper Spring Vacation Scheme

Clyde & Co Summer Vacation Scheme