TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

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Jessica Booker

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Not sure if this is the best place for this, but how are social events on vac schemes assessed? I may not be able to make one during my scheme due to a family commitment and I am so worried that it might be frowned upon, even though it is outside of the working hours. Any advice?
Social events are not assessed, and it’s not an issue if you cannot make one. Just let the graduate recruitment team or whoever is planning the event know that you cannot attend.

It really won’t be an issue at all.
 
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EH96

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Hi, I received the Mishcon VI last Tuesday lunchtime (12 April). It says I have 7 days to submit from the date of this email.
Does anyone know if that means end of day today, or would I be able to do it tomorrow morning? Thanks!
 

Jessica Booker

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Hi, I received the Mishcon VI last Tuesday lunchtime (12 April). It says I have 7 days to submit from the date of this email.
Does anyone know if that means end of day today, or would I be able to do it tomorrow morning? Thanks!
I would expect it to be tomorrow rather than today, but I can't guarantee it.
 

rightletsdothis

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    Not sure if this is the best place for this, but how are social events on vac schemes assessed? I may not be able to make one during my scheme due to a family commitment and I am so worried that it might be frowned upon, even though it is outside of the working hours. Any advice?
    As long as you let them know no one will care honestly haha. They usually say that before VS start in their welcome letters. I think just never turning up and going radio silent might look a little odd but just letting GR know will look great as it shows you communicate and also have a life outside of work! ☺️
     
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    legalgemma

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    I never liked video interviews either, although I did come to realise that recruiters are more charitable than you think when watching them! This is to say that everyone finds them awful and it is easy to make mistakes, so it is definitely not the case that you are out of the running with one faulty answer! In fact, there were video interviews where I repeated myself and stuttered through multiple questions and then passed, whilst there were others where I thought I had aced them and did not pass.

    I have actually written a post about my experience with what worked and what did not work with video interviews here. I do think that a good video interview is about showing who you are as a person and that your motivations are compelling, and giving a glimpse of your potential in the process. This is far more important than being extremely slick and confident in front of the camera! I hope this is helpful :)
    Thank you for this - I will check out your post! It is interesting to see different perspectives on it and I definitely wrote my initial post in a moment of frustration. I do appreciate that it gives people an opportunity to stand out other than just on paper, and that the recruiters will know exactly what they are looking for and oftentimes be able to see through the nerves. Really helpful and I will be sure to take this mindset into any in the future!
     

    legalgemma

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    I look at it slightly differently as it definitely gives more people a chance to shine than it would without

    I was very anti video interviews back in 2013/14 when they first started to come in. However, I started a project for a law firm and they needed to improve the diversity of their intakes, and the massive problem they had was they were making a really strict cut at the application stage, of about 1500 applications down to 60-70 candidates to see at first round interview stage.

    That meant they had to make really harsh cuts based on things like a couple of percentage point differences in law module results or tiny writing errors. It was sometimes the case that people had excellent applications but didn’t come across well in person too (eg in a full 60 minute interview) and the partners dedicating their time to interviewing wanted a higher hit rate at interview).

    Using video interviews the firm got about 200 people to have the chance to shine at interview stage, so over three times the amount. The hit rate at the first round interview increased dramatically and the intake of trainees diversified both in terms of ethnicity, social background, university and degree subject.

    I have seen a lot of success since then.

    I understand the awkwardness of them, but as far as I am concerned they are one of the best tools out there to select people down in the initial stages. My only concern is when AI is used to assess them (I am not sure any of the law firms do this - I am pretty sure they all still use people to review the videos) as some of the methods to design the AI and also the data sets for it are particularly questionable in my opinion.
    It is really interesting to see this from a recruitment perspective, I hadn't really appreciated or considered how much it aids in not having to cut people based on slight grade discrepancies etc! I can see that it does give the firm a chance to view and get to know more candidates rather than have to cut so many people down based on application only. I will try and see them as a positive opportunity to show myself off in the best light in the future - thank you for your response!
     

    AvniD

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    I know this might not be relevant to the forum sorry for this.

    A lot of my friends are applying for Legal Tech and Legal Operations roles at law firms like Slaughter and May, NRF, A&O and etc. I am thinking of going down the legal tech route but wanted to ask if I qualify in the legal tech route can I still in the future convert back to a solicitor or will I have to do the whole TC process again. Also, I am not talking about CC Ignite TC but am talking about legal tech and legal operations programmes.

    What are your thoughts on this @Jaysen @Jessica Booker @AvniD @James Carrabino @George Maxwell
    I'm not sure I fully understand your question- what do you mean by qualifying in the legal tech route?
     

    James Carrabino

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    Thank you for this - I will check out your post! It is interesting to see different perspectives on it and I definitely wrote my initial post in a moment of frustration. I do appreciate that it gives people an opportunity to stand out other than just on paper, and that the recruiters will know exactly what they are looking for and oftentimes be able to see through the nerves. Really helpful and I will be sure to take this mindset into any in the future!
    Don't get me wrong - I found them incredibly frustrating too! It is tough because we all want to be able to control everything we can, especially once we get past the application stage with a firm. A faulty answer in a live interview does not feel half as bad as a bad answer in a video interview because live interviews at least have a sense of being assessed holistically, whilst video interviews really come down to an assessment of each question and how well we can respond to it, which is discomfiting. Good interviewers can also steer a live interview to their strengths and the 'make or break' nature of each video interview question always got me nervous and left me kicking myself afterwards.

    It is only with hindsight that I realised that video interviews actually gave me an opportunity I may not have had otherwise. I may well have been rejected at the initial application stage had the firms not had video interviews and video interviews are a bit like an enhanced application form where you can also show some of your personality. So, on the whole I did not think they were the worst thing ever! I may have different thoughts if they start assessing them with AI as @Jessica Booker mentioned - I have heard of this in other careers and I don't really understand it...
     

    Jessica Booker

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    I know this might not be relevant to the forum sorry for this.

    A lot of my friends are applying for Legal Tech and Legal Operations roles at law firms like Slaughter and May, NRF, A&O and etc. I am thinking of going down the legal tech route but wanted to ask if I qualify in the legal tech route can I still in the future convert back to a solicitor or will I have to do the whole TC process again. Also, I am not talking about CC Ignite TC but am talking about legal tech and legal operations programmes.

    What are your thoughts on this @Jaysen @Jessica Booker @AvniD @James Carrabino @George Maxwell
    Apologies, I missed this.

    If you accumulate qualifying work experience and pass the SQE, you wouldn't have to do a TC again. It is just whether the Tech roles you have mentioned would give you enough and the right exposure to work that could be signed off as qualifying work experience, and whether the firm would support you with the SQE.
     
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    Asil Ahmad

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    I'm not sure I fully understand your question- what do you mean by qualifying in the legal tech route?
    Apologies, I missed this.

    If you accumulate qualifying work experience and pass the SQE, you wouldn't have to do a TC again. It is just whether the Tech roles you have mentioned would give you enough and the right exposure to work that could be signed off as qualifying work experience, and whether the firm would support you with the SQE.
    Thank you very much for this both of you.

    @AvniD Sorry for the confusion what I meant is that lots of people are going down the legal tech route and legal operations route such as working on the tech side of law firms by working with companies like Fuse.

    I wanted to ask if you qualify in the legal tech route and say that you don't like it and feel that you want to become a solicitor can you become a solicitor afterwards without going down the TC and SQE exams route. Also if you go down the legal tech route do you still have to pass the LPC and the SQE.

    @Jessica Booker No need to apologise it is okay as you reply to my posts all the time so no worries and am so grateful for your great advice always.

    Thank you very much for this it is really helpful.

    Also, does anyone else know if you go down the legal tech and legal operations route do you have to pass the SQE or the LPC.
     

    GXA123

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    Thank you very much for this both of you.

    @AvniD Sorry for the confusion what I meant is that lots of people are going down the legal tech route and legal operations route such as working on the tech side of law firms by working with companies like Fuse.

    I wanted to ask if you qualify in the legal tech route and say that you don't like it and feel that you want to become a solicitor can you become a solicitor afterwards without going down the TC and SQE exams route. Also if you go down the legal tech route do you still have to pass the LPC and the SQE.

    @Jessica Booker No need to apologise it is okay as you reply to my posts all the time so no worries and am so grateful for your great advice always.

    Thank you very much for this it is really helpful.

    Also, does anyone else know if you go down the legal tech and legal operations route do you have to pass the SQE or the LPC.
    from my own understanding it doesn't amount to a training contract, I think it is basically like any other graduate scheme, also I think most firms that would invest in you in that area would like to stay there! so it is something to consider if you are passionate about and would see yourself working in in the future, because it is not an easy route and could be harder than a tc because it is still new and developing and requires lots of innovation and maybe coding!

    edit: they also don't require a legal background for applying therefore I don't think it could amount to qualifying as a solicitor (not sure about this).

    Hope this helps a bit.
     

    NS95

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    from my own understanding it doesn't amount to a training contract, I think it is basically like any other graduate scheme, also I think most firms that would invest in you in that area would like to stay there! so it is something to consider if you are passionate about and would see yourself working in in the future, because it is not an easy route and could be harder than a tc because it is still new and developing and requires lots of innovation and maybe coding!

    edit: they also don't require a legal background for applying therefore I don't think it could amount to qualifying as a solicitor (not sure about this).

    Hope this helps a bit.
    And just to add! – when I looked at a couple of these schemes last year before securing a TC they mentioned very clearly whether any of the work could amount to qualifying work experience (I believe they didn't but I'd double check each one individually).

    I would also add that there is no reason why you couldn't pursue one of the schemes and, if you feel that you still want to practice law as a solicitor while doing the work, you couldn't pursue a TC.
     

    OB

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    Thank you very much for this both of you.

    @AvniD Sorry for the confusion what I meant is that lots of people are going down the legal tech route and legal operations route such as working on the tech side of law firms by working with companies like Fuse.

    I wanted to ask if you qualify in the legal tech route and say that you don't like it and feel that you want to become a solicitor can you become a solicitor afterwards without going down the TC and SQE exams route. Also if you go down the legal tech route do you still have to pass the LPC and the SQE.

    @Jessica Booker No need to apologise it is okay as you reply to my posts all the time so no worries and am so grateful for your great advice always.

    Thank you very much for this it is really helpful.

    Also, does anyone else know if you go down the legal tech and legal operations route do you have to pass the SQE or the LPC.
    From my understanding you would do seats in different business services areas (e.g. at A&O you would go into project management, consulting etc). None of this work would be legal so you would not be any closer to qualifying as a solicitor, you would just have a really good inside knowledge of how law firms work 2 years down the line. You would also need to show how you're dedicated to business services and not just applying as a Plan B, and then explain later on at TC interviews why you went down that grad scheme and are now pursuing a TC.
     

    AvniD

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    Thank you very much for this both of you.

    @AvniD Sorry for the confusion what I meant is that lots of people are going down the legal tech route and legal operations route such as working on the tech side of law firms by working with companies like Fuse.

    I wanted to ask if you qualify in the legal tech route and say that you don't like it and feel that you want to become a solicitor can you become a solicitor afterwards without going down the TC and SQE exams route. Also if you go down the legal tech route do you still have to pass the LPC and the SQE.

    @Jessica Booker No need to apologise it is okay as you reply to my posts all the time so no worries and am so grateful for your great advice always.

    Thank you very much for this it is really helpful.

    Also, does anyone else know if you go down the legal tech and legal operations route do you have to pass the SQE or the LPC.
    Thank you for clarifying! I think @Jessica Booker, @GXA123, @NS95 and @OB have given you fantastic responses already and I couldn't agree more!
     
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