TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

[Andrei Radu]

Thank you, Andrei.

Do you have any advice for a fact-finding exercise with an associate? From what I can gather the context is you're provided with a commercial backdrop and have to ask questions and come up with advice for a client. Posing questions to the Associate.

I have never completed a fact-finding exercise in an AC before, but I have some tips based on my experience with it in a client interviewing competition:

1. Determine the scope of your inquiry: essentially, you want to find out early on what information you are looking to get and why, as this can help you ascertain what further questions will actually be relevant. As such, after hearing/reading the brief, ask yourself: what are the commercial/legal issues we are dealing with, what is the client's interest, and what do I need to help them achieve it?
2. Organize your questions: if you can see early on that your questions can be split between a few different areas, you should make a mental plan to go through each area one at a time.
3. Ask open-ended questions: this is crucial to prompt the associate to give you more information you may not even be aware you should be looking for yet. If you ask closed-ended questions like 'Did this particular thing happen?', this simply does not give the respondent much to work on.
4. Spot strategic ambiguity: in my client interviewing competition, interviewees received a specific set of instructions as to how and when to give out information, and at some points, they would have to be intentionally ambiguous. This was to assess if you can spot that and know how to follow up more on the issue until you get the information you need. I would suspect the same will hold in your case, as the firm is looking for ways exercises that can differentiate between candidates' skills. Thus, I think you should constantly be on the lookout for insufficiently specific responses.
5. Be an active and inquisitive listener: probably the most important line of advice here is this - you need to have a genuinely inquisitive mindset, to actively want to get to the bottom of the issue. This is what enables you to naturally seek the facts that are kept hidden from you. One method that worked for me in this regard was to try to imagine myself in the shoes of the client as I was picturing their story, which prompted me to ask the right questions as to how I got into a given situation.

 

[JustwantaTC]

Really unsure what i should do. I received a paralegal offer but it is in a high street firm rather than commercial. I was previously in hospitality and started applying to any paralegal role that came up but now i am thinking if i commit to a non-commercial practice area i will look unserious as i graduated a few years ago. I was initially willing to accept as it is local to me and thought it would be better to manage with the application cycle rather than commuting two hours a day to a city firm. Would you guys take it or keep applying to commercial paralegal roles?

 

[Z48]

Does anyone have any advice for a Mayer Brown assessment centre/partner interview? It would be very much appreciated!

Hey, I can see Andrei has responded but feel free to pm me, I did an AC for their VS last year

 

[User5678]

I have received an online test invite for Howard Kennedy an hour back for whoever is still waiting

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Really unsure what i should do. I received a paralegal offer but it is in a high street firm rather than commercial. I was previously in hospitality and started applying to any paralegal role that came up but now i am thinking if i commit to a non-commercial practice area i will look unserious as i graduated a few years ago. I was initially willing to accept as it is local to me and thought it would be better to manage with the application cycle rather than commuting two hours a day to a city firm. Would you guys take it or keep applying to commercial paralegal roles?

You can accept but keep looking and applying for other roles. If you then secure something more commercially focused, you can decide whether it is better to move.

There are going to be a lot of positives of accepting this role, including gaining a lot of transferable skills and by the sounds of it giving you some flexibility with timings to then commit to other applications.

 

[legal_student2024]

I have received an online test invite for Howard Kennedy an hour back for whoever is still waiting

Has anyone else heard back? Assume a PFO as I've heard nothing

 

[Traineeoneday]

Has anyone heard anything from Foot Anstey following VI?

 

[Marios Z]

Are there any updates from Hogan Lovells at all? Still waiting to hear post WG. Also, still waiting from BM post test, and I saw some people already progressed to VI yesterday. I completed the test on the last day, and hopefully that's why it's taking long.

 

[hiddenlawyer]

I was offered a training contract at quite a large firm. In my application, I stated that I was working part-time as a paralegal at a small law firm. Between sending my application and being invited for interview, they fired me (it was a very small firm and it was not particularly personal). During my training contract interview I verbally said I was still working there but was planning on quitting. Do you think this will come up in my pre-employment screening checks that I will have to complete in over a year's time (I will likely have a new job in the meanwhile).

 

[theruleofno]

Does anyone have any advice for a Mayer Brown assessment centre/partner interview? It would be very much appreciated!

I interviewed for their vacation schemes. I imagine the process is similar for direct TC. I had a commercial focused group exercise, for this make sure to weave in your knowledge of MB and the firm’s market strengths alongside any commercial trends. We also had a ‘fact find’ which is essentially client interviewing. This is far harder to prepare for. It involved a decision on whether to invest in company a or b and we had to ask an associate open and closed ended questions to inform our decision. Finally we had a written exercise it involves proofreading an email and composing a brief email memo. Best of luck!

 

[User5678]

Shoosmiths has delayed decisions until 6pm on 19th May

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

I was offered a training contract at quite a large firm. In my application, I stated that I was working part-time as a paralegal at a small law firm. Between sending my application and being invited for interview, they fired me (it was a very small firm and it was not particularly personal). During my training contract interview I verbally said I was still working there but was planning on quitting. Do you think this will come up in my pre-employment screening checks that I will have to complete in over a year's time (I will likely have a new job in the meanwhile).

What kind of time period are we talking about between the application being submitted and the interview taking place?

 

[Tintin06]

Holding myself accountable (SullCrom TC application)

CC* ✅📝❌
HSF ✅📝❌
NRF ✅📝❌
Weil ✅❌
Akin ✅❌
Sidley ✅❌
Orrick ✅❌
Willkie ✅🎥❌
Cooley ✅❌
Latham ✅❌
Milbank ✅❌
Kirkland ✅❌
Dechert ✅❌
Ashurst* ✅📝
Skadden ✅❌
Goodwin ✅❌
Covington ✅❌
Linklaters* ✅📝❌
Paul, Weiss ✅❌
Slaughters* ✅❌
Freshfields* ✅📝❌
Fried Frank* ✅
Gibson Dunn ✅❌
Macfarlanes* ✅📝
White & Case ✅❌
Morgan Lewis ✅📞❌
Paul Hastings* ✅
White & Case* ✅
Morgan Lewis* ✅
Hogan Lovells* ✅📝❌
Cleary Gottlieb ✅❌
A&O Shearman ✅📝❌
Vinson & Elkins ✅❌
Arnold & Porter ✅❌
Baker McKenzie ✅📝❌
King & Spalding* ✅❌
Winston & Strawn ✅❌
Morrison Foerster ✅❌
Sullivan & Cromwell ✅❌
Sullivan & Cromwell* ✅

Key: ✅ = application submitted; 📝 = test received; 📞 = TI; 🎥 = VI; ❌ = rejection.

*Training Contract applications.

One app left now: Stephenson Harwood.

 

[BillSikes]

Their email says by 6pm on 9 May so expect a 5.59 email on that date.

Bros gonna be disappointed when he checks his inbox

 

[AnAnonymousDuck]

anyone know how many seconds the vi for baker mckenzie is? i saw from previous years it was 45 for prep then 90 for the questions but wasnt sure if its the same this year?

 

[hiddenlawyer]

What kind of time period are we talking about between the application being submitted and the interview taking place?

Between sending my application and my interview, a few weeks (less than a month). I was let go a little over a week after my application

 

[Miss Chocolate]

Bros gonna be disappointed when he checks his inbox

LMAOOO Yeah I got the email earlier as well, well at least now I don't have to risk reading a bad email right before my best friend's bridal shower

 

[3000to1shoteverytime]

Bros gonna be disappointed when he checks his inbox

Only if you mean because they have now extended this deadline to 19 May

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Between sending my application and my interview, a few weeks (less than a month). I was let go a little over a week after my application

It’s not to say it couldn’t be picked up - it could. It’s why lying about things like your employment in terms of when or how long you did it is something to definitely avoid.

It may not be picked up though given the limited time period and the fact it was referenced in an interview.

But you’ll now have to manage the potential anxiety of going through the reference check process and worrying about whether it is picked up or not.

 

[jy1041405]

Hi Jessica! @Jessica Booker

I hope you are well.

I was wondering what I should do to prepare for written exercises. I’ve not done one before so I would appreciate any kind of advice / what I should expect!

Thank you!!