New Threads

Hello

I'm Theo, a physics student going into his third year and applying to vacation schemes and training contracts. I am looking forward to getting involved with the community here!

Thanks

I am currently choosing between training contract offers at Clifford Chance and Freshfields. I have found them to be similar in many ways and I am struggling to differentiate them. I would appreciate it if anyone has thoughts on this. Here is what I see as the similarities and differences between them:

Similarities: (1) Salary; (2) Top-ranked in litigation; (3) Top-ranked in private equity

Clifford Chance: (1) Good rankings in firm culture surveys; (2) Top-ranked in finance; (3) Possible marginally higher salary (as Freshfields allegedly doesn't pay bonuses to NQs?); (4) Strong in Corporate/M&A though not Band 1

Freshfields: (1) Top-ranked in Corporate/M&A; (2) Top-ranked in international arbitration; (3) New York secondments and Silicon Valley office; (4) 8-seat secondments; (5) Historically paid marginally higher salary but not anymore

Obviously they have particular strengths in different practice areas. I know I am more interested in transactional work, but I am unable to distinguish between Corporate/M&A and Finance at this stage.

One of my medium-term goals is to move to a US firm (or even to the US). From this perspective, Freshfields' US expansion and NY secondments are attractive. However, the small chance of getting placed in a NY secondment does not seem to be a sufficient differentiating factor. On the other hand, many US firms focus on finance and private equity, which are traditional strengths of Clifford Chance. Furthermore, Clifford Chance seems more well-established in the US legal market.

Hi! Thought it might be helpful for future posters if I shared some of what I have learnt over the past few months, to try to give something back to TCLA and to the community. Apologies for length and the musings, but hope some of this will be helpful to someone…

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had an AC for DAC Beachcroft and whether you have heard back? I had mine last week and I'm unsure whether to drop them an email to ask when they'll be making a decision. I will need to take time off work if I would be doing the vac scheme and it seems they are doing everything at very short notice.

Thank you,
Silvia

Hi,

I was wondering if people could help me understand who the non-legal advisors are also what they actually do?

Hi all,

Not sure if this is a FAQ but I thought I'd start a thread. How should a candidate talk about mitigating circumstances?

I thankfully graduated with a 2.1 but life really did me over (as it does to us all). And I've got various mitigating circumstances. I'm not sure what the best way is in declaring this.

What is everyone thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Hi,

I'm currently going into my second year at Exeter university and received a 2:1 average for my first year. However, I struggled with contract law. I had poor mental health in term 2, and I found it very difficult to work as a result. Needless to say, I sorted myself out a month and a bit before my end of year exams, and worked non stop. Despite this, I didn't manage to salvage contract law, and I ended up with a 54% (2:2) as my final module grade for it.

Will this 2:2 effect my chance of getting a training contract at a magic circle firm, or any London firm in the future?

First year results
Criminal law (64%)
Legal foundations (64%)
Constitutional and Administrative law (62%)
Contract Law (54%)

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Hi guys, I am wondering what is the difference between a VS (which is more like an internship) and an AC? Who takes a VS and who takes an AC? What will you achieve after a successful VS/AC? Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I am going to be starting the PGDL with BPP in September. I have opted to do it online, rather than Waterloo, so I can save some time on commuting.

I was wondering whether anyone else is opting to do it online, or has any experience with the PGDL at BPP? I have heard the horror stories of the university, but don't have a choice due to my firm's partnership with them.

Many thanks

Hi, has anyone who has done the WFW video interview got any tips? E.g. does anyone happen to remember what type of questions were asked? Any help would be much appreciated!

Hi everyone. As the title suggests this is my first year applying for training contracts and I just wanted to take the time to say I really like the community here. I hope I fit in and look forward to hearing your answers to my questions (and in time perhaps answering the questions of others).

Hey everyone,

Over the past month, TCLA’s operations team and I have been designing a completely new programme, our first-ever vacation scheme task simulation, for Gold members and scholarship candidates.

Based on real vacation scheme tasks, this simulation is unique because:

• You’ll learn to think about how you approach vacation scheme tasks, including the clarity of your writing, the quality of your proofing, and the structure of your answers.
  
  
• By practising answers to mock tasks that are based on the most commonly-tested commercial topics, you will rapidly accelerate your technical knowledge.
  
  
• You will receive personal and practical 1:1 feedback on your work.
  
  
• You will learn from each other in a supportive environment. Rather than completing the whole scenario on your own, each of you will have the opportunity to read and learn from each others’ answers.

I’m excited! I think this is the best case study we have ever produced, and in addition to the personal feedback you’ll receive by posting, we’ll also:

• issue a TCLA certificate to everyone who attempts an answer;
• refund a month’s Gold subscription for the highest-effort posts; and
• issue Amazon Gift Cards to particular posters across the course of the simulation.

We’ve designed this simulation for anyone to be able to attempt the questions, so please don’t feel you aren’t ‘qualified’ to participate. There are no silly questions or answers, and in fact - there are multiple answers to each question.

To participate, simply log into your forum account. Once logged in, request access to the Gold members only forum and you'll find instructions on how to get started. We look forward to seeing you on Monday!

PS: For the first time, we're also allowing 2021 forum winners from this thread to join in this month, as a thank you for your supportive participation. If that's you, you can also request access to the Gold members only forum in July.

Hello! I was wondering if anyone has heard anything from Howes Percival?

I’ve applied for their TC starting 2023 in the Norwich office.

Their application was the 20th June and the assessment centers run in late July/early August.

Has anyone been invited to the AC yet? Or know when we can expect to hear?

Thanks

Hi everyone!! Thanks so much for being such a supportive forum!

I wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on this. My LPC is beginning soon in September (London), and there is now the option, by BPP, to do the LPC fully virtual. I am an international student with a 6-8 hour time zone ahead of the UK (so latest LPC classes might end at 1/2am at my home country). Despite being a firm-sponsored student, the trainee intake is small and thus, there is not really a LPC cohort that I have, given that some of the future trainees have completed the LPC prior to obtaining the TC.

I really wanted to hear your thoughts as to whether you would still head to London, pay rent and living expenses, just so you could do the physical LPC, or would you remain in your home country and complete the LPC virtually. Would there be any disadvantages for me (lower chance of doing well, lack of textbooks, no social interactions with future solicitors, no face-to-face interactions with LPC tutors, no access to BPP library)?


Would love to hear everyone's thoughts, especially those who have completed the LPC (physically or virtually), whether in my scenario, the virtual LPC at my home country would be a better option.

Thank you everyone!!

Has anyone had a Farrer 1st Interview for TC? I have one next Friday.

Hello TCLA and others,
I would like some guidance as to what I should prioritize in third year. In second year I unfortunately was not able to secure a vac scheme/tc.
So I seek guidance as to whether I should put energy into trying to secure a vac/tc in third year, or whether I should prioritize my studies (those who have been through the process know how draining it can be).
My current plan for after university - doing my LPC + LLM - do graduates normally apply for VCs/TCs whilst completing their LPCs or do they apply after?

Thanks in advance