New Threads

An open day at Shearman & Sterling's London offices, for candidate's considering applying for a vacation scheme at the firm.

This open day will provide a range of informative sessions, including:

• An overview of the firm and their place in the legal market;
• An introduction to their core trainee practice areas – M&A, Finance and Project Development & Finance;
• A panel Q&A session with their trainees so you can ask your burning questions regarding overseas seats, support throughout your training contract and what the work is really like;
• An interactive workshop from the graduate recruitment team providing hints and tips on application forms and interviews; and
• A chance to network with partners, associates, trainees and graduate recruitment and get a real feel for their culture.

Apply here by 14th April 2024.

An open day at Shearman & Sterling's London offices, for candidates considering applying for a vacation scheme at the firm.

This open day will provide a range of informative sessions, including:

• An overview of the firm and their place in the legal market;
• An introduction to their core trainee practice areas – M&A, Finance and Project Development & Finance;
• A panel Q&A session with their trainees so you can ask your burning questions regarding overseas seats, support throughout your training contract and what the work is really like;
• An interactive workshop from the graduate recruitment team providing hints and tips on application forms and interviews; and
• A chance to network with partners, associates, trainees and graduate recruitment and get a real feel for their culture.

Apply here by 26th November 2023.

An opportunity to be a part of S&S's Black Undergraduate Internship & Lawyer Development Programme, commencing in July 2024.

Overview:

• B.U.I.L.D. @ Shearman is a programme that will provide work experience and mentoring opportunities for talented students (university level and above) from the Black community.
• The Programme will provide students with a four-week internship in Shearman & Sterling’s London office and connect each student with supervisors and mentors who will provide guidance during their time at the Firm, as well as ongoing mentoring following completion of the internship.
• Interns will spend a two-week rotation in two different practice groups in the London office (four weeks total) including the Antitrust, Finance, Funds, International Arbitration, M&A and Project Development & Finance Practice Groups.
• Interns will have the opportunity to attend trainee and Practice Group training sessions and specific Intern training sessions on relevant topics such as commercial awareness and the graduate recruitment process.
• High-performing Interns will be fast-tracked and guaranteed an interview for a subsequent vacation scheme of the interns’ choice. Participants in our vacation schemes are automatically considered and assessed for a training contract with the Firm.

Eligibility and application details:

• The programme is open to black undergraduate students and graduates from all backgrounds.
• They require all candidates to achieve a min. 2.1 degree classification (gained or predicted).
• The recruitment process will involve completion of an online application form. Successful applicants will then be invited to an online Zoom interview with a member of the graduate recruitment team and an associate.
• This is a paid internship. Interns will receive £500/week.
• The programme will run from 9 July – 2 August 2024.

Apply here by May 12th 2024.

An opportunity to be part of the firm's first year scheme, commencing in 2024 - dates TBC.

Apply here by 5pm GMT on 12th February 2024.

Hi everyone!

I have gotten through to the AC of Clyde & Co's Paralegal Academy that's next week, and was hoping to get some advice from people who have been through this AC before, or who have been through a Clyde & Co AC (non-paralegal academy version). I'm nervous as I have never been invited to a legal AC before and have no idea what I'm in for! It's a 45 minute interview and a 20 minute micro exercise (no idea what it will be about).

Does anyone have any tips for me (either this specific AC or general AC tips) that could be useful? I'm still waiting to hear back about my reasonable adjustments for my disabilities atm, but fingers crossed for them replying soon!

Hey everyone ,

I hope you’ll join me in wishing the Reed Smith graduate recruitment team a big welcome to the TCLA forum. That’s @ReedSmithBecca, @ReedSmithCharlotte and @ReedSmithKaren, who have all joined our community to answer your questions in this thread.

The team are live right now to answer your questions about Reed Smith and the training contract journey, so please feel free to ask away. I hope this will help you to get to know the firm and the perspective of graduate recruitment when you write your applications.

Finally, I’ll be updating this thread with upcoming opportunities with Reed Smith, so you’ll be able to meet the team at their events and apply. In the meantime, you can learn more about Reed Smith here.

Good luck in your applications this year!

Jaysen

Hi I will be creating a thread here to post daily updates to keep myself accountable. With this, I hope to motivate fellow applicants as daily commitments takes a lot of resilience. Plus, you may be able to benefit on the information I post here as I intend to focus on two aspects on this thread:

1. Technical knowledge
e.g. what is indemnities/warranties/practice areas etc

2. Commercial Awareness
My focus is on energy and technology sectors (for now)

My post may not be necessarily perfect or correct, which is the purpose of creating this thread so more senior members can jump in to comment too

Hi, I planned to apply for a few Open Days and I wonder if members here can help me out as this is my first time. The questions are more/less the same: What do you hope to gain from this OD? (300 words)

I plan to mention 3 facts: 2 about the firm's practice areas and 1 about its training/seat option/DEI. I also tailor my experience to the firm's practice like how I would for a vac scheme. As @Jessica Booker kindly mentioned, my answer should be similar to VS, but I should focus on what I hope to gain.

Other than "I hope to discuss the trainees' involvement when they're in xx seat/ learn about the practice area" I'm not entirely sure what I should write. If anyone has any experience that would be great! Thanks!

Hi, I noticed there isn't a profile of Covington on the law firm profile course. May I know if TCLA plans to add one?

I will be starting law at uni this September and I am very excited. However, someone told me that taking a law degree isn’t worth it as I will end up unemployed anyways just like many law graduates. I am now stressing out by this comment made. Why are many law graduates unemployed? Is there anything I can do whilst at uni to increase my employability?

Hi

In the work experience section, I am clubbing all Forages under one box. How detailed should the forage descriptions be ? Should I just list them or go over the details? For example is this looking silly or ok ?

"I followed this up with the “Banking Job Simulation” on Forage by Latham & Watkins, wherein I reviewed the purchase agreement for an acquisition, summarised key provisions, drafted an issues list and closing checklist for a loan financing, communicated high-priority closing condition items to opposing counsel, ensured conditions precedent were met and identified issues that might affect closing."

Thanks

I have applied for the law conversion with masters at BPP and UoL for this September. (I might be overseas in the future, and I felt a 'masters' is more credible than a 'diploma', but maybe it doesn't matter really.)

For BPP the fees for this (in London) are £15,800, whereas at UoL it is £15,400 (also in London)

For the masters with SQE1 then the fees at either are £17,100.

I don't really know what I will be doing after this - I could become a solicitor, or possibly a barrister, but I suppose a solicitor is more likely.

BPP told me over the phone that I could switch to the SQE1 masters a couple of months down the line and pay the extra £1300.

I have not heard back from UoL yet.

I suppose at least in theory the SQE1 preparation doesn't need to cost anything, so perhaps it's not that valuable. Another point is the start dates of September and January for UoL, and Sep, Jan and May for BPP. With the SQE1 taking place in January and July, then taking BPP or UoL's SQE1 programmes starting in both September and January result in a January 2025 SQE1 date.

And maybe it's best not to commit to SQE1 in advance of finding possible training contracts anyway.

Any thoughts?

I've been invited to Bird & Bird's AC for a Trainee Trademark Attorney position. I was just wondering what I could expect (e.g., will it follow the same structure as ACs for a traditional TC?) and just any advice generally as I've never completed an AC. Also wondering approximately how many they invite to the AC and salary as this is not something I find on the website or elsewhere.

I am filling out an application form (Slaughter and May) and have noticed that they ask for a year-end average.
LSE does not officially calculate/provide year-end averages except for a First Year Average. Should I indicate this on my application or just calculate an average using my marks?

-

Hi
In applications which doesn't ask for CV (which has my open days and forage virtual internships) , how do I show them in the application? Is it ok to put those under work experience boxes ? If so, should all of them be clubbed together under one or should they be separate ?
Thanks

anyone waiting to hear back from dorsey?

Hi,
Regarding BCLP application question: " Imagine you are a trainee at BCLP and you have been working on a task for an associate in the Finance department. The associate is away and a partner in the department urgently wants a summary note of the research to send to a client, and has asked you to send it to them by tomorrow morning. How would you react? " I am thinking of following approach:

- Is it fair to assume that the tasks given by the associate and partner are NOT related to each other ?
- Is it fair to assume associate is my immediate supervisor ?
- If so, how to establish the priority of the two tasks? If I call/email the associate and he/she does not respond, how do I establish that the original task given by associate is NOT MORE important than the ones given by the partner ?
- Since associate did not give morning deadline, can I de-prioritise it ?
- How do law firms expect you to handle this ? Should I simply have a frank chat with the partner and let him take a call ? What if he/she has no clue of what the associate has given me?
Should I ask around to other folks in the department if they know which is high priority ?

In general assuming the ambiguity exists, I was going to approach along the following lines:
Step 1: Have a quick chat with the partner and understand scope of his task. If I can finish both tasks in time (even with some stretch), problem solved. Contact associate and call/email to say I have additional task but original task deadline wont suffer
Step 2: If partner task requires massive time effort jeopardizing the original task deadline, I will Call/email associate as well as discuss with partner. Ideally take them both on a conference call. If associate not reachable, collective decision taken in consultation with the partner and other department folks to see if anyone else can step up.
Step 3: If no one can step up than make an assumption that since client deadline is tomorrow morning (and supervisor has not given aggressive deadline), prioritize partner task and send email to supervisor
Step 4: Deliver to client and then resume original task of associate

Please feel free to comment on approach. Have I made fair assumptions ?

Thanks

Hi everyone,

With a new recruitment cycle starting in the next few weeks, we thought it best to start a new master thread to discuss direct training contract applications for the 2023-2024 application cycle.

Best of luck to everyone for this upcoming cycle

Thanks,

Jess

With some firms opening their applications for winter, spring and summer schemes in the coming weeks, we thought it was time to open a new thread for a new application cycle.

Please use this master thread to discuss anything related to vacation scheme applications for the 2023-2024 application cycle. This can include everything from application and interview queries to news from particular law firms.

If you want to check last year's thread you can find it here: TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2022-23

Wishing everyone the best of luck for the upcoming cycle.

Thanks,

Jess

Hello

I am sitting the SQE this year and honestly I am very confused about the extent of the black letter law we need to know. I understand we don’t need to know cases or statutes unless they are underpinned by principles (like ryland v fletcher), but I still am unsure of how much we need to know.

my provider has provided slides, but they don’t seem very streamlined or ‘SQE adjacent’ to me. They still contain a lot of case descriptions, and they go into a lot of detail. For example there is around 500 pages of slides for land law.

In what detail do we need to know all of these? Is it the bare principles, or is it the ‘this is the formalities on how you create an easement’.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hey everyone,

@WillkieGemma, graduate recruitment manager at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, is running its first virtual applications workshop for the new cycle!

This webinar will give you practical, honest and achievable advice on how to refine your applications. This webinar is 90 minutes long, including time for questions. Please note that you can only attend one applications webinar. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis and will close when the webinar is full.

You can learn more and register here.
You can also find Gemma's Ask me Anything thread here for any questions on the law firm process.

Hi,

I'm looking for a bit of reassurance/advice regarding my current role. I have been working in audit and tax for the last 15 months and hoping to gain a TC as a career changer. However, im really struggling with the role and it's starting to impact my mental well-being so I'm unsure whether to stick it out for the sake of TC/VS applications. How detrimental would quitting be to future applications but moreover what alternative roles would be good for TC applications in the meantime if not paralegal work. P.S. I ventured down the accounting route as I failed to secure a paralegal role.

Thanks

Hi

I am a penultimate year law student in the UK. Clifford chance website states penultimate year students can apply from Sept 1 for Sept 25 and Feb 26 training contracts (I believe they don'y have VS - please correct if I am wrong).

Now, most companies will advertise Sept 2026 TC for penultimate year law students since we will graduate in 2025 and take 1 year to finish SQE etc. So, how is it possible for us to start our TC in Sept 25/Feb 26 as advertised by them ? If not possible, why would they open it up to penultimate year students ? My only conclusion is the SQE prep will be online. But then even that is not possible since their LLM SQE 1&2 is quite exhaustive and will take full time 1 year study as per my estimates. Totally confused .

Sorry for the naive question

Thanks