New Threads

Hi guys, I am planning on applying for the 2019 Winter Vac Scheme at A&O, however on their website it states "you may only make one application for either a Vacation Scheme or a Training Contract every 12 months.".

As I applied for the 2019 Summer Vacation scheme in the application window that closed this January, I was wondering if this made me ineligible to apply for the winter vacation scheme or if it is ok seeing as they are in different recruiting years.

Thanks for any help with this.

Hi All,

I'm very grateful to everyone who participates in our forum, whether it's new members asking questions, longstanding members supporting the community, or future trainees sharing their own experiences. TCLA wouldn't be here without you guys.

With that in mind, I've been looking for a new system to reward members for regular participation and helpful contributions to the forum. We used to do this manually with our trophy system, however as the forum has grown, it has become too difficult to update trophies for individual members on a daily basis.

That's why I'm pleased to introduce TCLA Credits.

How does it work?

You may have already noticed a new tab on your navigation bar and next to your avatar displaying how many credits you have. From today, you will receive credits based on a very large variety of forum activities including:

• Creating a post
• Creating a thread
• Receiving post ratings and rating others
• Having your profile viewed by others
• Your birthday!
• Sending private messages

And much more!

There are also many activities I may add in the future, such as awarding credits through a lottery system.

What are the rewards?

The rewards will including everything from new username styling and thread highlights to free application reviews, subscriptions to TCLA Premium and Amazon gift cards. We will regularly look to add new rewards.

I'm not going to reveal the credits required for each reward just yet because I want to assess how credits are awarded first. Once I do, I'll update this section, but note, the rewards will apply retroactively - so you can start accumulating credits now.

What's going to happen to the trophy system?

The trophy system will continue to run alongside the credit system, but its purpose is to now recognise member milestones (such as your 50th post), rather than being tied to this reward system. You can still review our notable members here. Fun fact: About half of those members have now secured training contracts!

At the moment, I'm looking at ways to tie in the two systems, so members with a particular number of trophy points will receive credits.

If anything is unclear or if you have any questions, let me know!

Hi guys,

Forgive me if this sounds pre-emptive, but with the deadline for most applications tomorrow, I was curious when most firms welcome applications again for 2022?

Couldn’t find much with a simple google so thought I’d ask those with some experience!

Hi,

I am currently going into my second year at the University of Birmingham of the LLB for Graduates program (2 years instead of 3 years to get a law degree), as I already have an undergraduate degree. I'm also an international student from Canada looking to start my career as a solicitor in the UK.

I have previously applied to vacation schemes in 2018, and with no luck did not even get to the interview stage. After many meetings with Career advisors and peers, I managed to secure a work placement scheme through UOB with Pinsent Masons in June 2019.

As I'm a penultimate student, I am currently applying for Training Contracts for 2021 positions. I was wondering if I should even bother applying for Vacation schemes for 2020. I've received advice to apply straight away to the TC but I want to be proactive and keep my options open. Additionally, I will complete the LPC in 2020-2021 and hoping I can secure a TC for sponsorship.

Any tips/suggestions for me would be highly appreciated!!

Thanks!

So I have an upcoming Macfarlanes TC assessment day - I've been able to find a lot of information for what is included in the vacation scheme AC but not much for the TC AC. From what I can see, the main difference is that the TC includes a group presentation - does anyone have any experience with this/tips for this?

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

I hope you're all well!

I was wondering whether anyone had any tips/pointers/guidance on case study exercises and in-tray exercises, please?

The only guidance I have from the firm is:

Written Exercise

• 45m to prepare two pieces of writing.
• Past things have included memos, letters to clients, etc.

Intray Exercise

• 30m to read documents and the answer questions on it in the interview.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks

Hi All,

As we're back to the training contract cycle, by way of reminder - you can book mock interviews with future trainees and/or myself over here: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/mock-interview/.

The future trainees are all either heading to magic circle firms or US firms.

An additional note on my mock interviews: as we've launched some new software, I can now offer recordings of your mock interview (should you wish to review your answers/my feedback).

Best,

Jaysen

I have an assessment centre coming up at a firm I am really interested in and am thinking of some interesting questions to ask at the end.

One question I am interested in is the gender balance; the firm is pretty equal lower down (e.g. trainees/associates) but when you get to partner level, the numbers are much much lower for women than men. I would perhaps word the question along the lines of 'What is the firm doing to improve this?', but I am unsure if this is a suitable question to ask, or if it seems a bit attacking?!

Would I be better sticking with some more generic questions?

Hi guys,

I'm applying for a firm and this is one of the questions:

Describe an important event in your life. Why have you chosen this particular event?

I'm a bit stumped with this one. Any tips for how you might approach this one? I'm not sure if I should talk about a personal or professional event. Are they looking for some life-changing event that's happened to me?

Thanks!

Hi guys,

Quick question.

On application forms, one of the very first questions is 'How did you hear about X firm?' and it gives you options to tick LCN, career fairs, Legal 500 etc.

I tend to use this section to just tick everything I used to do my research. However, I wanted to know if you did the same or if you keep it focussed on where you first heard about the firm i.e. law fair?

So Im applying for a TC with Trowers and Hamlins and one of the questions says

What makes you particularly suited to a career at Trowers & Hamlins compared to other applicants?

I am not sure how to answer this. Please help and please be gentle. Im new to this so i dont know whether im coming or going im so overwhelmed.

Introducing our Video Interview Simulator!

We've been working on a solution to help candidates better prepare for video interviews. \

Introducing our video interview simulator:

• It's the same software that many law firm use to filter candidates
• You'll be asked questions, adapted from real law firm interviews, under timed conditions
• We'll provide you with comprehensive question-by-question feedback
• We'll send you a recording of your performance and a copy of our video interview cheat sheet

Silver and Gold Premium members are able to book one session free every month!

Access it here: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/video-interview-simulator/

To kick us off, we're offering four free sessions to candidates who tag a friend on this LinkedIn post.

Just wondering if anyone has ever been to an AC at RPC and what your experience was? I've been given less than a week's notice of mine and as I've never been to one I'm not sure how to best prepare.

I know the day is made up of an interview & written & oral exercise. If anyone has done this or been to anything similar please post back or DM me. General tips are welcome! Thank you in advance!

I want to talk about my role as an adviser at a Law Clinic under the question: "What extracurricular activities and positions of responsibility have you undertaken and why?".

However, I also want to include it in my work history (as without it I have limited legal work experience).

Is it okay to have it in both sections (I'll be careful to not repeat myself and get across the range of skills I have developed)? Given the work history section is only 100 words, I feel I can use the positions of responsibility question to really expand on what I have learnt.

what are people's thoughts?

Has anyone done the VI for Bakers? Would really appreciate any help with the questions and about how much time we have to answer

Thanks!

Hi

I have just been invited to do a VI for DWF, and this is the first time I have done a VI!
Has anyone got any advice/ tips for DWF, and how to prepare generally.

Thanks!

Does anyone have any tips and guidance on the CRS video interview? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello,
I was wondering if it is stretch to talk about firm's expansion into African Market, as reason for your interest in the firm?

Hi there,
Has anyone had any previous experience with Peters & Peters at HR interview stage and beyond? My first-choice firm, so any past interactions I would greatly appreciate to hear about. Thanks!

Hi all,

I have a video interview with CRS to complete over the next 5 days. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how best to prepare for video interviews in general or specifically for CRS, in terms of format, etc

Many thanks!

Arun

Hi all,

I have recently been invited to an AC with BCLP next month. I have never attended an AC before so I was wondering if anyone could help me with any tips and advice in general, as well as BCLP's AC specifically?

Many thanks!

Arun

Before the interview, they would ask you to prepare in advance, three suggestions or event ideas to promote the brand of BCLP on your campus and also to prepare a two to three-minute elevator pitch, as if you were to give one to a student at a law fair, based on your knowledge about the firm. Think about events beyond the regular networking and canapes, e.g. networking events combined with a social aspect. You may refer to events held by previous brand ambassadors, e.g. ping pong networking event.

For the pitch, make sure to do your research and understand the culture of the firm inside-out. One thing that BCLP is famous for is their work on real estate and some of the deals they have worked on involved buildings you can easily spot in the London skyline, e.g. the cheese grater building. I also included brief mentions of graduate opportunities in my pitch, e.g. the opportunity for first-year students to join their spring scheme.

Aside from aforementioned, they also asked a couple of additional questions:

• What do you think are key qualities a good brand ambassador should have?
• What extracurricular activities have you been involved in during your interview?

The whole interview lasted for about 30 minutes.

From anonymous

There were two parts to the assessment centre: a senior associate interview (competency) and a partner interview (based on the case study).

Since Clifford Chance conducts CV-blind interviews, the first question in the senior associate interview would be “tell me about yourself”. My advice would be to give a brief skeleton of your CV, e.g. your leadership positions, work experience etc. After that, they will proceed to ask you competency-based questions. Some of the questions I was asked during the senior associate interview:

• A time when I pushed myself
• How I manage time
• Difficulties faced whilst working as a team
• Difficulties faced whilst being a leader
• A time I had to deal with a difficult client/customer
• What do clients look in a law firm
• How can I contribute to the firm
• Why law
• Why Clifford Chance

The interviewer also asked whether there are any other points I wanted to mentioned that were not covered in her questions, so I mentioned that whilst I have explained “why law”, I wanted to elaborate specifically on “why commercial law”, as I had prepared different answers for both questions. One advice I would give is to always structure your question with “firstly, secondly, thirdly…”.

Then, we were brought into a computer room, where we were presented with a case study and we were instructed to type our findings in the form of an email. Be sure to structure your email and write professionally. I wrote mine in bullet points, accompanied with full sentences.

Then, we were to bring the printed copy of our email to the next interview, which was conducted by a partner. The partner asked me to summarise the case study (this is where attention to detail comes in, so make sure you remember the key points of the scenario) and present to her my findings. She then asked specific follow-up questions on what I had written in my answer. They deliberately ask really hard questions on purpose! But just be cool and make educated guesses on some of the commercial questions if you don’t know the answer.

The things that they are looking for:

Competency interview

1. Leadership and collaborative skills: This is about whether you are able to provide convincing examples of situations where you had to manage a team, motivate and inspire individuals, work collaboratively with different team members and taking responsibility.
2. “Client focus”: This is essentially about your ability to identify the client’s needs and to build long-lasting rapport with your client. Times where you have had to hold difficult conversations or deal with difficult customers are examples of this.
3. Understanding the commercial environment and Clifford Chance: This examines whether you can identify the “economics of a law firm” (i.e. how a law firm interacts with the political, economic, technological and social environments). You should have an understanding of terminology and jargon commonly used in the commercial world, and also show interest in recent trends.
4. Understanding the work that lawyers do: This test whether you have general enthusiasm in becoming a lawyer. Examples of legal and non-legal work experiences should be raised here. You should also have an understanding of the common practice areas.

Case study

1. Written communication: Your case study report should be well structured and have little to no grammatical and spelling errors. I find that writing your report in bullet-points and in full sentences work.
2. Verbal communication: This examines whether you are able to hold up under pressure, whether you are able to support your stance despite being brutally questioned and whether you have confidence in verbalizing your thoughts. Also, body language is a plus point.
3. “Client focus”: Similar to above. Think about any potential “conflicts” or “benefits” that might affect your client, and the legal and commercial consequences of some of the actions taken in the case study.
4. Understanding the commercial environment and Clifford Chance: Similar to above. Also, do try to link any real-life knowledge of the firm to the case study, e.g. if it the case study is similar to any real deals that the firm has been involved with. It also sees whether your answer is thought through from a business perspective.
5. Innovation and business delivery: This sees whether you can think of creative solutions to aid your client. For example, consider any possibilities of price reduction or indemnities.

We're very happy to release our new Weekly News page, allowing you to easily dive into our previous commercial updates!

https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/weekly-news/