Managing expectations and general advice
- General Discussion
- 4 Replies
Hi all,
I’ll be starting the MA Law Conversion course part-time at the University of Law later this year. Unfortunately, the firm I currently work for doesn’t offer funding for the course, which is a significant factor for me as I come from a lower-income background.
Unfortunately, I've also already taken out a postgraduate loan when I began studying at BPP in 2023. I dropped out a few months into the course due to issues with the university such as mismanagement, admin, and frequent phone calls threatening to remove me from the course because I couldn’t provide my undergraduate results at the time, as they were delayed due to the marking boycott and strikes (For context, I graduated in July 2023 but didn't receive my final degree classification until January 2024).
As a result, I’ll be applying for training contracts in hopes of securing some funding. I’ve spent some time improving my CV in preparation and would really appreciate any feedback, so I can give myself the best possible chance of securing a TC. I’ve redacted and changed some details to remain anonymous.
The only potential concern I have is that I scraped a pass in one of my second-year modules. Will this limit the firms I can apply to?
My top firms are DLA Piper, BCLP, Clifford Chance, Addleshaw Goddard, and Pinsent Masons. Do I realistically have a chance, or should I manage my expectations?
Many thanks in advance!
I’ll be starting the MA Law Conversion course part-time at the University of Law later this year. Unfortunately, the firm I currently work for doesn’t offer funding for the course, which is a significant factor for me as I come from a lower-income background.
Unfortunately, I've also already taken out a postgraduate loan when I began studying at BPP in 2023. I dropped out a few months into the course due to issues with the university such as mismanagement, admin, and frequent phone calls threatening to remove me from the course because I couldn’t provide my undergraduate results at the time, as they were delayed due to the marking boycott and strikes (For context, I graduated in July 2023 but didn't receive my final degree classification until January 2024).
As a result, I’ll be applying for training contracts in hopes of securing some funding. I’ve spent some time improving my CV in preparation and would really appreciate any feedback, so I can give myself the best possible chance of securing a TC. I’ve redacted and changed some details to remain anonymous.
The only potential concern I have is that I scraped a pass in one of my second-year modules. Will this limit the firms I can apply to?
My top firms are DLA Piper, BCLP, Clifford Chance, Addleshaw Goddard, and Pinsent Masons. Do I realistically have a chance, or should I manage my expectations?
Many thanks in advance!
Help, I have a HireVue interview coming up!
- Applications Discussion
- 1 Replies
Hi everyone, sorry for the brash title.
English is my second language- I can speak it clearly sometimes and I can write it clearly, but often when I am in pressured situations, I can only think/talk in my native language. I have never done any interviews before, let alone video interviews and I am nervous because when the questions come up, what if my mind draws a complete blank?
Has anyone completed a video interview before? If so, how was it? If anyone has passed this, how
? If anyone is from graduate recruitment and has assessed video interviews, what do you look for? If anyone has done/assessed an interview for anything before, I would very much appreciate your tips/general input.
At what point do you know that you are over-explaining/under-explaining? What are some examples of some questions that I can prep? Oh, and also this interview is for an internship at an audit firm, very similar to a commercial law firm in terms of the work that is done in regulation, restructuring proposals, risk and due diligence.
Like the people say over here, how cooked am I?
English is my second language- I can speak it clearly sometimes and I can write it clearly, but often when I am in pressured situations, I can only think/talk in my native language. I have never done any interviews before, let alone video interviews and I am nervous because when the questions come up, what if my mind draws a complete blank?
Has anyone completed a video interview before? If so, how was it? If anyone has passed this, how
? If anyone is from graduate recruitment and has assessed video interviews, what do you look for? If anyone has done/assessed an interview for anything before, I would very much appreciate your tips/general input.At what point do you know that you are over-explaining/under-explaining? What are some examples of some questions that I can prep? Oh, and also this interview is for an internship at an audit firm, very similar to a commercial law firm in terms of the work that is done in regulation, restructuring proposals, risk and due diligence.
Like the people say over here, how cooked am I
?
Character and suitability
- By Teelaw111
- Interviews Discussion
- 4 Replies
Hello 
I hope you are doing well.
I have applied for admission for the roll of Solictor and in completing the character and suitability assessment I did not disclose anything.
However I received an email from the SRA saying that something in my regulatory history has highlighted an issue.
I was not aware of anything but done some memory refreshing and some 12 years ago i disclosed to the SRA i had a criminal conviction and was going through there character and suitability assessment ( before you started the LPC) and they were asking me questions etc at the same time my university flagged me to the sra for Apparently forging an email or something.
The SRA then sent me email etc I engaged i denied the forged email at the time i was going through serious mental health issues and other issues such as bereavement’s suicidal thoughts etc and other issues. The SRA discounted their investigation .
I have dyslexia and ADHD
Now 12 years later i have genuinely forgotten about this issue untill now.
Can anyone advice .
Do SRA still hold records
Is my careear over, it was 12 years ago and nothing came from it. No judgement no order no fine . No further action
As of the email:
They said they will add me to a triage and reply in 14 days for update.
What are the next steps!
Thanks
I hope you are doing well.
I have applied for admission for the roll of Solictor and in completing the character and suitability assessment I did not disclose anything.
However I received an email from the SRA saying that something in my regulatory history has highlighted an issue.
I was not aware of anything but done some memory refreshing and some 12 years ago i disclosed to the SRA i had a criminal conviction and was going through there character and suitability assessment ( before you started the LPC) and they were asking me questions etc at the same time my university flagged me to the sra for Apparently forging an email or something.
The SRA then sent me email etc I engaged i denied the forged email at the time i was going through serious mental health issues and other issues such as bereavement’s suicidal thoughts etc and other issues. The SRA discounted their investigation .
I have dyslexia and ADHD
Now 12 years later i have genuinely forgotten about this issue untill now.
Can anyone advice .
Do SRA still hold records
Is my careear over, it was 12 years ago and nothing came from it. No judgement no order no fine . No further action
As of the email:
They said they will add me to a triage and reply in 14 days for update.
What are the next steps!
Thanks
Law firm expansion into India
- Interviews Discussion
- 1 Replies
Hi,
I am just researching where a law firm can open their next office. By way of background the law firm strengths are in energy (whole spectrum), financial services, life sciences, tech, has a strong US presence, few offices in Europe, Singapore and 3 in Middle East. I have been thinking about India as a location for a law firm to open the office- however the more I read the strict rules the more I question whether it is practically viable? Is anyone able to assist?
Thanks in advance
I am just researching where a law firm can open their next office. By way of background the law firm strengths are in energy (whole spectrum), financial services, life sciences, tech, has a strong US presence, few offices in Europe, Singapore and 3 in Middle East. I have been thinking about India as a location for a law firm to open the office- however the more I read the strict rules the more I question whether it is practically viable? Is anyone able to assist?
Thanks in advance
My Hopeless TC Journey :')
- My Training Contract Journey
- 4 Replies
Hello to everyone reading this! After reading a few TC journeys, I am somewhat convinced that I should post a thread of my own. So please bear with me T_T.
I have been applying for VS and TC since last fall. It was my step towards a world of struggle that I was completely unaware of at that time. The struggle of applying over and over only to get rejected. Although I have been rejected left, right, and centre, I am still not losing hope. I have read threads of people who have applied for TC in more than two or three cycles and have finally got offers. I am hopeful that if I keep my consistency alive, I might also get a decent TC offer.
Well, I forgot to tell you a bit about my background. I am an international applicant. Yes, I am not a UK citizen. I am a law student and have been pursuing my undergrad from outside the UK. The legal system in my country follows the common law, and hence, there are many similarities between our laws and UK laws. Nonetheless, I want to qualify as a commercial solicitor. To be specific, I want to become a corporate lawyer. Since I am an international applicant, I am not eligible to apply to more than half of the law firms in the UK. This drastically limits my options. However, it also helps me to filter out many law firms, allowing me to focus my time and efforts on applications for a decent number of law firms rather than an exorbitant number of law firms.
In the 2024-2025 cycle, I applied to the following law firms:
I have been applying for VS and TC since last fall. It was my step towards a world of struggle that I was completely unaware of at that time. The struggle of applying over and over only to get rejected. Although I have been rejected left, right, and centre, I am still not losing hope. I have read threads of people who have applied for TC in more than two or three cycles and have finally got offers. I am hopeful that if I keep my consistency alive, I might also get a decent TC offer.
Well, I forgot to tell you a bit about my background. I am an international applicant. Yes, I am not a UK citizen. I am a law student and have been pursuing my undergrad from outside the UK. The legal system in my country follows the common law, and hence, there are many similarities between our laws and UK laws. Nonetheless, I want to qualify as a commercial solicitor. To be specific, I want to become a corporate lawyer. Since I am an international applicant, I am not eligible to apply to more than half of the law firms in the UK. This drastically limits my options. However, it also helps me to filter out many law firms, allowing me to focus my time and efforts on applications for a decent number of law firms rather than an exorbitant number of law firms.
In the 2024-2025 cycle, I applied to the following law firms:
- Herbert Smith Freehills (Internship)
- Clifford Chance (TC)
- Wilkie Farr & Gallagher (VS)
- Linklaters (TC)
- CMS (TC)
- Freshfields (TC)
- Kirkland & Ellis (TC)
- Sidley Austin (VS)
- Hogan Lovells (TC)
- Ashurst (TC)
For most of the applications, I have received rejection emails. Awaiting a response from Hogan Lovells. Although I am pretty sure it is going to be a rejection cuz it has been over a couple of months since the deadline passed, and the quality of my application was not that good imo. I applied for the TC at Ashurst just a few days ago and will be receiving the psychometric test tomorrow. I am a bit hopeful with my application at Ashurst cuz I did a hell lot of research.
From this cycle, there were many learnings for me. I applied to just around 10 firms, which is not a healthy amount of number, and the worst part is that despite applying to a small number of firms, my application quality was poor to say the least. I can attribute this failure to the fact that I was completely new to this process and was not aware of many things. Moreover, I had no mentor or resource to get help from. Over the past 5-6 months, I have learnt a lot and I am hoping to not repeat a single mistake. That's why I have decided to start preparing for the 2025-2026 cycle from spring itself. I am aiming to apply to at least 20-25 law firms with quality applications. I will be taking part in as many virtual events as possible and networking with as many people as possible. I can't apply for most of the VS being an international applicant as I won't get a visa sponsorship, and therefore, I will need to limit my applications mostly for direct TC.
I will try my best to keep this thread alive with every update regarding my applications. I plan to purchase the TCLA gold membership 1-2 months before the start of this year's cycle. I hope to receive a bit of help from the community as well, so if you have any suggestions or advice, please let me know!
Fingers crossed.
From this cycle, there were many learnings for me. I applied to just around 10 firms, which is not a healthy amount of number, and the worst part is that despite applying to a small number of firms, my application quality was poor to say the least. I can attribute this failure to the fact that I was completely new to this process and was not aware of many things. Moreover, I had no mentor or resource to get help from. Over the past 5-6 months, I have learnt a lot and I am hoping to not repeat a single mistake. That's why I have decided to start preparing for the 2025-2026 cycle from spring itself. I am aiming to apply to at least 20-25 law firms with quality applications. I will be taking part in as many virtual events as possible and networking with as many people as possible. I can't apply for most of the VS being an international applicant as I won't get a visa sponsorship, and therefore, I will need to limit my applications mostly for direct TC.
I will try my best to keep this thread alive with every update regarding my applications. I plan to purchase the TCLA gold membership 1-2 months before the start of this year's cycle. I hope to receive a bit of help from the community as well, so if you have any suggestions or advice, please let me know!
Fingers crossed.
To those who have had students shadow them as part of vacation schemes...
- By g.hoiyan28
- Vacation Schemes Discussion
- 2 Replies
...what traits/qualities/attitudes did you appreciate? Did they do anything in particular that impressed you?
I'm an upper sixth student applying for work experience at a mid-sized firm that I'd like to work at in the future, so I'd like to leave a good impression
Please let me know if this isn't the right topic to be posting under!
I'm an upper sixth student applying for work experience at a mid-sized firm that I'd like to work at in the future, so I'd like to leave a good impression
Please let me know if this isn't the right topic to be posting under!
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