TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[Andrei Radu]

could i get some advice on how to best prep for an ac - interview and written exercise within one day - it was super short notice and i’ve been ill all weekend - what’s the most valuable thing to do in the time i have?

Hi @emily3827 I think I would invest most of the time left in preparing for the interview. You can read my more detailed explanation of my step-by-step interview preparation method in my Complete Competency Interview Guide, but in short, I think you should:

1. Create a personal question bank document, where you should include all the questions you think are most likely to come up and a mix of "difficult questions" (i.e. questions you are finding hard to mentally formulate an answer for).
2. Have a think about each question and write down one-two bullet points about the essence of the ideas and experiences you would use to answer them.
3. Practice articulating the answers in a structured, clear, formal, and composed way; ideally, record yourself on your laptop camera and then replay and critically analyse your delivery. Then, try again and again until you feel happy with the result. Your aim here should not be to learn answers by heart; but to get used to an interview format and learn how to formulate your thoughts in an articulate manner in this setting.

After doing this, only if the time allows for it I would aim to complete a mock written exercise - as I think it is significantly easier to do an ok job in this type of assessment without much prep than it is in an interview. I have also attached bellow a post in which I explained my best tips for written exercises should you wish to take a look:

While I think different strategies apply for different formats, there are a couple of pointers which I would say are generally applicable for all or almost all types of written exercises:

1. Time-management: You might have heard this so many times already, but I have to stress that most written exercises are incredibly time-pressured. I remember I was always told this, but it is very easy to forget during the actual assessment. In the first 20-30 minutes I have always to an extent or another allowed myself to be tempted by thoughts such as 'Oh it won't take me that long to read/write that part, I will just speed up a bit later' and I would thus justify being less efficient than I could have been in the first half of the exercise. As I would be entering the second half and nearing the end, I would invariably then find that it was very difficult to increase my working pace to make up for lost ground and my work product would suffer as a result. Thus, my advice is to be on your guard against that and to try to spread out your efforts evenly across the allocated time. Take one or two minutes in the beginning to make a plan and divide your workload, allocate portions of your time to completing the different parts, and try to make yourself to stick to those time limits.
2. Efficient reading: In a substantial number of written exercises you will be given a large number of documents containing overlapping information and also big sections of text containing technical details which are not of great importance to your task. Once again, there is a temptation to ignore the time constraints and to try to read everything closely to ensure you are not missing anything. However, in my experience the main task of the assessment very rarely or never hinges on easy to miss details. As such, my advice for you is to try to quickly read and skim through the documents, and only once you have a big picture go back and look at the relevant sections in more detail.
3. Analysis: Almost all written assessments have an analysis part, in which you are asked to weigh different considerations and make a judgement. I would advise you not to focus too much on trying to "blow away" the reader with the depth of your analysis or creativity of your arguments. Given the time constraints and nature of the tasks, there is rarely scope for that and if you focus to much on this kind of goal you might miss explaining much simpler points that should have been included in your analysis. As such, concentrate on considering the position of all relevant stakeholders (if you have issues doing this, drawing out diagrams can be very useful), having all the main pros and cons properly laid out, and weighing which set of considerations should you give priority to. If you can further support your opinion by making any links to current news stories or commercial trends, try to do so.
4. Clarity and structure: Finally, ensuring your answer is very easy to follow is a point whose importance I cannot overstate. A essential skill for a prospective trainee is an ability for clear communication, both verbally and in writing, and this type of assessment is how they test the later. As such, you should focus on having a simple writing style and structure as much as you focus on the substantive points you are trying to communicate.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hello @Abbie Whitlock @Andrei Radu
I was just wondering how should we best pick which news topics to follow from start to end - I know that in interviews they sometimes ask which commercial topic have you been following etc - but there's so many, how can I choose one that's good enough and do you have any examples?

Thank you

Hi @flower1 as long as the topic you choose is one that is substantial enough to give you sufficient content to cover in a two-three minute answer and as long as you can also justify being interested in the topic, I think it should be fine. There is no objective list of "good" and "bad" commercial topics to discuss; what matters is not so much the topic itself, but the way you go about discussing it.

You may want to consider this list of questions as you are constructing your answer:

• Is the answer well-researched? Am I including and addressing all major points of discussion related to this topic?
• Is my answer nuanced and carefully considered? Am I taking into account a variety of different perspectives and stakeholders, and the different views and arguments they may formulate?
• Is the information I present fully descriptive, or am I taking any view as to more contested topics, such as underlying causes of events, responses from the government and commercial actors, future trends and impacts, etc?
• Is my answer well-structured and easy to follow? Have I made sure to avoid use of unnecessary jargon and complex terminology, and have I ensured that to the extent I have used jargon and complex terminology, I am able to break them down in laymen terms if prompted to?

Finally, to give an example of of a commercial topic I used to discuss: my favourite one back when I was applying was inflation and the policies of central banks. I remember I discussed causes (the Covid-19 pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, etc), effects (rating interest rates and the consequent raise of cost of borrowing and investment) and projected impacts on the economy and financial markets (where I would also hone in on impact to PE and M&A and how big law firms would be impacted).

 

[mg42guy32]

Well done! Which one is that for?

Hey, I think that may be the 6th Nov one as I received it on Friday as well. I think Latham lets people know 6 days before the event for some reason!

 

[emily3827]

how do people approach asking questions at the end of an interview ive always been a bit confused by this - are they assessed, what kind of things are they looking for? also I struggle to make them not seem like im asking. preprepared question for the sake of it

 

[elizabethkate]

Dla piper WG on a sunday afternoon?

 

[LaDiva]

You need to complete it before the application deadline! Speaking of Pinsent Masons does anyone if the VI questions have unlimited prep time?

I want to know as well!!!!! It'd be so helpful if there was unlimited prep time, VIs are stressful enough

 

[chiichii]

Hi, I was just wondering has anyone received invitation for Clifford Chance's London Insight Day?

 

[Joey green]

I’ve got my Jones Day AC in two days if anyone wouldn’t mind sharing a few insights, or if anyone else is going and wants to chat or discuss prep together, feel free to DM me!

 

[Maddy]

Hi everyone, I just have a doubt. I recently completed my W&C VI, and I found it quite difficult. I felt that the 15 seconds of thinking time wasn’t enough, and I ended up stammering a lot and repeating myself several times. Although I had a few good points, overall, I think my presentation was poor. I’m worried it might lead to a rejection because, honestly, while typing this message, I can’t even remember what the questions were, they came so quickly.

 

[shadowboxer909]

No chance Milbank was selective.

I think they sent it out to everyone because my answers for the first test weren't particularly amazing or specific.

 

[jo_jakubickova]

For the Mishcon Chat-Based Interview, is there a timeframe within which we need to complete the interview from the moment we receive the invitation (like a week, a month or by the application deadline)?

 

[c.t.tc]

For the Mishcon Chat-Based Interview, is there a timeframe within which we need to complete the interview from the moment we receive the invitation (like a week, a month or by the application deadline)?

I think it's a 7 day deadline

 

[Amgrad]

No chance Milbank was selective.

I think they sent it out to everyone because my answers for the first test weren't particularly amazing or specific.

IMO me too.. which track are you applying? Spring or Summer?

I am on leveraged finance track and would like to tell a bit more about islamic finance seat on my test, but due to time constraint I forget it.

 

[Abbie Whitlock]

how do people approach asking questions at the end of an interview ive always been a bit confused by this - are they assessed, what kind of things are they looking for? also I struggle to make them not seem like im asking. preprepared question for the sake of it

Hello!

That's a really good question, and something that I always struggled with when it came to interviews! You are not necessarily being formally assessed at that stage, but it can still leave an impression. If you ask something inappropriate or something that would be really easy to find online, it might put you at a disadvantage.

The best approach is to treat it as a two-way conversation - you're also interviewing them to see if it's a place you'd actually want to work! Instead of memorising generic questions, try to build on what came up during the interview. For example:

• "You mentioned the team is growing - what do you think will be the biggest focus for the next few months?"
• "It sounds like collaboration is a big part of the culture here - what does this look like day to day?"

This makes your questions feel more natural and shows that you were listening closely. However, I would still go into the interview with a few questions in your back pocket (just in case your mind goes blank!), and I would focus on topics that genuinely matter to you (e.g. learning opportunities, team culture, or the future ambitions of the firm).

Just make sure you are asking the appropriate person for the question - for example, you may not ask a partner about the seat selection process, but this can be something to ask the graduate recruitment team. On the flip side, you could ask a partner about the business development opportunities or the key skills needed to progress in the firm.

I hope that helps! As long as you ask questions that show genuine curiosity and enthusiasm for learning more about the firm, it's unlikely it'll have any impact on your overall performance

 

[Bread]

No chance Milbank was selective.

I think they sent it out to everyone because my answers for the first test weren't particularly amazing or specific.

Do not worry, I haven’t received it and I was among the first to receive the first test 🤡

That said, I’m feeling pretty disheartened. I thought the SJT was pretty simple, and my answers for the written part weren’t fascinating but they were well-structured and logical. I’d just like to know what exactly I’m doing wrong in this process, but oh well I guess sending scores to people who put in time and effort to apply is too much for certain multi-million dollar companies

 

[rosedunn]

sorry is milbank rolling?

 

[AngelBaird]

just finished the DLA Piper WG, really like that it gives you a feedback report for this rather than you needing to request your score from the firm!

 

[nonlawstudent98]

Hi everyone, I just have a doubt. I recently completed my W&C VI, and I found it quite difficult. I felt that the 15 seconds of thinking time wasn’t enough, and I ended up stammering a lot and repeating myself several times. Although I had a few good points, overall, I think my presentation was poor. I’m worried it might lead to a rejection because, honestly, while typing this message, I can’t even remember what the questions were, they came so quickly.

Honestly I thought my VI went really badly but I’ve made it through to final interview! I think if you still made good points then you stand a good chance! They know that 15 seconds worth of thinking time isn’t enough and no one’s answers will be perfect!

 

[vweewcvew]

Does anyone have any tips for the Reed Smith VI? Does it include commercial awareness questions?

Congrats! Do you think I should just go for the spring vc? I was thinking of applying for winter this week, but they are already sending out VIs...

 

[opticskibidi]

Hi! For those who applied to Milbank, how long did it take to receive a WG invite after completing the online assessment?

I got it on the 4th day after completing the first test