TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2023-24

[Njaliwe Ungwe]

It means being a bit new to the process. For instance, the earlier in the cycle you do your interviews, the more likely you are to come across candidates who have never interviewed before, while later in the cycle it maybe that more candidate have had practice through being interviewed with other firms.

Oh, that’s interesting! Thanks for the insight

 

[attempting law]

hi yeah that sounds like a good idea, the firm's website says this - "Eligibility is penultimate year law undergrad or final year non-law undergrad ONLY – for 2026 Training Contract Start" and they only hire for TCs through a VS

Im confused about why they say this then too:
If you have completed the GDL/LPC prior to securing a Training Contract offer with the firm, you will not be required to have taken any compulsory electives as chosen by the firm. If you have secured a place on the GDL/LPC and are yet to commence, we will provide sponsorship of your fees. If you are part way through the GDL/LPC, we are able to reimburse you on a pro-rata basis from your offer date. Unfortunately, we are unable to reimburse your fees in retrospect.

How would someone be part way through the GDL if they were final year law undergrad?

 

[flower]

These things tend to come in waves and trends.

Sometimes firms feels like they have to push their processes earlier to compete with other firms, only to find out that approach starts to harm them in other ways (eg if you complete earlier you may just have higher renege/drop out rates, or end up rejecting good applicants who are just a bit more “green” to recruitment processes).

It might be that they are monitoring things more closely too. It’s much more common to look at things like your diversity of hires during a live recruiting process now rather than just waiting for the cycle to complete and doing it retrospectively. If the diversity of candidates is not there, they might be doing more attraction work to try and get those diverse applicants into their pipeline.

I am really curious as to how law firms approach diversity. In all the applications I've completed, I was asked to disclose things like race, my sex, religion etc, but firms will typically state at the top of the application form that these factors are not taken into account when making recruitment choices. To what extent is this true?

 

[Legalregal]

Does anyone know if it is advisable to apply for TLT's vac scheme instead of direct TC? Also, is TLT non-rolling? Thanks

 

[MrHubertLouis]

during the winter scheme grad rec said that some early offers were made because they were from the first year scheme. since the deadline is 31 december for the summer scheme, i think it's not too late. I applied a few days before the winter deadline and half of my AC got on the scheme!

Thank you! And many thanks to @axelbeugre as well! I just saw they posted on Instagram their Bristol VS is still open so I’m gonna email them about the London one. Worst case scenario, is it possible to do a VS in Bristol and then get a TC in London if I make it that far?

 

[mg1]

Thank you! And many thanks to @axelbeugre as well! I just saw they posted on Instagram their Bristol VS is still open so I’m gonna email them about the London one. Worst case scenario, is it possible to do a VS in Bristol and then get a TC in London if I make it that far?

hope i was helpful! generally you'll get a tc offer from the office you interned in - i'm sure you could ask grad rec but it might be difficult as london is a lot more competitive than bristol (by the number of applicants). you also wouldn't have interacted with anyone there and because of that, they can't assess if you're a good fit!

 

[hannah04]

Is it bad to reference an old deal (2016) in your application even if its the deal that best supports the point you're making?

 

[Abbas J]

Hi,

does anyone roughly know how strict Kirkland are with the initial app? Do they give a lot of the applicants the VI?

trying to gauge how long I should spend on the app on whether if they will give me a VI with a lesser quality app if that makes sense.

 

[IwantaVacSchemePlz]

Do HL send a rejection instantly if you don't pass the WG? Completed it two hours ago, and haven't heard anything, so taking it that I passed.

 

[Seven]

Do HL send a rejection instantly if you don't pass the WG? Completed it two hours ago, and haven't heard anything, so taking it that I passed.

nah it’s not automatic. They review first.

 

[pb15]

Hi,

does anyone roughly know how strict Kirkland are with the initial app? Do they give a lot of the applicants the VI?

trying to gauge how long I should spend on the app on whether if they will give me a VI with a lesser quality app if that makes sense.

To my knowledge, VIs aren’t easy to get at Kirkland. I’d suggest putting your best foot forward, regardless of how many VI invites are given out. Good luck!

 

[Asil Ahmad]

nah it’s not automatic. They review first.

On the open day they said if you reach pass mark for WG then they review your app.

 

[Manuchelsout]

Akin Gump test any advice

 

[BM99]

Just submitted my Akin application. How long do people wait for the test invite?

 

[user9809]

Just submitted my Akin application. How long do people wait for the test invite?

I applied 30/11 and got an invite today

 

[Jessica Booker]

I am really curious as to how law firms approach diversity. In all the applications I've completed, I was asked to disclose things like race, my sex, religion etc, but firms will typically state at the top of the application form that these factors are not taken into account when making recruitment choices. To what extent is this true?

They can’t see this information on individual applications, but they can report on the collective data. So say for instance, a firm has a target of getting 10% of their applications from Black candidates, they can monitor that across applications whilst they are coming in and if they are not reaching that target, they can then do more advertising or marketing to try and reach Black candidates. However, they cannot determine an individual applicant’s ethnicity as they cannot see this information when reviewing individual applications.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Is it bad to reference an old deal (2016) in your application even if its the deal that best supports the point you're making?

I would personally recommend finding something more recent. 7 years is quite a long time in law.

 

[Seven]

On the open day they said if you reach pass mark for WG then they review your app.

yeah but the PFO isn't automatic, so you don't know whether you passed WG until they've sent a PFO with the rest of the applicants or progressed you onto next stage.

 

[Asil Ahmad]

yeah but the PFO isn't automatic, so you don't know whether you passed WG until they've sent a PFO with the rest of the applicants or progressed you onto next stage.

That is interesting

 

[Seven]

That is interesting

The little subtext in the email to the test mentions that they'll be letting people know the outcomes in early Jan though!