New Threads

Hi,

This is my first time posting on here and I am just looking for some guidance.

Over the course of the application season (October - January) I have applied to around 10 firms all in London and have received rejections every time from vac schemes and direct TCs. I was really upset that I received a rejection from my dream firm but I had a good cry and moved on the more rejections I received the more frustrated I felt about the system. I know the industry is so oversaturated and all the top firms receive crazy amounts of applications but I am starting to lose hope. It's frustrating to spend hours filling out the applications perfectly just to get rejected.

My A-level grades aren't the best but with my degree, I'm on track for a 2:1 potentially a first and I have so much relevant experience ranging from attending all the firm events I can to working with my Students Union on behalf of the faculty and having general work experience. I also helped to set up a society at uni showing that I have other passions but I'm still getting rejected despite all of this, I don't attend a Russel group uni and think it could be down to this, it might sound dramatic and I know life doesn't always work out the way you intend but the only thing I want to do with my life is to be a solicitor but it feels like the world doesn't want me to.

If anyone else has been through a similar situation and has any advice it would be greatly appreciated. I am starting to wonder why I am bothering with this degree and it's making it hard to keep hoping.

Hi, I attended the interview last week for the Vacation Scheme, and was told that we would/aim to be notified at the end of last week. Has anyone received anything from Birketts yet?

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had any insight on Michelmores? I'm planning to apply to the vac scheme. Does anyone have any experience with the firm or thoughts about them?

Thought I'd track these:
Rejected at first stage purely because of the application form (answers, experience, qualifications, who knows!?):

• Dechert
• Bates Wells
• Burges Salmon
• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (very fast: rolling!)
• Travers Smith
• Slaughter and May
• Dentons
• Eversheds Sutherland
• Weil Gotshal & Manges
• Davis Polk & Wardwell
• Bird & Bird
• Willkie Farr & Gallagher
• DWF
• Kirkland & Ellis
• Jones Day
• Cooley
• Forsters (made a factual error on form!)
• Sullivan & Cromwell
• Fieldfisher
• Vinson & Elkins
• Squire Patton Boggs
• Greenberg Traurig
• Clifford Chance (passed WGT)
• Debevoise & Plimpton
• Katten
• Hill Dickinson
• Fieldfisher
• Ropes & Gray
• Akin
• DLA Piper
• Freshfields
• Orrick
• Boodle Hatfield

Rejected at first stage either because of form or WGT performance:

• Hogan Lovells
• RPC

Rejected at first stage either because of form or SJT performance:

• A&O Shearman
• Pinsent Masons
• Taylor Wessing
• HSF (sjt was poor)
• BCLP (sjt was poor)
• Shoosmiths
• Ashurst
• Latham & Watkins

Rejected at first stage because of Arctic Shores performance

• NRF
• Gowling

Rejected at subsequent stage because of SJT or VI performance:

• Reed Smith

Rejected at subsequent stage because of VI performance:

• Mishcon
• Kennedys
• Baker McKenzie
• CMS
• WFW
• Goodwin
• Fladgate
• Gateley

Rejected following AC:

• Milbank

Currently, therefore, of resolved applications, 45 were rejected at the first stage, and ten were rejected at a subsequent stage.

I have other applications in progress at different stages (AC, VI, first stage), so the ratio above is not necessarily representative overall.

It's clear that my VI performance is substantially below par and I need to improve in this area.

Hi

Hi everyone! I'm new here!

Hello everyone!
Has anyone heard back from Ashurst post test or Latham post application (Vacation Schemes)?

Hi,

Does anyone know relatively when it would be good to submit direct TC apps? As in, if the deadline is in July, would submitting the application later be better?
@Jessica Booker wondering if you have any insight on this!!

Hey everyone, applied to Skadden and went through the application process (written assessment, interview, etc.). Finished the interview last week was wondering if anyone has heard back from them yet?

Hi guys !!

I have a BCLP AC this week and am looking to connect with anyone who did it/ has received an AC invitation.

Let's help each other out

Please answer to this thread/ send me a text if it's your case !

Hi everyone! Feels surreal to finally post for the first time after lurking here for the past 6 months.

We're at the tail-end of the application cycle now, and I'm at a cross-roads.

I'm contemplating. Do I — (a) take my chances and continue applying for TCs as an international student, hopefully significantly improving my skillset and application-writing in preparation for the next cycle, or (b) consider practicing at my home-country as a foreign-qualified lawyer (probably the NY Bar). I know both aren't mutually exclusive; I can continue applying and prep for the bar at the same time, but really it's the opportunity cost that concerns me. How should I spend my time in a way that would give me the best return?

For context: I'm an international student, having graduated UCL Law in 2023 with a 1st. After graduating, I chose to go back home for a venture capital job instead of pursuing a legal career in London. Fast-forward to now, having been party to many early-stage investment deals, I'm realising that I much prefer the structure of a legal career than what VC can offer me. Plus, the asset class isn't looking too great right now.

While working at my full-time job, I applied to Direct TCs to 12 firms and reached the final-stage for only one MC firm last year, but got rejected. I was hoping to have the opportunity to do more interviews, but only managed to get 1.

Anyone with experience doing the NY bar, or in a similar position — or really anyone at all — please advise and I'd love to talk!

hellloooo

have applied to a few firms such as paul, weiss.

gotten a few rejections too, some quicker than others.

Just wondering how long would it usually take for a firm to respond to you once you've applied? I applied to paul, weiss the day before the deadline and I am yet to hear anything and kinda convinced that I will most likely be rejected.

I also had a VI in december with a firm and have not heard back from them since and feel very defeated as, although I have not received a rejection email, Im convinced that I am going to get rejected from the firm.

Does anybody have any advice on this?

Thank you

After 6-7 years of work in the visual effects industry, I have decided to make the leap into a career in law. I want something a lot more mentally rewarding and impactful and law takes the cake for me.

I am on an upward learning curve with all the applications and tests but have yet to be successful to get through to any interviews/video interviews, etc. I'm not sure where I am going wrong at this point, whether my answers are too generic, even with mentioning specific deals and catering my answers to align with a firm's ethos and values or whether I've just applied too late within a cycle or just sheer dumb luck.

Anyone (especially from a similar background) able to chat or offer some advice?

I sat the SQE 1 in Jan and really didn't want to jump back into everything for April so have decided to opt for the July sitting of the SQE 2 (God willing that I pass SQE 1). I have heard good things about BPP but I looked at the SQE 2 prep and it appears very short, am I missing something?

Hello,

I enrolled in a law conversion course in January 2025 and I am due to complete it in November 2026 (part-time mode). I will, of course, have to prepare for and take the SQE afterwards.

I am planning to submit applications for a training contract. I am aware of the fact that law firms generally recruit 2 or even 3 years in advance, but I am pretty confused about the timeline in my case. Could you please help me figure out which start date(s) I should aim for to submit my TC applications? In the event that is too early, should I focus on submitting applications for vacation schemes instead, knowing that some law firms only recruit their trainees via their vacation schemes? I understand it is required to pass the SQE before starting a training contract, but it is not required to have it passed before you apply - am I correct? However, how can you know when you will have passed the SQE at the time of applying? I do not want to waste time, but at the same time it does not make sense to apply, in the best case scenario get a TC offer and not be able to start it.

@Jessica Booker Could you please let me know your thoughts on all of this?

Many thanks.

Hello,

I’m a career changer who started my law conversion course last year. I sat my A levels in my home country over 10 years ago, but didn’t get any of my grades due to administrative failures at the school. I was still able to go to uni in my home country and finished with a first class hons. I also have a masters from a RG uni. I have outlined in more detail the mitigating circumstances in my applications, but I was wondering if I should just sit them again. I’m really not inclined to, as I put so much time and effort into studying for them the first time and it’s just frustrating that I didn’t get my results, and now have to contend with that in my applications. Do you think this will disadvantage me?

Hi all,

I find myself in a very privileged situation with a TC offer and a summer vacation scheme offer elsewhere.

I am currently doing the SQE and have been given 2 weeks to accept/reject the TC offer. This obviously would mean that I would be required to accept the TC offer well before the vacation scheme takes place. What makes the situation particuarly complicated is the TC firm would like to financially cover the remaining part of my SQE studies (just completed SQE1). I understand when you become financially tied to the firm and reneging becomes extremely difficult. I was wondering what penalties I may face if I later choose to renege post summer vacation scheme in this scenario?

Additionally, I was hoping for clarity in terms of what steps I can take. Should I try ask the summer vacation scheme firm to expedite me on a direct TC process if that is a possbility. I enjoyed the vacation scheme firm more and their practice areas align more with my interests but the dilemma of having a guaranteed TC is spinning my head. Any clarity or thoughts on steps I could take will be appreciated.

Thanks!

@Jessica Booker

Did anyone applied for Edinburgh/Glasgow 2025 traineeship? Has anyone heard back from the virtual interview yet?

Hello, has anyone done the assessment centre for CMS this cycle?

Hello,

I am in my final year of studying law and slightly unclear on next steps. I have applied for vac schemes last year and this year, but with little success. What should my next steps be? Just keep applying for vac schemes? Try and apply for training contracts?

Thanks for responding, I am just lost right now.

Please can anyone who has done their SQE2 prep with ULaw share their experience on the course and the most efficient way of getting through it alongside ULaw's teaching structure and materials? Or even if you didn't prep with ULaw, would still be helpful to get your insight on how you approached SQE2 prep.

Context — I started the LLM SQE1&2 prep course with ULaw in September 2024, just sat my SQE1 in January 2025. I am prepping for SQE2 now with ULaw. So would be helpful to get some thoughts from those who prepped with ULaw specifically on how you used ULaw's materials and teaching to supplement your SQE2 prep.

Steps to take during the course
From what I have read and heard so far about the ULaw prep course for SQE2 is that the workshops which teach you the 'skills' aren't massively helpful because to some degree all they're teaching you is 'common sense'. And even for modules which are perhaps more foreign to us e.g. advocacy / interviewing, they still aren't teaching you anything substantive about the skill itself, more so just giving you a chance to practise with your peers or practise legal research / writing under timed conditions during the workshops.

I am aware that the main chunk of work for SQE2 prep is actually keeping my FLK fresh. But I don't know HOW specifically. Obviously wouldn't make any sense to engage with FLK using practice multiple choice questions anymore as with SQE1, but how exactly did you approach refreshing your FLK? Did you narrow it down to specific topics and practise recalling the information in long, written-form / the form that we will be examined in? If so, how did you go about doing this? If not, what else did you do to prep?

One of the things I regretted with my SQE1 prep is not having gotten into the habit of doing practice questions and learning from them sooner. So if anyone could share any mistakes you were making with SQE2 prep that you wish you had realised sooner and share any specific, actionable steps that I can take to cut to the chase, that would be extremely helpful.

Additional materials
I have also heard feedback that the main issue with ULaw is the lack of mocks available (they only provide one or two?) which many felt didn't adequately prepare them. Please can anyone share (whether you were with ULaw or not) whether the mocks your provider gave were adequate and whether you had to invest in materials from other providers to supplement your learning? If yes, what were some paid or free resources you used that you found helpful?

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone had any tips for applying for a TC to a firm you currently work at as a legal assistant/paralegal etc.? Especially for the "why firm" part - how would I leverage on my current experience at the firm, beyond just saying something vague like "everyone has been really nice to work with"?

Hi all! I was wondering if I could get some insight from anyone with more legal experience than me.

I am looking at applying to an international White & Case paralegal role. It is the first of its kind I am applying to, so I am slightly unfamiliar with the process.

Would you recommend I include a cover letter? There is no mention on the application form over what information to include, but I am aware that a CV is needed (and likely an academic transcript).

What should I include in my cover letter, and should I address it to the jurisdiction's office that I am applying for?

Thank you in advance!