New Threads

Welcome back everyone to our series of interviews with future trainee solicitors. In our final article today, we have the fantastic opportunity to hear from a future trainee at Clyde & Co.


1. Who is your training contract with?

Clyde & Co


2. Are you a law or non-law candidate?

Non-Law


3. Which university did you attend?

University of Manchester


4. Please could you tell us more about your background and current stage?

I am an international student who studied geography at university. I was convinced that I would go into academia or something “quiet” because I was always told that professions like the law were just not for people like me. I started working with the Civil Service and realised that the legal work they were doing with commercial organisations was incredibly interesting and started my journey there. I’m currently studying my GDL at the University of Law.


5. When and why did you decide to apply to commercial law?

I decided in between my second and third year of my non-law degree. I always knew I wanted to work in a commercial space and applied to lots of consulting and banking grad schemes. Part of my degree was also looking into organisations which I loved. I loved the fast pace, the intensity, and the fact that I could have an impact on so many different aspects. It’s a lot like how my brain works, and the commercial environment specifically fit that quite well. Once I actually started talking to people in other commercial spaces, I also realised that I wanted to help clients in a more long-lasting way and build relationships, instead of short projects in consulting. After a lot of talking to people and getting some experience, I took the plunge.


6. How many applications did you send?

4 vacation scheme applications, 3 training contract applications


7. How many interviews/offers did you receive?

2 interviews, 1 offer


8. How did you go about the application process? Did you map an application strategy?

I didn’t have a strategy for my initial vacation scheme process, I kind of applied pretty randomly at first. Then I realised that personal insight mattered a lot and I actively had to select and understand where and why I applied.


9. Did you change your strategy during the application process and, if so, what did you change?

I changed drastically after my first few applications. I had a massive tracker on Notion that I used to track firm news, applications, and any insights I got from virtual events or one on one messages from LinkedIn.


10. How did you develop your commercial awareness?

I used podcasts such as Watson’s Daily and Little Law. I like short briefings every day and then I try and read a more detailed piece from the FT once a week or so to get a better picture.


11. What is your best advice for succeeding at the interview stage?

Be a human being! I’ve done loads of mock interviews for other people and the biggest thing that stands out is how stiff and robotic people can be, especially in answering questions that you might not have prepared for. For both in-person and online interviews, the best way I prep right before is by recording myself talking about something I’m really passionate about (I talk about costumes in films- don’t ask). When you look back at that recording, you can observe your body language when you’re enthusiastic. Take note of what you do and take that same energy into your interview.


12. What is your best advice for case study interviews?

Don’t get flustered if they keep questioning you. When I’d briefed the associate about my findings from the case study, they kept asking if there was “anything else”. I stood my ground and told them that although there could be something I might have missed, this time, I’d done a comprehensive look. Turns out- I hadn’t missed anything, and the fact that I didn’t second guess myself stood out!


13. What was the biggest setback you encountered during your journey to a training contract? How did you deal with it?

Being from a non-law background with no law friends. I had absolutely no idea how the legal process worked and was so insecure about the fact that I thought I had nothing to offer because of my academic background and that I didn’t have vacation schemes and internships at law firms, but instead at a mix of commercial and non-commercial spaces. I still get instances of imposter syndrome but what helped me is recognising that my degree gave me an incredible leg-up. Doing geography, I was comfortable dealing with scientific data and lab reports, being out in the field but also reading lots for humanities, which meant that I could work in more technical areas of law but also communicate the complexity quite well. Especially now, non-law students and non-law work experience is being seen at par as legal work experience. Really highlight the skills you have from those instead of worrying about not having the legal background.


14. If there was anything you would do differently, what would it be?

Be more organised! I learnt so much between applying for my first few vacation schemes, the second round and my training contract applications in terms of depth over breadth. If you’re used to applying in other sectors, this is a difficult mindset shift, but 100% necessary.


15. What is the best piece of advice you can give to future applicants? Do you have any advice for individuals who might’ve been in a similar position to you?

Network, and network well. Probably the most important thing that helped me get my offer was the fact that I talked to people with a similar background and in the firm I wanted to work with on LinkedIn and I wanted to form a genuine connection with them (instead of just hounding them to read my CV). I only really needed two people, but the insight they gave me was better than any law fair or virtual event could into my dream firm.

Welcome back everyone to our series of interviews with future trainee solicitors. In our second article today, we have the fantastic opportunity to hear from Lucy, a future trainee at Clifford Chance.


1. Who is your training contract with?

Clifford Chance


2. Are you a law or non-law candidate?

Law


3. Which university did you attend?

The University of Exeter


4. Please could you tell us more about your background and current stage?

Currently, I am in my final year studying LLB Law. I went straight into university from sixth form and secured my training contract in my penultimate year after virtual summer vacation scheme.


5. When and why did you decide to apply to commercial law?

I always thought I wanted to be a family lawyer, but when I started attending networking events in my first year of university, I realised that the larger city firms were more attractive to me. I was drawn in by the clients and large-scale work that the firms were doing. I then sought experience in commercial private practice and in-house, and really enjoyed the varied nature of the work and problem solving in a team.



6. How many applications did you send?

5


7. How many interviews/offers did you receive?

3 interviews, 3 offers


8. How did you go about the application process? Did you map an application strategy?

At the start, I researched and created a list of firms, and then I created a mind-map of my CV that had my experiences and the skills I gained from them. This was really helpful as a starting board for my applications. I then focused on one application at a time and kept researching as I went along. I'd spend 2-3 weeks on each one, submit it, and move on. I prioritised the earlier deadlines or the ones that were rolling.


9. Did you change your strategy during the application process and, if so, what did you change?

Yes - I initially thought that all my research would be complete at the start, but in my opinion, you can never be fully researched before you start writing. Sometimes you hit a point where you've spoken about your experience i.e. presenting on law to school children, and you try and link this to the firm. So, you look up the firm and discover they have a pro bono project where they go into schools. There's the link. But you may not have written it down during the initial research phase.


10. How did you develop your commercial awareness?

I listen to Radio 4 in the morning as I'm getting ready for the day and signed up to a couple of commercial awareness briefings that were specifically targeted for law. I also listened to podcasts such as The Commercial Awareness Podcast and Think Commercial.


11. What is your best advice for succeeding at the interview stage?

Be yourself and be a nice person. A huge part of the interview process is working out if you're a good fit for the firm (which goes both ways), so remain authentic. Also show your interviewer that if they were to have you in their team, you'd be easy to get along with - working relationships are really important and it's important that you'll fit into the environment.


12. What is your best advice for case study interviews?

Think of the pros and cons to everything. If you're giving advice, make sure you understand the drawbacks of that, but ultimately why your conclusion is the best option.


13. What was the biggest setback you encountered during your journey to a training contract? How did you deal with it?

I was rejected from my first application. It was the only one I had sent at the time and it suddenly dawned on me that it might not be the last rejection either! Mentally, I dealt with this by closing the door on the firm - they didn't know my face, they've never spoken to me in person - all they know is 500 words on an application form. Move on, work hard on the others, and the right firm comes along at the right time!


14. If there was anything you would do differently, what would it be?

I wouldn't change anything!


15. What is the best piece of advice you can give to future applicants? Do you have any advice for individuals who might’ve been in a similar position to you?

Keep going! I never thought I'd end up where I have. There are always bumps in the road, but there is a destination at the end. Just keep going.

Welcome back everyone! Today we have three new articles in our series of interviews with future trainee solicitors. In our first article, we hear from a future trainee at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius


1. Who is your training contract with?

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius


2. Are you a law or non-law candidate?

Law


3. Which university did you attend?

Queen Mary University of London (LLB) / University College London (LLM)


4. Please could you tell us more about your background and current stage?

I was born and for the most part raised in Italy by an Italian mother and a Belgian father. Except for a few years spent abroad, I attended Italian state school until I moved to the UK in 2016 for my LLB.

I am currently completing my LLM and engaging in different work experiences before starting my LPC in September 2021.

5. When and why did you decide to apply to commercial law?

I decided to apply to commercial law during my LLM. Having completed a degree in Law and Politics and enjoying both subjects, studying an LLM was a fundamental experience for me to understand what I wanted from my career. It allowed me to bridge the gap between my professional experience, obtained through different internships, and my academic interests. I thus decided to become a commercial solicitor as I look forward to helping clients with mitigating the risks inherent to high-value commerce and/or taking advantage of opportunities. My recent summer associate position at a US firm clarified that I wanted to pursue commercial law involving high-levels of responsibility and cross-jurisdictional work. I had the opportunity to conduct crucial research for the antitrust element of a transaction involving the client's competitors and their market share, including the operational differences between jurisdictions. I realised that I am most productive when working in a streamlined team and I highly enjoyed the additional complexities that came from navigating through different legal jurisdictions.


6. How many applications did you send?

10


7. How many interviews/offers did you receive?

3


8. How did you go about the application process? Did you map an application strategy?

As I did not know anything about training contracts nor their application process, at first, I tried to attend as many events as I could to find out what types of firms I was attracted to. I also attended several campus events, talks and seminars on training contract tips and advice. Although I sent a few applications, I struggled to understand why I wanted to work for a specific firm. Using resources such as Chamber Students, Legal Cheek, LawCareers.net, the Lex 100, Legal 500 etc, I began to look at firms' practice areas, trainee intakes, strengths, diversity & inclusion and pro bono initiatives and all other things that I deemed important. For me, I was applying to firms that worked at the crossroads of IP and Competition law. This meant firms with strong tech and life sciences expertise. As I understood that magic circle firms were not for me, I focussed on mid-sized UK firms. I made an application timesheet where I would write all the firms I wanted to apply to when their applications opened and closed, whether they recruited on a rolling basis, how many trainees they hired and other stages they had. Although it took me quite some time (around 6 months) to understand how this process worked, my application strategy was quite clear even when I lacked the actual application writing skills. Regarding the content of my applications, I asked for help to all my friends who had succeeded (from getting multiple interviews to obtaining a training contract). At first, I spent quite a lot of time on my applications in between lectures and during the weekends. The more I became familiar with application forms, the less time I needed to spend on them. However, I spent an incredible amount of time researching firms, the legal profession and different practice areas which helped both my applications and my choice of the right firm.


9. Did you change your strategy during the application process and, if so, what did you change?

I changed my application strategy when I had a very clear idea of what I was looking for in a firm. Applying later on in my university career definitely helped my credibility, strategy, and conviction. Once I realised what firms were looking for in application forms and I was able to sell my story and what I wanted and so I started getting results. This made me re-evaluate my priorities. If before I was applying to different firms to learn more about them, now I was almost exclusively applying to US firms due to their small trainee intake, high-levels of responsibility, inherent international nature of the work and flexibility in their training contract structure. I realised that the latter was better suited to my personality than a rigid and more formal training contract structure offered at UK firms. I liked the idea of possibly splitting my seats between two similar practice areas, repeating a seat I might have liked, asking for a seat not 'formally' advertised as an option and the possibility of international secondments. I was looking for a large, international firm but with a smaller London office allowing to develop personal and professional relationships. I was drawn to smaller trainee intakes as I aimed to train with a firm offering quality opportunity and a willingness to dedicate support and responsibilities. Working directly with partners in smaller teams ensures that trainees are treated as junior associates. As a graduate applicant, I also believed that very small trainee intakes were more prone to give weight to my LLM or additional experience, which I realised to be true in certain cases. This was relevant in my case, as I was still at university with more experience than second year students but could still not compare to applicants with paralegal or further legal experience. Lastly, as an international candidate who lived in the US for certain periods and who obtained most of her legal experience at US firms, I felt that American firms and their culture would be better suited to me.


10. How did you develop your commercial awareness?

My commercial awareness was almost non-existent when I started applying, which also delayed my application process. To build it I advise you to adopt a method that works for you. For me, this meant listening to a lot of podcasts and signing up to different newsletters that came directly into my inbox (TCLA Weekly Commercial Awareness Update, Finimize etc) that I would read before going to sleep. Every morning I would listen to the FT News Briefing and Wake Up to Money (BBC) together with other episodes from different podcasts that seemed particularly interesting that day. My favourite podcasts were (and still are): Behind The Money, Business Daily, Your Money Briefing, Planet Money, Think Commercial, The Freshfields Podcast, The Journal, The Economist Asks, Bloomberg Markets and different sector-specific podcast such as the Tech Briefing (WSJ), Pharma Intelligence Podcast, IP Fridays, Technology Intelligence, Linkubator etc. The first two podcasts mentioned are very good starting points for someone who is looking to build commercial awareness. I also signed up to the newsletters of the firms I was applying to so I would receive their deals and/or blog posts in my inbox as well. While researching firms I would also look at their social media, specifically LinkedIn and Twitter for more deals and blog posts. As a lot of my friends are in law or other professions requiring good commercial awareness, I would make sure to discuss topics with them as often as I could. This is helpful to exchange thoughts, build arguments, consider other opinions, and become accustomed to talking about commercial issues. Moreover, some of my modules i.e. Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions were very helpful. Lastly, I bought two books (which I actually did not use myself but heard they were very useful): 'Everything You Need to Know About the City' and 'The Commercial Awareness Handbook'.


11. What is your best advice for succeeding at the interview stage?

What made the difference between my successful and not successful interviews was the perception I had about myself. Having a very clear idea of why you want to work for the firm, what you can add to the business, why you did the things you did in the past and where you are going in the future is essential. It is important to be confident (never arrogant) and showcase your personality. It is also worth noticing that interviews depend very much on the firm's culture. Different firms will have different interview styles, priorities, skills, and competencies they are looking for more than others as well as certain types of personalities and so on. Try and adapt to the situation. I do, however, believe that interviews that come more naturally to the candidate and the firm are more likely to be successful. For this reason, it is imperative to find ways of calming your nerves before the interview. I do not have a specific technique that I used as I am not an anxious person and I am able to behave naturally under pressure. If that is not the case for you however, virtual interviews or assessment centres could be helpful. Moreover, breathing exercises or a student version of exposure therapies might be helpful i.e. joining the debating society, mooting, attending a more intimate networking event or any other exercise that involves getting out of your comfort zone, speaking in public or having to entertain people in a more senior position than yourself.

Preparing is also fundamental. I would prepare a list of examples that could draw on when asked about skills or competencies and go through them. I would look at all the skills in the firm's 'what we look for' page and make sure I had those prepared. I would read a lot about the firm and anything I would find useful. The longer before the interview the preparation is done, the more genuine you will sound during the interview. Cramming interview preparation might make it look like you are answering exam questions and being detached rather than talking about your own experiences. If the firms you are applying to have very technical interviews I advise starting to prepare before even getting the interview. There are a lot of resources on case studies, written exercises, group exercises and other assessment centres tasks online to use to prepare as well.


12. What is your best advice for case study interviews?

I cannot give too much advice on these as I have not done many. Having a broad knowledge of commercial, political, and social issues will help answer any case study interview. In the case study interviews I have done, the topic was chosen consciously so that the candidates would not know anything about it, and the interview followed a written exercise on it. This was deemed to test a candidate's ability to think quickly, adapt and apply their knowledge to the situation in question. It is very important to remain calm and likeable under pressure. The best advice I can give is to structure your thoughts well, talking your interviewers through the steps you are taking to answer their questions.


13. What was the biggest setback you encountered during your journey to a training contract? How did you deal with it?

My biggest setback was having no idea where to start. Having done a Law and Politics degree, I never thought that I was going to become a solicitor, hence trying to understand everything about law firms, commercial awareness and the process of obtaining a training contract during my LLM is what slowed me down in my application process. I advise anyone at the beginning of their degree to try and do most of the learning in their first year, hence starting second year prepared for what is coming, rather than having to go through the learning process while also applying. I advise everyone to seek help from anyone around them that might know a bit more than them on application writing, interviewing, tests, and anything else. Meeting law firms through attending open days, law fairs, networking events, presentations, commercial awareness sessions and any other event is crucial to the process of understanding what you want from your career and where you think you fit in. In my opinion, networking is more important in terms of making decisions, building long-term relationships and contacts, and learning about the firm, rather than directly helping in the application process. I think it is really important to figure out your priorities before starting the application process. It is harder than anticipated when most universities push you towards big law (mostly magic and silver circle), and that might not be for you. Therefore, engaging in our own personal journey as soon as possible will make the whole process easier. If like myself you decided to apply later on in your academic career or even in life, speeding up the learning process will necessitate a lot of time, focus, research, and determination.

In terms of practical setbacks, my problem was learning how to sell my story in written applications. Asking for help to my friends who had signed a training contract or were getting better results is what allowed me to get to the next stages. I knew that my interview skills were superior to my application writing skills, hence it did not take me long after cracking the code to written applications.


14. If there was anything you would do differently, what would it be?

I cannot say I would have done anything radically different as I got my training contract in my first cycle of applications and at a firm that I absolutely love and could not be more excited to join. However, considering what my biggest setback was, if I had taken the previous year or at least the summer to go through that learning process I would have been better prepared for the application cycle. I also wish I had asked for help with regards to my written applications earlier on as it would have allowed me to stand a real chance with all the firms that I applied to rather than only the second half of applications I sent. Nonetheless, Morgan Lewis only has a summer vacation scheme hence I am glad it worked out this way rather than obtaining a training contract at a different firm in the Winter/Spring.


15. What is the best piece of advice you can give to future applicants? Do you have any advice for individuals who might’ve been in a similar position to you?

I think the best advice I can give to applicants is, fail to prepare, prepare to fail. The more prepared you are the more naturally you are going to be able to speak about things, discuss topics and be confident in your story and your experiences. It will also give you a better perspective of whether a firm is actually for you and whether you are on the right track to achieve your goals. Although the application process is daunting and rejections can be disheartening, you really only need one to go well! Remain focused and keep working on becoming a better candidate, and always remember that the application process is a two-way process: firms want to hire you, you just have to show them why!

Best of luck!

Hey guys, I have an interview for a work experience week through aspiring solicitors for the DWF minority scheme. I've been given a 15-minute zoom interview, and I don't know what to prepare as they have given me no information. Does anyone have any experience with anything like this and can give me tips?

Hello all,

(This is my first post so not sure how these things work haha)

I have been working as a paralegal for few months and I absolutely hate it (due to the area of law I think).

I have been applying for jobs (including paralegal ones in other areas of law) and recently got an offer for a non- legal role that I am sure I would enjoy . However, this role has no corporate or commercial elements. My question is would this job reduce the quality of my training contract applications, as recruiters may wonder why I have left the corporate world to do something 'not corporate'?

Hi everyone, I have an upcoming interview and wondered if anyone who interviewed with the firm were willing to share their experience of the interview. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Sorry to ask here but Google turned up nothing. Does anyone know how many they invite to the first stage interview and out of those how many make it to the AC?

Hi all,

As promised, the following will be a brief breakdown of my experience of the Travers Smith Vacation Scheme after seeing a flurry of offers made in recent days. It will only be a 'whistle-stop tour', so to speak - it's really designed to be a basis from which other questions can flow! I'm unable to go into any details in respect of assessments and particular activities, for obvious reasons. I'll go over a few tips at the end for what I feel contributed to my successful conversion. I hope it's helpful nonetheless!

Background:
I completed my VS in July 2020, virtually. I was made a Training Contract offer immediately following the scheme without having to complete any further interview - I'm not sure that this is standard practice as we were informed at the beginning of the scheme that offers wouldn't be made without a final exit interview. I would advise proceeding on the basis that you'll need to complete further interviews/ assessment in some form after the VS unless you're informed otherwise.

VS format and structure:
My VS was split into a number of sessions over five days. These included:

• Introductions to most key practice areas
• Introduction to CSR/ Pro Bono activities
• Virtual Networking activities with trainees, fee earners and grad rec
• Social activities
• Open Q&A/ roundtable discussions
• Written assessments
• Group assessments

My experience:
Each day was quite busy and full-on, which I really enjoyed. There were breaks built into the day for lunch and between sessions - sometimes these would be run through if sessions ran on. There was always a clear structure for what we should be doing etc and there was never any "oh god I don't know what I should be doing" feelings. Grad rec were always on hand through emails and messages on the InsideSherpa (now Forage) platform which was what they used for my scheme. As you'll know if you've got this far, the GR team at Travers are all lovely and are genuinely approachable - you shouldn't worry about reaching out to them with questions etc.

All the sessions were genuinely enjoyable and I felt like I learned something of genuine value from each session. Something that I really liked about the Travers VS was that it really felt like the senior leadership of the firm were really invested in the VS process, which in turn really encouraged me to 'buy in' to the VS process and push myself to perform to my best standard too. Almost every practice area discussion was partner-led, there were a large number of partners who attended networking events and who really made a genuine effort to get to know us, and we enjoyed a roundtable with the Managing Partner of the firm, too. Another element of the VS I really enjoyed was that we were encouraged to have a genuine, frank discourse with trainees and ask the questions that we genuinely wanted answers to. This added to thee overall authenticity of the experience and also mitigated the impact of losing some of the in-person elements of the VS that you'd normally have in the office.

Each candidate was also given a Trainee Buddy for the week, with whom we had scheduled 1:1's two or three times during the week and to whom we could also have more personal conversations than what you'd necessarily have in a bigger group. My Buddy, who I've kept in touch with, was really lovely and went to a genuine effort to get to know me etc. From chatting to my cohort, this was generally shared across the board. In my view, it is representative of Travers' culture from top to bottom - everyone I've come across through my application process, to VS, to TC and in various other interactions has been genuinely kind, helpful and exceptionally involved in any discussion irrespective of seniority. This is one of the major points that attracted me to Travers in the first instance.

My advice for conversion:
There's no single 'magic formula' for conversion, so it's impossible to give one. The other point worth reiterating is that I'm not in a position to discuss the exit/ secondary interview for TC as I didn't do one. Generally speaking, I would advise the following as general good practice:

• Engage: ask questions, be inquisitive, be involved in sessions, be active with your cohort as well as people from the firm. During networking sessions, for example, network! Take full advantage of the array of people you'll speak to in order to build up your picture of the firm as a whole and decide whether it's somewhere that you'd like to train.
• Be organised: follow the schedule, know where you need to be and when, don't be late for 1:1 sessions (or, if this is unavoidable, send a quick email to whomever you'll be speaking with to advise them that a session is running on and you'll be late for the meeting).
• Ask good questions: although I've touched on this already, make sure that the questions you're asking are of good quality. For me, this is centred around a few factors:
  • Relevancy: make sure that whatever you ask is suited to the person you're asking (for example, don't ask grad rec about the nuances of fee-earning work, or trainees about issues surrounding partnership etc)
  • Authenticity: don't ask questions whose answers you already know, or that can easily be found on Google, or on the firm's website. Ask genuine, authentic questions to build a genuine, authentic understanding of the firm and the people you're interacting with
  • Planning: plan your questions once you're given the schedule and also during the discussions: going in with questions without taking a minute to plan them first often results in rambling and opacity rather than clear, concise questions
• Throw yourself in: this one is rather self-explanatory. Commit 100% to whatever you're doing and put your all into it. Vacation Schemes, especially virtual schemes, are tiring, but don't half-ass anything you do as it will come across poorly and vastly diminish your chances of conversion

That's really everything that's worth including in this part of the discussion. I am acutely aware it's only very brief so please do follow up with any and all questions you have in the thread below. As usual, if anything is particularly confidential then my DMs are always open!

Hello everyone ,

I have just been accepted to the Kirkland and ellis open day March 2021.

I'm very surprised that I got accepted as I have been rejected from multiple other firms. I just assumed K&E would reject me anyways as they're very competitive.

Anyways , I'm extremely nervous and I dont know how the open day will run ie their structure, will they ask us any questions etc.

Could anyone with prior experience help me by telling me How I should prepare , what normally happens at an open day , and any questions they may ask me and an appropriate way to answer those questions.

I dont want to mess this up for myself as I have no experience before whatsoever, I'm a first year law student and 17 years old so I haven't had much time to gain experience especially now due to covid.

Any help would be gladly appreciated.



Also if anyone knows how many participants K&E normally takes on for their open day such as how many apps they receive on average and how many they accept that would be great.

Thank you so much.

Hey everyone,

TCLA turns three this weekend! I just wanted to say a huge thank you to you guys for being such a fantastic community. It's amazing seeing so many of you support one another through this incredibly challenging journey.

A huge thank you goes to the team who has helped make TCLA what it is today! We've put together some charts in the attached document for those who want to have a behind-the-scenes look at our reach to date.

Best,

Jaysen

Welcome back everyone. In our second article today, we hear from a future trainee at Trowers & Hamlins LLP.


1. Who is your training contract with?

Trowers & Hamlins LLP


2. Are you a law or non-law candidate?

Law


3. Which university did you attend?

University College London (UCL)



4. Please could you tell us more about your background and current stage?

I am currently working as a paralegal at a public sector organisation and will start my training contract in March 2021. I completed my LPC in summer 2020. I studied a 4-year law degree with a year abroad in Spain and graduated in 2017. After my undergraduate degree I worked abroad at the European Parliament in Belgium for a year and in Manchester for a year, before starting the LPC full time in September 2019.

5. When and why did you decide to apply to commercial law?

I decided to apply for a career in commercial law in the final year of my undergraduate degree. I already knew I wanted to be a lawyer, but I was unsure which area of the law I wanted to work in initially. I really enjoyed studying law at university and during the summers of university I had undertaken work experience at various firms. I liked the variety of the work and found it challenging and relatable. I had also gone to a few open days and different events at university to learn more about commercial law firms too.


6. How many applications did you send?

16


7. How many interviews/offers did you receive?

9


8. How did you go about the application process? Did you map an application strategy?

I applied for training contracts in 2 different cycles. The first time I applied was during the 2016/2017 cycle. The second time was during the 2019/2020 cycle. In between this time, I did not apply which is probably quite unusual! During the first cycle I did not really have a strategy, I applied for firms I had spoken to at open days and had found that the staff seemed easy to speak with, down to earth and enthusiastic about the culture at this firm. I also picked firms which had big teams in areas of law which I was interested in and international offices. I did 4 vacation scheme applications and 3 direct training contract applications. I did a vacation scheme at Pinsent Masons in summer 2017 but did not get the offer.

9. Did you change your strategy during the application process and, if so, what did you change?

During the second cycle, I had done a lot more research. I had a strategy. I looked up which firms recruited heavily from their vac schemes and which accepted a more even number from direct applications. I applied for 5 vac schemes for firms which generally took on a high percentage of vac schemers and applied for 4 direct TCs at firms which recruited quite a large number from direct applications. I researched about the culture of firms and also the career paths of people who worked there i.e, whether many employees stayed for a long time or there was lots of lateral hiring. I definitely wanted to train at a firm where I could imagine myself long term so this was important to me. In addition a work life balance is important to me so I mostly did not apply to firms which were well known to have the longest working hours. I tried to attend open days or engage with graduate recruitment on social media at the firms I applied to. Finally, I used TCLA to research about the interview and application strategy at firms. I tried to avoid firms which were known for having really tough technical style interviews, for example where they asked lots of in depth questions about finance or commercial news where I felt that you would have had to do extra work and research on these areas specifically in order to succeed. I did not want to apply for finance heavy firms anyway, so it sorts of matched up with the firms I liked anyway.


10. How did you develop your commercial awareness?

Generally, I think I have always had a good awareness of the news, because I regularly keep up with what's happening around the world, but this was not necessarily commercially focussed. I signed up to the Commercial Awareness for Students newsletter and would read the all the stories on it. It comes out once a week and has 10 of the top stories. I also regularly read the monthly summaries of news stories and their impacts on law firms on TCLA. From this I would normally pick a few stories which I was more interested in and read about them on news websites, like the BBC or the FT. Occasionally I went to talks or online events to discuss commercial news and stories.


11. What is your best advice for succeeding at the interview stage?

My strategy for interviews was as follows:

1. Look up common interview questions (I did this using the TCLA list). Also try to find any information (law firms insights on TCLA) on what kind of interview questions the firm have asked in the past. From this create a list of questions you think are likely to be asked.

2. Write down and rehearse your answers to the questions on this list. I used to record myself on my laptop and watch the videos back to see where I needed to improve. Whilst this was embarrassing at first it was actually really useful.

3. Do mock interviews with the university careers service or whoever you can do them with

4. Pinpoint questions you are weaker on and spend extra time rehearsing or preparing for these.

5. Do more than one mock interview if you think it would help 6. Be confident and go into the interview with the mentality that you are good enough to succeed.

7. While rehearsing is important, try to be relaxed during the interview and answer naturally. Answer the question asked even if it's not one you specifically prepared for, do not try to shoehorn in things you have prepared if they are not exactly relevant. Do not try to regurgitate answers from memory as this can sound robotic. If you've done the preparation, your knowledge should come through.

8. Sell yourself. If at the end of the interview you feel like you haven't demonstrated your motivation for the firm or sold your skills, it's your last chance to do so. I don't see the harm in adding in a comment about this even if not asked specifically.

9. Ask questions you genuinely want to know and that could help you to confirm the firm is really for you. It's a good and rare opportunity to speak with seniors at the firm.


12. What is your best advice for case study interviews?

Remain calm even if you don't know the answers. Don't let wrong answers early on derail you for the whole interview. Try to structure your answers and just be as clear as possible when answering (no waffling!). Give concise reasons and justifications for your answers .If you really don't know something, you can say so rather than pretend you are certain of your answer but do also attempt an educated guess and give reasons for your thought process.


13. What was the biggest setback you encountered during your journey to a training contract? How did you deal with it?

I did a vacation scheme at Pinsent Masons in summer 2017, during my first cycle of applying, but did not get an offer. I got excellent feedback and the recruitment staff told me that I scored really highly in every round of the AC as well as during the vac scheme, but they didn't have enough spaces and so they had a very arbitrary/trivial reason for rejecting me. When I asked what I should do they just recommended to apply again and get more experience in the meantime. It gave me some confidence that I was good enough to get a TC, but I was so disillusioned at the process. That summer I also had 2 other final round assessment centres where I was given feedback that I did really well but narrowly missed out on the top scores on the AC. I was given some feedback on how to improve at least but it was really hard knowing you were so close. It was disheartening and frustrating at the time.

I think deep down I knew I was good enough but decided I needed a break from applying to training contracts and when I was offered the chance to do a traineeship in Brussels at the European Parliament, I took it. I enjoyed working there and exploring other opportunities and not thinking about applications. I also went travelling for a while. I came back to England and worked as a commercial litigation paralegal for 6 months in Manchester which I enjoyed and gained a lot of experience and skills from. It was like a 6-month seat because the firm I worked at treated paralegals the same as trainees. I think this break was really good for me, I learnt a lot and wasn't constantly stressing about applications and waiting for outcomes etc. I think that can be draining. I never stopped wanting to be a lawyer, but I stopped comparing myself to others and just enjoyed my life and made the most of opportunities I encountered. After this 2-year break, I decided I was ready to do the LPC and get back into doing applications.

I think I was fresh, motivated, and ready to work hard and really focus on what I wanted.


14. If there was anything you would do differently, what would it be?

I applied for some firms mostly because of their reputation, prestige, and very high salaries. I didn't love the areas of law they worked in, or the culture of a lot of those firms. I thought that I could work as a trainee with them for a few years and move somewhere else as I knew I did not want to work the really unsociable hours that came with them. I knew they weren't my dream firms but applied for the sake of it, because why not? In hindsight I think I wouldn't apply for those firms again, because applications take a long time and I think it's better to spend your time doing them for firms you actually want to work at.


15. What is the best piece of advice you can give to future applicants? Do you have any advice for individuals who might’ve been in a similar position to you?

Research a wide array of firms because there are loads of really good firms out there, not only the ones which have a big presence on your campus. Be focussed and develop a strategy for applications. Try to be disciplined with setting aside time to do applications or prepare for interviews. Don't let rejections dishearten you, everyone gets them. Reflect about why you were rejected though and really focus on improving on this specifically. If you need or want to take a break from doing applications, do so! I didn't regret my 2-year break at all personally.

Welcome back everyone! Continuing with our series of interviews with future trainee solicitors, today we have two fantastic articles lined up.
In our first article today, we hear from a future trainee at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP


1. Who is your training contract with?

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP


2. Are you a law or non-law candidate?

Non-Law


3. Which university did you attend?

The University of York


4. Please could you tell us more about your background and current stage?

I am state school educated and the first generation of my family to go to university. I had no contacts in the legal profession during my application process. I self-funded the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and completed it the year after I graduated. I am currently completing a non-law masters and I will start the LPC in September 2021.


5. When and why did you decide to apply to commercial law?

I decided on commercial law in the summer before my final year of university. I had been thinking about law for a few years prior, but I found myself quite intimidated by the profession with no idea how to access it. I tried other careers such as marketing and TV production through work experience placements but always ended up back at law, so I eventually decided to go for it.


6. How many applications did you send?

24



7. How many interviews/offers did you receive?

1



8. How did you go about the application process? Did you map an application strategy?

By my third cycle I had a clear application strategy. I made a list of the type of firms I wanted to apply to, based on my interests and the type of environment I thought I would learn and work best in.

I was interested in private equity and I also wanted to be part of a small trainee intake. Consequently, most of my target firms were US firms as they typically had smaller intakes with a strong private equity practice. I also knew that other factors like internationalism and diversity were particularly important to me because of my background and past experiences so I focused on applying to firms that shared this focus. In doing so, I applied to a select number of firms that fit these criteria rather than employing a scattergun approach, which was the mistake I made in my first cycle.

In saying this, do apply to as many firms that fit your criteria as possible. You want to produce excellent, well researched applications for every firm you are applying to. The number of firms that you have the capacity to do this for will differ from individual to individual depending on their schedule but also how quickly they can write strong applications. Essentially, you want to apply to as many firms as possible to increase your chances of getting a training contract, but do not sacrifice the quality of your applications for the quantity.

9. Did you change your strategy during the application process and, if so, what did you change?

My first two cycles, particularly my first, were pretty chaotic. In my first year I was still learning about the application process and the legal industry in general which translated to a very unstructured application strategy and therefore an unsuccessful conversion rate. I was applying to any firm I liked the sound of without a clear goal. This would show in my applications as they were not firm-specific. My commercial awareness and knowledge of the legal industry was also weak which showed as well.

By my second cycle, I knew a lot more about the application process and the industry more generally but I still needed to perfect my application technique and video interviews (I was getting through to the next round for more firms by then). My applications were far more focused, and I had improved a lot in answering commercial awareness questions. However, I was still applying to a fairly wide range of firms and hadn’t thought too much about narrowing this down.

At the end of my second cycle I really thought about what I needed to improve because I was adamant that my third cycle would be my last. I looked over a lot of my past applications and pinpointed target areas of improvement. I decided that I still needed to refine my application technique i.e. I needed to be more succinct and improve my grammar, etc. I also felt that I needed to gain more legal experience, as I had none at that point. That way, I could back up my answers for ‘why law’ questions especially in a far more convincing way, which is particularly important as a non-law student, even though I was completing the GDL.

By my third cycle I had a very focused application strategy. I wrote a list of everything I wanted in a firm (see above for key points). I then targeted firms that met that criteria.



10. How did you develop your commercial awareness?

I read books such as Chris Stoakes’ ‘All You Need to Know About the City’ and ‘All You Need to Know About Commercial Awareness’. These books were instrumental in helping me to gain background knowledge about the commercial context in which law firms operate and also in learning about how law firms operate as a business.

I also bought TCLA’s premium subscription and completed some of their courses. The courses were really helpful in learning how to connect wider commercial contexts to law firms. They were also useful for learning how law firms operate which is another aspect of commercial awareness that is often forgotten, or at least one that I had not considered much before TCLA and reading the above books.

I also listened (and still listen) to the ‘Financial Times News Briefing’ podcast on Spotify and read The Economist as a way to keep up with my commercial awareness. It is important to keep up to date as commercial awareness is not a fixed point. It is a skill that you need to keep developing throughout your career. Furthermore, the FT podcast and The Economist were very useful in helping me to ascertain commercial topics that I am interested in. This in turn helped me to answer and prepare for commercial questions in applications and interviews.

11. What is your best advice for succeeding at the interview stage?

Firstly, you need to be well prepared. Draft bullet points to answers for as many interview questions that you can think of. TCLA has a really useful question bank that I used for my interview preparation. Always prepare answers for ‘why law’ and ‘why this firm’. These are by far the most common questions and you can expect them in almost every interview you will have. However, don’t memorise a script. Your answers need to be natural and conversational otherwise you’ll appear too stiff. If you have a script you may also end up rushing through your ‘script’ and giving unclear, unfocused answers.

Try to relax (easier said than done). The interviewers really want to get to know you and they want you to do well. One way I tried to relax was to compartmentalise the interview. I kept in mind that interviews are only 30-60 minutes of my life so I can at least pretend to not be nervous in that time and I can be as nervous as I want before or after. By ‘acting confident’ from the beginning of my interview, I was no longer nervous within about 10 minutes. That way, I was able to give more measured, thoughtful answers.

Take time to think about your answer and talk through your thought process. If you don’t know the answer to a question, then it is fine to say that you don’t know. However, always say what you think the answer might be and why. In doing so, your interviewers can see your thought process which is often more important than getting the right answer. You are not expected to know everything.


12. What is your best advice for case study interviews?

I haven’t done too many of these, but I think the best way to approach them is to be structured in both your preparation (i.e. reading through the case study) and in your answers. Think about the practice areas of the firm and how the case study will affect each practice area. A good way of thinking about how the practice areas will be affected is to think of impacts through the PESTLE(M) framework (political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental, and moral impacts). You do not necessarily need to think of an impact under every heading, but the framework will help you to organise your thoughts and think about issues from different perspectives. Additionally, consider different stakeholders and how they will be affected e.g. the firm, clients/ consumers, banks, etc. You will also need to know what each practice area in the firm does (and what practice areas the firm has), so read up on this beforehand.

Now that you have thought of key issues exemplified by the case study, you also need to think of solutions. This is probably the most important part. The solutions do not have to be overly complicated or technical, often the best ones are simply common sense. Therefore, do not be afraid to give what seem to be simple solutions, and then move on to the more technical ones if you can think of any. Do not neglect to say a point because you think it is obvious. You will not be given credit for any thoughts you do not articulate.


13. What was the biggest setback you encountered during your journey to a training contract? How did you deal with it?

My biggest setback was the constant rejections at the application stage. Application stage rejections can be demoralising because you do not get feedback so it can be difficult to know where to improve. I have discussed the changes I made to pass the application stage above. However, before I made these changes, I had to work on my mindset to build up my resilience. I tried to remember that the rejections were not personal and that often they are simply because you are not the right fit for the firm, not that you are a bad candidate in general. In saying that, if I felt down, I would allow myself to feel like that and I would take a break from applications if I needed to. Often taking a break helped me to gain perspective.


14. If there was anything you would do differently, what would it be?

I would perhaps start earlier in my preparation for applications. By this I mean I could have started writing applications over summer (or at least plan some of them) so I could have gotten them in early for the winter cycle.

In a similar vein, it would have been helpful to narrow down the firms I wanted to apply to earlier on in the cycle so I could have attended their open days and targeted them at events.


15. What is the best piece of advice you can give to future applicants? Do you have any advice for individuals who might’ve been in a similar position to you?

There is no rush to secure a training contract. Some people secure one in their first cycle and others don’t. Either way is fine. The difference of a few years is nothing compared to a potentially decades long career.

Don’t try to mould yourself into what you think firms want you to be. Embrace your difference (your USP). That’s what will make you stand out.

Enjoy the time you have before securing a training contract, as once you have one, you will have one or two years before you are working long hours. Make the most of different opportunities like travelling etc. Often having a range of experiences can make your applications stronger anyway; don’t limit yourself to only legal opportunities.

Don’t feel like you need to apply to firms just because other people are applying to them. Focus on what you think you want from a career at this stage.

Make the most of resources that are there to help you e.g. legal events, TCLA, LinkedIn contacts. Doing so can help bridge the knowledge gap between individuals who have contacts in the industry and those who don’t.

Hi guys,

I see some posts on LinkedIn that leave me absolutely gobsmacked.

There have been many occasions where I see the following on peoples' profiles:

• TC offer holder (Clifford Chance)
• TC offer holder (A&O)
• TC offer holder (Freshfields)
• Incoming vac scheme (Skadden)
• Incoming vac scheme (White & Case)

What do these guys do that gives them such an edge in succeeding? Some of them haven't even graduated, and they are already receiving 5+ offers.

I know the majority of candidates, including myself, work extremely hard for just one invite to an AC, let alone a TC offer.

It would be great to hear from everyone, particularly from candidates who have received offers such as those I've outlined above.

Tiki

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Hi all,

Just wondering if someone who has been in a similar situation help me.

I previously booked an assessment centre slot with Walker Morris. But only found out today that Travers Smith also wish to interview me. However, it is at the same date and time as my assessment centre.

has anyone dealt with something similar?

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Welcome back everyone to our series of interviews with future trainee solicitors. Today we have a great article lined up in which we had the lovely opportunity to hear from a future trainee at Edwin Coe LLP.


1. Who is your training contract with?

Edwin Coe LLP


2. Are you a law or non-law candidate?

Law


3. Which university did you attend?

University of Warwick


4. Please could you tell us more about your background and current stage?

I am originally from Cheshire, where I attended a leading independent school. I am currently in my 4th and final year of university where I study Law and Business Studies. I will be starting the LPC in September 2021 prior to commencing my TC in September 2022.


5. When and why did you decide to apply to commercial law?

I had the opportunity to undertake a mock interview with an Addleshaw Goddard partner in sixth form. During this interview, I learnt that the Law is frequently exposed to opinion and debate. This resonated with my interest and ability to critically evaluate arguments, having debated topical issues in my school’s Current Affairs Clinic. I had already completed a small internship at my uncle’s private practice specialising in Real Estate & Private Client work, yet it wasn’t until this interview that I was sure that I wished to study law at university.

As an engaged economics student at school, I found that I was interested in understanding how law firms interacted with the macroeconomy and capital markets as independent businesses. This drove me to apply for and fortunately secure multiple insight schemes during my first year of university. Through partner-led presentations and commercial case studies, I appreciated the teamwork required of commercial lawyers to achieve optimal solutions for a diverse range of clients and to help mitigate predicaments before they actually arise.

I found this aspect of a commercial solicitor’s role particularly interesting given the need to constantly engage with the UK’s dynamic and ever-evolving common law system, which coupled with the unparalleled exposure to a different industries facilitated by a career in commercial law, indicated the versatile skills that this career can help one develop whilst also having a positive impact on the wider world.


6. How many applications did you send?

12


7. How many interviews/offers did you receive?

6


8. How did you go about the application process? Did you map an application strategy?

During the summer after my second year, I devoted considerable time to preparing for the upcoming application season. Having primarily experienced large/mid-sized City & Silver Circle firms at insight days (e.g. inter alia, Hogan Lovells, Taylor Wessing, & Stephenson Harwood), I opted for a blended approach in my application strategy. I knew I wanted to apply to these established City firms – though not the Magic Circle echelons – yet I wanted to keep my options a little more open, since I had the aim of making around 10-12 vacation scheme applications that cycle.

Naturally, this entailed a substantial amount of research over the summer, principally covering every quality source I could find online – especially for the firms I hadn’t met in person before – such as: Chambers’ ‘True Picture’, Lex 100, Legal 500, Vault, & each firm’s social media profile. What I didn’t realise early enough was the extent to which firms can be differentiated by practice area. What I mean by this is on the Legal 500/Chambers firms are grouped in very specific ‘bands’ as dictated by their respective rankings for different practice areas. Using this strategy to research each firm’s practice area strengths provides you with a far more coherent, and crucially, a more nuanced, understanding of how firms differentiate themselves by practice area and their position in the legal market as a whole. In and of itself, this is also considerably more useful than simply knowing that BCLP has a stronger Real Estate practice than Clifford Chance, for example. This strategy is also useful for identifying a firm’s closest competitors.

However, just a word of caution: whilst firms do expect your main reason for applying to them to centre on their practice strengths and the work they do, be careful not to pursue this type of research at the expense of citing other important factors in your application form, such as culture, work/life balance, trainee intake, TC structure, international opportunities etc. It is often the case that a firm will have a unique combination of factors that no other firm possesses when they don’t appear too different on the surface – this is a point of differentiation I certainly used in my application research.

Ultimately, the firms I applied to had strengths relating to my prior experience: Real Estate; Private Client; Mid-Market Corporate; Disputes. They were also smaller (<20) intakes and predominantly with a UK heritage. On a couple of occasions, I also networked with firms during on-campus recruitment events that first term just to add some extra polish to my application before soon sending it off.

Time-management wise, I typically spent a good 3-4 days researching each firm & reaching out to lawyers on LinkedIn if I hadn’t met the firm before to try and gauge its culture & USPs more effectively than purely sticking to online resources. With coherent research notes, this made each application relatively quick – e.g. no more than half a day – to write well.

P.S. TCLA’s Law Firm Insights proved extremely useful in guiding my research too – highly recommended!


9. Did you change your strategy during the application process and, if so, what did you change?

With a fairly limited understanding of the legal market in my first year of university, I was rather fortunate to not only secure 4 insight days, but to also reapply to some of them for vacation schemes a couple of years later, thus putting my insight experiences to the best use possible.

Whilst it was very satisfying to have gained that initial ground in my first year, building up my portfolio of legal work experience, my application writing technique and understanding of exactly how firms differentiate themselves required much more refining. Aside from improving more technical things in the summer before my first vacation scheme cycle (summer 2019), such as application technique & commercial awareness, one of the best steps I took was interacting with current trainees & associates on LinkedIn, usually requesting a short phone call to discuss life at the firm & what was expected of trainees specifically. Whilst eventual ‘name-dropping’ in applications isn’t a silver bullet to interview, taking the initiative to reach out without having met the firm before was highly informative regarding how I demonstrated to the firm that I was a good fit for them in my applications – e.g. by highlighting experiences which demonstrated the competencies the firm was specifically looking for, as mentioned by those I reached out to.

Don’t be disheartened if don’t get a response on LinkedIn either – the vast majority of lawyers would love to help but simply don’t always have the time/just forget to reply. Send messages to multiple people at the firm in question & you greatly improve your response chances – you only need one!

Again, regarding time management, I’m quite lucky to be a morning person by nature and would often get up between 5-6am on weekdays to plan, write and review my applications before devoting the rest of the day to university work & social commitments. Whether you’re a lark or an owl, try & find a routine that naturally works best for you and stick to it – successfully balancing applications & university commitments is all about ‘making time’, knowing that the extra effort will pay off massively in the longer-term.


10. How did you develop your commercial awareness?

Commercial awareness was a concept I had grappled with since I was about 17. Like most candidates, I naively thought it just meant being able to recite FT headlines! I started out using BBC News & Bright Network’s Commercial Awareness update which provided a concise, ‘entry level’ summary of political and economic developments.

However, it wasn’t until I started reading TCLA’s Weekly Newsletter after my second year of uni & using some premium resources (e.g. M&A & Private Equity) guides that I really understood the premise of commercial awareness and how law firms were implicated in such developments around the world. The investment in TCLA Premium definitely paid – and continues to pay! – dividends for improving my commercial awareness.

E.g. Once you have a comprehensive understanding of the anatomy of an M&A deal or trends in the Private Equity market, such as covenant-light deals, the rise of LBOs, & record levels of dry powder, the possibilities to apply this fundamental knowledge to much broader macroeconomic topics like interest rates, fiscal policy, emerging markets, technology etc. truly are endless. It may appear highly theoretical at first instance, but Jaysen does an excellent job of applying this ‘theory’ to real-life scenarios that crucially pertain to how lawyers operate in these contexts!

Aside from learning more deeply about these topics, I spent roughly 30 mins – 1 hour every weekday morning reading the FT (via my university’s subscription) – and not just the headlines, but more unique topics, such as property, private equity, and M&A, that I had filtered out of personal interest & that I knew I could confidently discuss in interviews – to reiterate: it really is fruitless reading an article you’re not interested in just because doing so may seem ‘the done thing’.

Reading up on the ‘news’ section of law firms’ websites themselves was also useful in seeing how the people candidates aspire to be like (partners) approach major events in the news and analyse them from the perspective of the law firm itself – this helps with understanding how your commercial awareness also extends to knowing the exact value of your role as a trainee solicitor/associate/partner in a firm itself in responding to commercial developments & how you can constantly add value to clients.

In the Spring this year, I also took the initiative to establish my own website, ‘Speculation’, where I critique developments in the alternative assets industry (e.g. property, private equity, fine wine, & art). Not only did this help me apply my existing commercial knowledge – and develop my commercial awareness – but was also great to talk about during interviews since it showed my genuine interest in quite a niche area & my initiative to start a dedicated blog covering it – which I hadn’t seen elsewhere.


11. What is your best advice for succeeding at the interview stage?

Preparation is key!

I devised potential competency, motivational, and commercial questions – many of the competency and motivational ones overlapped between interviews – before each interview I simply asked a family member to act out a mock interview with me. It may feel awkward at first but, assuming you’re a serious candidate (which you should be having received an interview invite) then this feeling will quickly fade, and it’ll just become second nature after the first 2-3 practice interviews.

NEVER script an answer (I made this mistake for a few questions before my first assessment centre and it just sounded robotic) – it also renders you unable to think quickly on your feet when faced with an unpredictable question (which you will no doubt get at some point).

Make sure you’ve got some ‘social momentum’ going into the interview too – i.e. talking to someone in person/on the phone for just 10-15 minutes can really stimulate your fluency and ensure you don’t immediately stumble over your words as soon as you greet the interviewer. This will also help with making a personable impression via small talk at first too.

Finally, it sounds cliched, but turn the interview into a genuine conversation – my offer resulted from an interview in which I had done approx. 40-50% of the talking. Don’t be afraid to ask questions of the interviewer relating to an answer you’ve just given since this will show your capacity to engage in a civil, interesting debate/discussion & that you genuinely value their opinion too – this should also go a long way in demonstrating your positive attitude towards teamworking too.

ALWAYS ask questions at the end – again: interesting, unique questions that require substantive answers – i.e. nothing which you could find out online. I was fortunate to be told who my interviewers were by the firm which made me an offer, which, with a week prior to my interview, gave me ample time to research them, their practice areas, backgrounds, any articles they’d written for the firm/elsewhere etc. & therefore devise well-thought-out and engaging questions for them to answer at the end too. Because I was genuinely interested in the answers they gave and had an opinion on the questions I asked too – e.g. if they concerned a case the firm was involved in/a new regulation coming into force from the EU etc. – this meant I was also able to respond effectively to their answer which would often lead to an extensive ‘back and forth’ between us. Overall, my Q&A with my interviewers at the end lasted a good 25 minutes!


12. What is your best advice for case study interviews?

Structuring your analysis is essential. Telling the interviewer, the number of points you’re going to discuss straight up when they ask you about the case study will instantly let them know what to expect in terms of the general overview of your answer. It’s also incredibly easy for them to follow your thoughts this way.

Managing your time is critical as well. By way of common sense, you should be allocating the bulk of your time to your analysis of the case study and developing a personal opinion on it – e.g. if you’re given 30 minutes to ‘read’ the case study, spend 5 mins actually reading it, 15-20 minutes analysing it & extracting the key points, and the remaining 5-10 minutes reading back over it to confirm your thoughts or spot any discrepancies in your analysis or points which you may have missed. Knowing how to intuitively tackle case studies is very analogous to interview preparation in that the most productive thing you can do beforehand is practice. Now this appears quite a broad statement, so for clarity’s sake, I’ll detail the two main things I did in terms of case study ‘practice’ below:

1. TCLA’s mock case studies – especially useful for M&A case studies.

2. Reading a randomly selected newspaper article (preferably commercial though) from the FT, for example, and setting a strict time limit of, e.g. 20 minutes, to read through it and extract the main issues, as well as discussing what the author’s intentions are & any biases they may have etc (something to think about as you become more advanced).

If possible, you could also ask a family member/friend to select the article for you, read through it extensively themselves first and prepare questions on it to really test you on the spot when you’ve gained proficiency in first analysing an article yourself. Remember: Half the time in case study interviews the interviewers are simply assessing how you’re answering a question, not what you answer with. It’s style over substance in that respect, yet this is important to appreciate when considering that there rarely will be a ‘right’ answer to a legal problem in your career as a solicitor and that multiple angles are often worth considering before deciding what the best solution for a client might be.

So, if you don’t know what a collateralised debt obligation is, for example, don’t sweat it. Of course, you should have some fundamental commercial awareness skills, but interviewers would much rather you give an informed, personal answer that shows common sense rather than focus on granular technical concepts that a client may not understand themselves in a vain attempt to sound impressive.

Don’t wilt under pressure! If the interviewer challenges you, stick to your guns (unless it is blindingly obvious that you’ve gone off-piste with your answer) – defending your argument shows character & your potential to safeguard your clients’ interests as a commercial solicitor against opposing counsel, for example.


13. What was the biggest setback you encountered during your journey to a training contract? How did you deal with it?

Aside from receiving almost as many rejections as interview invites, the largest singular setback I faced which also required a great deal of resilience to overcome was the effect of COVID--19 on recruitment. Having secured a summer vacation scheme back in April this year at the firm which eventually made me a TC offer, they quickly informed me that they were cancelling the scheme due to Covid concerns. Although they fast-tracked me to the final round interview for the TC in September (which fortunately I was successful in) those 5 months between April - September entailed considerable uncertainty over whether I would secure a TC this year, and whether in fact the firm would actually go ahead with its TC recruitment this cycle, since my vac scheme had failed to materialise in supporting me in my TC journey.

The only consolation I had was that I was still in a privileged position compared to most applicants and that I knew the firm liked me, having offered me the VS initially.

To deal with the uncertainty though, as soon as my summer exams were out of the way, I remained determined to stay in the application game whilst direct TC applications remained open elsewhere & submitted a few more high quality applications – one of which actually took me through the next 4 recruitment stages right through to the firm’s final-round TC interview where I could’ve potentially had two offers to consider! Though I didn’t eventually receive that offer, I already had my existing offer by the time the other firm rejected me &, by having simply remained in ‘application mode’ throughout the summer and maintaining a high level of commercial awareness, I knew that I stood in good stead for my interview &, if that didn’t go well, at least I would have a wealth of experience to draw on for the next cycle – though I remain very grateful that I no longer have to apply!



14. If there was anything you would do differently, what would it be?

I would probably have made more of a continued effort during my second year to attend more insight days/schemes. Though I gained places on these in my first year, I was still left with a fairly elementary understanding of the legal market and, moreover, which exact firms I wanted to work for. Had I continued networking in this way during my second year, I would’ve sharpened my ultimate vacation scheme application strategy for my third year – looking back now, some of the firms whose vac schemes I applied to were a complete mismatch for myself, and visa-versa.

Despite knowing which practice areas, I wanted to specialise in – e.g. private client and real estate – I still wasted a couple of applications to large banking-focused firms which, though open-minded, probably wasn’t the best idea. Those applications could have been devoted to more private wealth-oriented firms instead, for example.



15. What is the best piece of advice you can give to future applicants? Do you have any advice for individuals who might’ve been in a similar position to you?

Self-belief can be an incredibly powerful driver of your success in pursuit of a TC, especially at interview stage. Know your worth throughout the application process by honing your strengths and not dwelling too much, if at all, on your weaknesses. Yes, law firms want well-rounded candidates, but they really want candidates with a flair for a couple of very specific skill sets & then just a good level of competence elsewhere. If you’re an excellent communicator & you’ve got experience in public speaking, writing, or debating, then sell that to the firm right away & mention why you do it/enjoy it to showcase your personality.

Likewise, if you’ve started a business, really emphasise your entrepreneurial mentality to the firm as a way to stand out. It’s all about recognising and being proud of your achievements to date, no matter how big or small, to give you the right mentality and unwavering self-belief throughout the application process. Don’t get too hung up by others’ posts/job updates on LinkedIn either – most of whom you’ll likely know hardly anything about and so don't compare your chapter 1 to someone else’s chapter 10. Instead, as mentioned, continue focusing on yourself & don’t be afraid to seek support/confide in others when necessary (TCLA’s forum is a great resource for this). Remember, the application process for securing a TC is one of, if not, the most competitive out there, so there will be times when you don’t want to get out of bed to research a firm/write an application etc. Yet if you refrain from making excuses, develop a solid routine that works for you, stay consistent in honing your application technique and commercial awareness, then doing so will pay huge dividends in the long-term. Trust me.

With all that said, best of luck with your applications this cycle!

Has anyone applied to and not heard back from Penningtons or Withers?

Hi all,

I was just wondering whether anyone knew if during the assessment day each part is weighted equally or if certain parts are more heavily weighted eg. interview.

I had an AC recently and I think that I messed up the written exercise due to missing a key clause so I'm wondering whether that would automatically rule me out.

Thanks,

Has anybody heard anything from Hill Dickinson (London) for the 2023 training contract app? Many thanks Jodie