TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[baj5]

I really hope it is Amberjack! By far my favourite out of all the ones I've done for the mix of tasks

The grad brochure indicates the next stage is a critical thinking test so perhaps shortlist.me offers that as well.

If it is any help, if you click on the Get Help button at the end of the invite email and click participant in the website it is all about VIs….

 

[johnsmith]

If it is any help, if you click on the Get Help button at the end of the invite email and click participant in the website it is all about VIs….

I know I saw that as well! Oh well, part of the job is to be able to think on your feet so will do it on Wednesday and see what comes up.

 

[Abbie Whitlock]

Can I ask how you approached your Reed Smith VI questions? I did it last year and thought I hit the four pillars the Amberjack assessment is testing you on but got rejected and I chocked it up to be because of my SJT results because i got a whopping 0 for creative mindset and high scores everywhere else. Either that, or my VI was not focused on being a trainee enough.

Would be good to know from your experience as you are a furure trainee there.

Hey!

Sure, happy to share how I approached the VI!

In general for video interviews, it's really important to make sure that you are fully answering the question and that any examples that you use actually fit with the question. I used to have a tendency to want to use my strongest example and try and fit it to the question, however, the graduate recruitment team can usually tell and it'll look better to use an example that fits best (even if it is a less 'substantive' experience)

Another main thing I did was practice - it can be very weird to talk to a computer screen, so it really helped me to have a go at answering the most common interview questions in the mirror (even if it felt a little silly!). I had a tendency to ramble in my video interviews, so knowing roughly how long it would take me to cover my main topics was really helpful.

Make sure you also utilise your prep time, as this is really useful to have a clear idea of what you are going to say before you start recording - Reed Smith actually recommend you use the prep time instead of jumping straight into the questions! I would avoid writing a script as this can sound robotic and could reflect badly on your overall performance, but I stuck a post-it note with all the key points I wanted to discuss and used that when practising (and in the recording).

There's a video in the TCLA Law Firm Directory that I watched before my VI that I found was super helpful - I'll link it here. I'd definitely give that a watch, as Rik gives some great advice on what they are looking for and how to approach each aspect of the assessment.

Overall, just answer truthfully and be yourself. I think there's a tendency to think you have to come across as super composed and scripted for a video interview, but this isn't necessarily how you would behave in an actual interview. Take a moment to relax before recording, and try and come across as approachable and friendly - show them your personality and what your strengths are!

I hope that assists

 

[Abbie Whitlock]

Has anyone taken the White & Case test and progressed? i got credibility, and collaboration as my top skills and personal responsibility as a place i need to work on. Does this mean i should just forget about it? 😔

Hey!

I would try not to focus too much on the specific traits that were your highest and lowest scoring. Whilst 'personal responsibility' was listed as the area that you need to work on, this doesn't necessarily mean that you scored really low - it was just the lowest scoring trait compared to the others. This doesn't automatically mean a rejection, and I'd try to stay positive until you hear back!

 

[SamiyaJ]

Withers SJT!

 

[Snickerdoodlesolicitor]

has anyone heard of Hogan Lovells post Job Sim? Any AC invites?

 

[Chriss]

is the withers sjt automatic?

 

[SamiyaJ]

is the withers sjt automatic?

I don’t think it is

 

[Sachin Chandra]

Does anyone have any information on Milbank's online assessment?

E.g. does it have video interview questions, SJTs, numerical/verbal reasoning components etc?

 

[Freshcutgrass]

Hi does anyone know if there are any resources to help with SJT/ cappfinity tests. I’m happy to pay for resources too.

Thanks!

 

[Afuturetrainee]

Goodwin Procter open day invite!

 

[llblawstudent]

Does anyone know whether Milbank online assessment is automatic or not?

 

[SS21]

For DLA, the question says to "select one article from DLA Piper Insights page", I went to the page and selected something that's a longer form guide. Does anyone if that is okay or does it need to be one of the short form articles?

Not sure if I'm overthinking it - would appreciate any input on this

 

[l789]

Hi does anyone know if there are any resources to help with SJT/ cappfinity tests. I’m happy to pay for resources too.

Thanks!

I would like to know aswell, commented earlier but no response.

 

[username10341034]

Do you guys think the Mayer Brown SJT score of 4/9, 4/9, 6/9 and 8/9 is enough? Should I expect a PFO?

Is the SJT a cappfinity test? And how did you find out what your score was?

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Andrei Radu in terms of identifying USPs that do not apply to another firm, how would you even find this (even with deep research, events etc) as a lot of firms work in same practice areas etc? Is it not sufficient enough to just mention what the firm does and therefore that makes it tailored to the firm? I am quite confused and I feel the whole USP part is slowing me down

Hi @Lawlife5 this is a great question about a quite complex issue, and I will firstly clarify that what I will comment here does come down to my opinion on the matter - it is not a purely factual statement of absolute truth. Based on my experience with the application process and conversations with recruiters, I think the ways firms assess a "why the firm" answer can be broadly separated into two categories I will elaborate on bellow.

1. The "If the candidate's reasoning equally applies to any other firms, it is insufficiently specific" view:

Essentially, when taken together, the candidate's why the firm reasons need to not apply to any other law firm to the same extent to which they apply to the firm in question. Importantly, however, it is not necessary for any individual reason to apply only to this firm and no other - this would be an impossible task in the case of many law firms; as you observed, many firms have similar practice areas and expertise. Rather, what is required is that, when taken in conjunction, the USPs you connect your motivations not apply to the same extent to any other firm.

Thus, the concept of "Unique Selling Points" can therefore be somewhat misleading, as USPs will not in many cases be truly "unique": instead, USPs will only pick out feature of a firm that distinguish it from the majority of other law firms (rather than every single one). Furthermore, in many cases a USP will not have a simple YES/NO applicability to a firm - e.g. for a motivation tied to a firm's strength and reputation in a practice area, there will be more of a spectrum in from "Vert strong" to "Very weak"; hence, the question of the extent to which a USP applies to a firm comes in. Under this conceptualisation, it may make more sense to see USPs as selection criteria for firms you are interested in; and to understand the task of presenting a compelling "Why the firm" answer as a task of presenting a cogent narrative as to what selection criteria you could have so that the relevant firm would score overall the highest.

Understood this way, if you take two or three of such USPs together, in most cases you will find they will not apply to the same extent to another firm. Take Latham for instance, and consider the following USPs: (i) a leading PE practice, and (ii) top tier expertise in both sponsor and borrower side finance work; (iii) a global elite law firm. The first USP would already exclude a lot of firms, retaining only a few US firms such as Kirkland and Simpson Thacher and some Magic Circle players such as Clifford Chance and Freshfields; the second USP would exclude US rivals, keeping only some of the MC firms; while the third would not apply to any UK firms, leaving us with only Latham.

2. The "If the candidate's reasoning picks up important features of our firm that distinguishes it from most rivals, it is sufficiently specific" view:

Other recruiters assess candidates through simpler lens, essentially only looking to see whether the candidate's reasoning is compelling to the effect that it seems plausible that the candidate would find a firm of this type attractive. Under this view, even when taken together the reasons provided need not pass the "not equally applicable to another firm to the same extent test". Rather, what recruiters will be looking for is whether the candidate has a genuine interest in the important features of the firm's work, culture, training etc. to the effect that they can honestly say they want to join the firm - even if they may not be able to conclude that the candidate does not want to work at any other firm more more. To use the Latham example once again, something along the lines of a justification based on a broader strong corporate and banking & finance expertise would probably suffice here (although it would equally apply to, say, Clifford Chance).

My advice:

In my opinion it is difficult (if not impossible) to know under which of these frameworks a firm will assess your answer - this is definitely something too nuanced to be advertised, and it is probably something too nuanced to even be agreed at a graduate recruitment-wide department level. Rather, it seems to me this tends to come down to the preferences of the individual recruiters who will be reviewing your application. As such, to err on the side of caution, (and if possible), I would advise you to write assuming recruiters will have the first view - as no one will complain that your why the firm justifications are too specific.

 

[Chelsea101]

Hi guys, I just applied to TW (I know - I'm cutting it fine...) I thought I had attached my CL but when I went to check after I submitted, it wasn't attached - even more annoying that the system does not flag this as an essential step prior to submission. I even tried to withdraw my app and resubmit but to no avail (strangely I could edit my application answers and resubmit but not attach a CL and resubmit - very odd indeed).

Anyway I emailed grad rec and now they A. probs won't reply because it's close to the deadline and B. will auto bin my app because I didn't show attention to detail.

Anyone else experienced something similar?? PLEASSEEE tell me its not just me haha

 

[User2640]

Would a slightly over one-page cover letter with font size 10 (approx. 700 words) be too long? Thanks!!

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Andrei Radu in terms of identifying USPs that do not apply to another firm, how would you even find this (even with deep research, events etc) as a lot of firms work in same practice areas etc? Is it not sufficient enough to just mention what the firm does and therefore that makes it tailored to the firm? I am quite confused and I feel the whole USP part is slowing me down

Also, sorry if the previous response ended up a bit lengthy - I ended up surprising myself of how much it took to express my thoughts on the issue . Also, as I noticed I did not really cover the first question about how to even find USPs, I will answer it here. With this new understanding of what an USP is in mind, I do not think it is an impossible task to find them.

In terms of the substantive aspects of what to look for, I have two main bits of advice:

• Look to combine different distinguishing features into a single USP to increase specificity: for instance, instead of describing a Latham USP simply as "strong PE practice", you could go for something along the lines of "an elite US firm with a leading PE practice in London". The first formulation would make the USP apply to a higher number of firms - both MC firms with great PE practices and smaller US firms who have a strong reputation in PE (such as Willkie or Ropes & Gray). On the second formulation, the only remaining firms (which we would then seek to exclude using other USPs) would likely be Kirkland, Simpson Thacher, and maybe Weil/Paul, Weiss.
• Try to find sub-areas of expertise within a practice area/sector: while it may be difficult to find a really specific USP in terms of a practice area/sector at the broadest categorisation levels such as "M&A" or "Energy", firms tend to have sub-specialties. For instance, while Davis Polk may not be a market leader across all types of M&A work, it is known to be especially strong of transatlantic M&A work in the TMT sector. Another example would be Gibson Dunn, who once again may not be a market leader in all types of PE work, but is especially strong in cross-border PE infrastructure work.

Of course, to find out about such sub-areas you will need to research firms in a lot of depth. Some sources I would recommend include:

• The TCLA Law Firm Profiles - as their one purpose is to make this exact task easier for you;
• Chambers and Legal 500 - particularly the latter has a more segmented ranking system of firm's practices/sectors;
• The legal press - legal publications contain a lot more information and in depth comparisons between firms' practices. The Lawyer and Law.com are great but only available through an organisational subscription or on a fee basis. A great free resource is The Global Legal Post. The research method I would advise here would be to simply go type the name of the firm in the website's search bar function and ski through the articles you find.
• The firm's website: this will take you a longer time, but if you go through the firm's listed past experience and their awards and accolades, you may start to notice patterns in terms of subspecialties the firm seems to be particularly good at.

 

[ohnoselim]

I heard back from NRF an hour ago and have an AC for next Thursday (I can’t believe we get one week to prep). Does anyone else have one then? Anyone want to jump on a call and help eachother out ? Teamwork makes the dream work.

that is so good to hear! congratulations

you should be so grateful you have a week i was just told today i have an ac on thursday

so i have 2 days to prep.....