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I have a high 2:1 from a top 10 RG university etc, but I was very unfocused as to what I wanted from my law degree, It was only in the last few months of my degree when few of my friends bagged a TC that I got the urge to think about my future. I spent most of my university time playing cricket which although was extremely fun, is not proving to be beneficial (lol).

My two main hindering factors are my appaling interview skills and a lack of work experience in the commercial sector.

I have no plans to self-fund a TC.

So, I was wondering if there is anybody out there who has bagged a paralegal role at a corporate firm? and secondly, whether paralegal roles are worth it - in the sense that you are able to acquire commercial awareness, the insights of the law industry etc. Do they help you in getting a TC?

Dear Jaysen,

I hope this message finds you well. I just had small queries and I was wondering if you can perhaps guide me.

Firstly, to the question why commercial law, I have not yet had any work experience (vacation schemes), although I have attended Open days. I am just confused about how to use my open days' experience to answer why this makes me want to do commercial law.

Secondly, from your training question guide, it says to think about what introduced you to the practice of commercial law.

What introduced me to the practice of commercial law was a commercial law workshop set up my commercial law society at my university, in which we were given an M/A case study and the guest (the trainee solicitor) walked us through the due diligence stage. This really fascinated me as I was able to see how different areas of law such as employment, contract, and real estate etc impacted the sale (or the value).

This is what introduced me, but I do not know, my answer seems quite weak, I was wondering if you can guide me into making my answer stronger.

Hello!

I have previously applied to Linklaters but I can never seem to get through to the next stage. I am interested in applying for their winter vacation scheme, and wanted to ask if you have any advice in regards to the application form.

I'm not sure where i am going wrong - I take the same approach as I have with other magic/large city firms and have been successful.

Any tips would be hugely appreciated!

Thank you!!

P.S applications haven't actually opened yet but I thought i'd get a head start lol

Hi guys,
I have an interview soon, in which I have to complete a short written exercise and then there's an interview with partners and the HR director to discuss my response to the exercise. The sessions in total are supposed to last for 2 hours. I would be grateful for any advice on how I should prepare for this type of interview.

Thanks!

Hi all,

Our class on legal writing is now live. You can enroll here: https://classes.thecorporatelawacademy.com/p/legal-writing

Here's a little teaser:

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More coming soon!

Hi Guys,

I am prepping for a VI at the moment and I just found out that TLP has a free launchpad practice simulator. I thought I should share it with you guys. If you are prepping for a VI at the moment definitely have a look at TLP's practice simulator
https://www.thelawyerportal.com/product/interview-practice-simulator/

Hi,

What are the benefits of law firms extending their prescence to emerging markets?

(All opinions welcome)

Many thanks

I'm about to start a TC at a law firm that specialises in a certain area. But what if one day I want to work in a different area? I know you usually qualify into a particular practice area - do people stay in that area forever? What if I qualified into Banking and one day wanted to move to Energy - would that be possible?

Hi guys,

During the academic year just gone I completed the GDL, however I wasn't able to secure a TC at the end of it.

I am now torn between whether to self-fund the LPC or seek a paralegal role this year (whilst applying for TCs). Although I haven't been able to secure a TC, I have made it through to final interviews and assessment centres at MC and SC firms. Being able to get to this stage still gives me hope of ultimately securing a TC, but I don't know whether it would be better to complete the LPC now, or wait (and hope) for success in TC applications.

Also, how easy is it to get a paralegal role at a leading city firm without the LPC and are there routes through 'paralegalling' to qualification as a solicitor?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi all

Just wanted to do a post to let people know - and more importantly, to thank TCLA - that I’ve been offered a training contract. I knew it would be, but it really is the best feeling ever and I’m sure lots of you reading this, who just haven’t had the chance yet, will get to experience it soon too.

For a bit of background: I went to a very average, probably below average, state secondary school (no where near London); got okay GCSEs, nothing remarkable; got below average A levels (didn’t meet my offer for uni but they let me in anyway, luckily); graduated 3 years ago from a Russell Group university, but by no means an impressive one; I worked hard, got a first in Law; went off and did a very non-law grad scheme for 2 years (super hard to explain that particular decision in apps and interviews!); managed to get some work experience which developed into a paralegal job in London and; now work in law-related/commercial sort of business.

I’ve had lots, LOTS, of rejections where I’ve cried (lol) and thought a TC would never, ever happen for me. It’s really hard. Lots of the time, we’re competing against people who have had private educations and families that have quite literally bred them into law. I was the first in my family to go to university. None of my family members or family friends are lawyers. To this day, I don’t think that they understand just how difficult it is to do the relentless TC cycles...

It’s hard, but you will do it. TCLA is a fantastic resource and you’re already here, so you’re doing something right! Jaysen and the team’s posts on deals, commercial topics and the advice shared is so useful and I’m hugely grateful that I’ve had access to this little community of people that are willing to give up their time like this, because you’ve definitely helped me in getting this offer.

So thank you to the TCLA team. I’ll stick around, feel free to message me with any questions and I’ll do whatever I can.

It will happen, keep going!

Hi everyone!

Demi Joannides, a future trainee at Herbert Smith Freehills, has kindly offered to share her application advice to students at TCLA.

Enjoy


Choose quality over quantity

As with many firms, the online application is in some ways both the most important part and the hardest part of the application process. While many find interviews and assessment centres more challenging, most applicants are unsuccessful at the online application stage and on any online tests. Once you’re invited to interview, the chances of being offered a vacation scheme are statistically higher as you have already successfully passed other stages of the application process.

It’s no secret that [quality over quantity] is highly debated. I’ve heard stories about how people applied to fifteen law firms and received fifteen vacation scheme offers. Great. but this is very rare. In reality, those who send off fewer targeted applications which are of superstar quality are far more likely to be invited to interview than those who send off countless half-hearted applications. I applied to four firms and was invited to interview at all four. I ranked the firms in order of preference (making a note of each application deadline) and worked on one application at a time. As a rule, I never started a new application until I had submitted the previous one. This way I was sure that each application was the best it could be and had absolutely no spelling or grammar mistakes!

Demonstrate stellar commercial awareness

The concept of commercial awareness itself is quite abstract and it can be hard to know what law firms actually look for. The best piece of advice that I received was that they are simply looking for an ‘awareness’. Yes commercial awareness is very broad, use this to your advantage. A great place to start is by reading Richard Susskind’s “Tomorrow’s Lawyers”. Having a general understanding of the issues discussed here will be a great foundation for you to research some topics further. I also used the Commercial Law Handbook by Jake Schogger (a Warwick alumnus) which is great for defining and explaining business jargon.

Show major interest in the firm

Be sure to mention each and every time you have come into contact with the firm, whether that be at open days, presentations or campus events. Try to name drop (assuming you made good notes at the time!) and show how speaking to person X enticed you into finding out more about the firm. If in doubt, mention the firm’s Campus Ambassadors!

Don't downplay your interests or achievements

You may think this is a strange tip, but I have found it concerning to read over applications in which people downplay their achievements. Perhaps we are so used to not boasting in everyday life that it seems strange to have to sell ourselves in applications. In questions like ‘tell us about your biggest achievements’ it’s arguably more impressive to fully analyse how you dealt with a difficult customer at work and what skills you gained from this, rather than how you climbed Kilimanjaro which is restricted to able-bodied people who can afford to do so.

Likewise, never be ashamed or embarrassed about your participation in outreach programmes (which are typically for students from non-traditional backgrounds). I was heavily involved in Pathways to Law, Rare Recruitment, Aspiring Solicitors and Pure Potential. Diversity is very important to a lot of law firms and this is one way to show your motivation for a career in law outside of university societies and extra curricular activities.

Save a Word copy of every application you send

Ok, listen up. This is arguably the most important tip of all. I learnt my lesson very early on. I typed my answers directly into the online application and, once it was sent, there was no way of retrieving my responses. This made preparing for interview very difficult and meant that I could not conduct further research on any deals/cases that I (perhaps?) had mentioned.

Hi all,

I know people like to use recent deals and a firm's clients as specific reasons for being interested in a firm but I was wondering how I would go about doing this.

With regard to deals and cases, I'm concerned about expressing interest in a case but coming across like my interest seems a bit arbitrary or overly generic.

Also, is it preferable to mention recent deals compared to other factors like e.g. diversity or flat hierarchy even if you could back the latter two up with specific references/examples?

Thanks!

Hiya,

So I’m looking over my previous application for a law firm, which I’m aiming to apply to again this year.

The questions is why do you want to train at this firm? I’ve geninuly got my reasons for choosing to train at the firm - global strategy, key clients etc.

The issue is that it’s a US law firm with a huge reputation for its banking & finance expertise in the UK. Now I acknowledge this, but I haven’t referenced it as one of my reasons for choosing to train there - do u think it would be wise not to mention this.

Thanks in advance

Hi all,

I've been invited to Bristows first round TC interview and was just wondering if anybody has any experience on what to expect? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Hi everyone!

We are looking for two contributors to write regular articles for The Corporate Law Academy. You will join a team of two and be responsible for contributing content to the Guides section of our website.

Why become a contributor?

• Your articles will be shown to a monthly readership of over 2,600+ students, graduates, and professionals.
• We want to help our contributors promote their writing -- your articles will include a bio, and they will be promoted across our newsletters and social media channels.
• You will be actively involved in the development of The Corporate Law Academy. We will work closely with you help you to write your articles, whether it's developing topic ideas or providing you with recording equipment to interview lawyers.
• If you are looking for a training contract, you will receive our personal support along the way, including application reviews and mock interviews.

Who are we looking for?

There are two things we're looking for:

1. Written ability: We're not prescriptive about the topics you write about provided it's relevant to commercial law. Instead, what we care about is whether you can communicate your message clearly (see Ben Staveley's article for a brilliant example of how this is done).
2. Initiative: We want driven students who write because the prospect of sharing their work with others excites them.

Want to apply?

Great! Please submit your answers in our Google form: https://goo.gl/forms/LmnqFlnRI1si98kY2 (requires sign-in). Alternatively, for more information, please email: [email protected]

Best,

Jaysen

I recently learned one of our students secured a training contract at a top US law firm. He wishes to stay anonymous for reasons which will become obvious as you read. Here is his story.

---
"Well, of course, we do have some students who flourish in the sixth form, but until you do, you may want to re-consider your university and career choices…”.

These were the words of the assistant head at my former school in my interview for a place in the sixth form when I told him I wanted to go into law. The same words which still rang in my head the day I received a phone call that I had been given a training contract offer from an elite US law firm. (Would like to take this opportunity to thank Jaysen and the rest of the team at the Corporate Law Academy yet again).

Of course, I was elated and have accepted – after all, it was everything I had been working for, for the past 5 years, and is with a dream firm of mine. But one of the more unexpected feelings that I wake up with every morning now is humility and gratefulness. Which is why when Jaysen asked me to write a short motivational piece I happily obliged.

Given that it is the time of the year when training contract offers are being given out, being rejected can be (excuse the language) a bit shit to say the least. As there is more than enough content on this site alone on application and interview technique, I thought I’d share a bit about my journey and my two cents on the bits that not everyone talks about and I too often found myself wishing someone had told me earlier – in the hope that this provides some sort of inspiration to at least someone out there.

My family moved to the U.K from a developing country when I was still a toddler. My father died when I was six years old and so we grew up on benefits, for the majority of my school years anyway. It wasn’t until my one of my elder siblings graduated from university and began working that things got a little brighter. For the most part though, life was pretty shit. Growing up in a really bad area my neighbours don’t speak English, there are extremely high levels of unemployment and low levels of higher education and I’ve been mugged more times than I can remember, and at knifepoint, to mention a few.

Before this turns into a woe is me story, I’ll talk about the first thing I believe was key to my success, something everyone should focus on and is actually my answer to the dreaded interview question ‘What is your greatest strength?’ – being so motivated/driven it translates to an absurd work ethic.

Somehow, I did get into a good school, but still with little guidance I could have done a lot better and it wasn’t until just before A-levels I began to focus on turning myself around with the support of the one teacher I did have. But of course, during my first year of AS it was to no avail and I got B, B, C and a D in my four subjects. The next year I got an A*, A, B in the three I chose to continue.

I still maintain that hard work was the key for such a turnaround. In fact, when I did get into a top 10 university and felt like I didn’t belong, I realised it was one of the things I did know how to do – work hard. I proceeded to do so and rationalised it to myself and everyone I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring, this way: the only thing you can control is how hard you work; you can’t control what will come up on your exam paper, in the assessment centre or the interview or the marking or review of anything.

Whether you believe in luck (and a bit of all success is), God, fate or whatever else focus on what you can control. I’ve found this to be a way of minimising regret as well, because hey you don’t want to receive the result of anything and think I wish I had worked just a little harder on that. If you put in 110% into your efforts if something doesn’t work out I’ve always found that I was ok with it, purely for this reason. I stuck with this mantra throughout university and hey, it’s paid off so far.

What I didn’t mention though were the mental health issues I’ve had in the past, one of which is particularly relevant to what most will naturally feel during applications. After getting quite bad AS grades I began to doubt myself and combined with the pressure of wanting to achieve my goals and familial responsibilities I began to develop an anxiety disorder, which continued throughout the early stages of university. So how do you deal with the constant pit in your stomach? Outside of visiting the GP and related healthcare professionals, developing a level of emotional intelligence, medication, meditation etc what I can and do recommend to others is to have patience. God damn, the best piece of advice I ever received, which ties into the hard work idea, was from a trainee at Herbert Smith Freehills, who told me to just be patient.

“I can tell you’re good enough, and you will get a training contract, I know it. When? I don’t know. I got a training contract whilst at university, but my best friend has only just got one – she applied for four years straight”. I’ve mulled over these words since and I believe they provide a certain level of tranquillity. Whatever goals I’ve set myself since, and whatever goals you may have for yourself (including getting a training contract), if you want it badly enough you will get it – just be patient.

In summary, 1. focus on what you can control (how hard you work) to minimise regret and anxiety and 2. be patient. I don’t know everything, nor do I profess to, but I do know that the above two principles have helped me through the hardest of times. It’s easy to get bogged down on what others are doing and have achieved and then comparing yourself to them and then stressing and so on and so forth.

Hopefully, this has been of some inspiration to someone, and some help as well. Just know this, you will get whatever you want if you put in 110%, be it now or later. If I got a training contract, anyone can.

P.S. In the meantime, try and enjoy whatever stage of your life you are at (college/university/post-grad), if I could do it all again I would definitely try and enjoy the process a bit more, even if some factors were outside of my control.

Also, read more damn it. One of the other things I am really big on is self-development, as that’s one of the other few things you can control, and when I had little guidance books provided one source of that. If anyone would like, I’d be more than happy to provide some recommendations or a reading list.

Hi Perseverance!

First of all thank you for being so kind and helpful in sharing all your nuggets of information both on your website and on Student Room, I have just signed up for the newsletter today.

I was wondering if you could help me with the following:

1. VS vs TC - I am in my final year of university doing an LLB and this is my first round of applications. I have not had legal work experience in the UK, only in my home country. Could you please advise as to whether I should apply for vacation schemes over training contracts?

I would like to qualify and work in the UK but I am concerned about being unable to convince employees that I have am suited to the pressures and culture of legal work in the UK without experiencing a VC.

However, my concern lies particularly in the fact that:
• Vacation schemes receive more applications than training contracts, that many firms recruit
from their VS and that one often cannot apply to them both in the same cycle if rejected at
the AC stage of a VC.

Should I apply for a TC for firms I really want, and apply for VSs at UK firms that I am less interested in? Really quite stuck at the moment!

2. Thoughts on Sidley Austin – if I remember correctly I think you may know a trainee from SA that could help me with the following:

a) I’ve read that the firm is rather conservative - how does the conservative outlook manifest itself in the firm’s various aspects (apart from its zero-debt policy) from management and diversity to social life? Is it a bad thing, compared to other less conservative firms?

b) I understand US firms tend to focus on on-the-job training, but I have read that Sidley does have (to some degree) a structured timetable of training – is the training throughout the traineeship fairly classroom based or mostly on-the-job? Also, more generally, what are your thoughts on the mentoring and support system given to trainees?

c) What is the responsibility and quality of work like? So roughly what portion of your time would be spent doing mundane tasks compared to more interesting work such as drafting documents for example? I am particularly concerned as Chambers Guide ranks the firm’s various practice areas between Band 3-5, does this mean Sidley’s work is less interesting/exciting/high quality compared to MC or other top-tier US firms? Some people have commented that the work is analogous to a mid-level UK firm.

d) Somewhat related to the bullet-point A, in terms of culture, what is the firm like, especially considering that every now and then teams of lawyers would move in and out of the firm?

e) Does the London office operate like a slightly larger satellite firm, or does it possess some autonomy in decision/policy-making? In other words, what is the practical working relationship between Sidley’s US firms and the UK one?

f) What are your thoughts on the retention process? Any pros or cons to be aware of?

g) Diversity – there seem to be plenty of relevant committees in place, but Legal Cheek does not list down the crucial percentages (BME, women), so some insight into this would be greatly appreciated.

Any other general comments that might be even the slightest bit insightful would be greatly appreciated too!

Sorry for the very long message and please write back to clarify if you find anything confusing/vague.

PrancingUnicorns

Hi

Just prepping for an interview and am wondering how I would answer the above question?

I'm assuming along the lines of integrated services, investing in technology that would reduce costs to clients...

Any help much appreciated!
Thanks
L

Hi All,

My family has three businesses, and I have only ever worked in the family business and nowhere else.

The law firms aside from your academic referee require an employment reference but the family reference does not normally count.

I am slightly unsure what to put as my employer reference as I can't really put my brother, mother or my father as my referee.

Do I need to get a quick temp job with an outside employer for this?

Really could do with some help.

Hi all,

We are pleased to welcome several new law societies at The Corporate Law Academy: https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/groups/.

In the upcoming academic year, these groups will serve as private spaces for members to discuss their applications to law firms, and access our application reviews and classes.

If you are a member of any of the law societies listed above, you can select "Request Membership" on the group page and a committee member will approve your access to the group.

If you would like your law society to be listed above, please drop me a PM to discuss.

Best,

Jaysen

Hi,

I have an assessment centre at DWF, does anyone have any advice or tips they can share? It involves:

• panel interview
• group exercise/presentation
• checking exercise

What is the best way to prepare for unseen presentations/group exercises and checking exercises?

Thanks in advance!