TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[johnsmith]

Slightly confused by Simmons - I did the assessment almost three weeks ago and literally heard nothing but others have heard back both positive and negative from around the same time?

Did you apply for London or Bristol? Just been at their OD in Bristol and they indicated ACs for that office won’t be out until January.

 

[c.t.tc]

Did you apply for London or Bristol? Just been at their OD in Bristol and they indicated ACs for that office won’t be out until January.

For London!

 

[13h]

any advice for dla's telephone interview?

 

[GT1205H]

any advice for dla's telephone interview?

Congratulations 🥂 do you mind if I ask when did you do your WG

 

[johnsmith]

For London!

The ACs involve real assessors so potentially they have to manage the workflow for those assessing and do small batches?

 

[Jennifer2003]

bird and bird WG!

 

[Deleted member 38167]

Hi @Future Trainee - 2027 confirmed I had a look and I think this may require manual deletion form one of the admin accounts - let me bring it up with the rest of the team and I will come back to you on this by tomorrow.

Hi Andrei, any luck please?

 

[YS391]

In the VI in Freshfields’ second test, do we have limited or unlimited prep time before each question? Any clairification would be super helpful

 

[RSK]

In the VI in Freshfields’ second test, do we have limited or unlimited prep time before each question? Any clairification would be super helpful

2 min prep 2 mins to answer

 

[YS391]

2 min prep 2 mins to answer

Thanks!

 

[Maddy]

God, how tiring was AO Shearman's test and VI, and it's just automatic... Hope it was worth it

How many minutes do we get to answer for VI?

 

[Legallywhatever]

Hello!

Yes, it was recorded

Hi Abbie,

Do you know where I can find this?

@Jaysen sorry for the tag! Wondering where we can access this?

 

[Winter]

bird and bird WG!

Congrats!! When did you apply?

 

[Deleted member 38167]

Does anyone know if DLA Piper’s Watsgon Glaser test is sent to all applicants or only those who are progressed past the application stage?

So the process has changed since last year (so I can only comment on last year) but it was only sent to those applicants who progressed past the application stage - I had a friend fail to even get the WG test after applying

 

[AspirationalDream]

Anything from Burges Salmon post-AC?

Still waiting, hoping for good news 🤞🏾

I was told end of this week.

 

[Jennifer2003]

Congrats!! When did you apply?

Sent my application this morning

 

[DavidJC]

Broadly speaking, seeing as both events are next Tue/Wed, respectively, is everyone who applied still waiting to hear back about Davis Polk and Paul, Weiss Nov Open Days?

 

[BobThebIlly]

Hi everyone,

I’m practising the Freshfields preparation materials, including the slider-style SJT questions, and I’m a bit unsure about how to approach them. For example, one question asks: “My best work is when I…” with one extreme being “working with others” and the other being “working on my own”.

In truth, my best work has usually been in group projects, so I put the slider around 80% towards the “working with others” side. Is this the right approach? I never pass these tests and I’m not sure how people get through them. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[e_turbo2]

Well done!! Do you mind me asking what your SJT strengths/weaknesses were please?

Thanks! Strengths: credibility, pride, critical reasoning. Weaknesses: self sufficient/individual impact. Wbu?

 

[xMontmorency]

Hi everyone,

I’m practising the Freshfields preparation materials, including the slider-style SJT questions, and I’m a bit unsure about how to approach them. For example, one question asks: “My best work is when I…” with one extreme being “working with others” and the other being “working on my own”.

In truth, my best work has usually been in group projects, so I put the slider around 80% towards the “working with others” side. Is this the right approach? I never pass these tests and I’m not sure how people get through them. Any advice would be appreciated!

Both are good answers. Teamwork and being able to work independently are both important.

Trying to reverse engineer what you think the grad rec team have decided is the 'correct' answer just isn't going to work. Put what you think works best for you.

IMO this just highlights the problems with SJTs. Personality traits are not an 'either' / 'or' that can be revealed with a sliding scale.