TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[jojo23]

CMS WG!

Anybody know if this is timed?

30 mins and about 44 questions

 

[CharlesT47]

Not sure I fully understand your question but some thoughts:

• Lawyers working on structured finance transactions would be finance lawyers not private equity (corporate) lawyers.
• Structured finance ≠ CLOs. Pretty sure CLOs are the biggest sub-category, but structured finance includes all kinds of financial instruments like derivatives and other wonky lending arrangements.
• I don't think either Weil or Kirkland have a particularly strong structured finance practice in London. They mostly focus on borrower-side LevFin.
  • Kirkland literally only has Suril Patel who basically only advises PE sponsors.
  • Weil does have Andrew Lauder and Jacky Kelly who do some lender side securitisation and derivatives work alongside LevFin.
  • But overall not much.
• But, given structured finance is a bit of a loose concept most finance departments will come across it in some form when working for clients.
• Most likely, the majority of the structured finance work Weil and Kirkland do is driven by borrower side mandates for PE clients that might involve structured forms of borrowing like margin lending, NAV financing and specific asset-backed or PIK loans in some whacky corporate structure, or work they do in restructurings.
• From what I can tell I don't think either of them are building out into the CLO manager side, or the institutional bank / private credit side. If I had to guess why, I'd say: (i) structured finance is smaller and probably a little less lucrative than general LevFin, (ii) tough competition, and (iii) it might generate conflicts of interest with your borrower-side clients if you started advising lenders.
• Not sure whether the question "is structured finance an important part of PE?" follows.
  • CLOs are private credit since the money is raised through a private fund structure.
  • Derivatives are neither (I think?)
  • CLOs and other forms of structured finance are an important part of traditional private equity in the sense that it eases access to debt. But a private equity firm may have nothing to do with the collateralisation of the loans they have taken out.
  • So, for a law firm, having a dedicated securitisation / secondaries practice isn't really necessary to be able to advise PE sponsors.

Thanks so much for this! I'll just reframe how I've understood this and perhaps you could let me know whether I'm right?
First, PE and structured finance are different. Structured finance is only relevant to sponsor-side PE in certain situations where the PE firm decides it wants some kind of fancy funding. Equally, it could be useful for NAV subscription lines (which, in my understanding, is when a PE firm needs a short term loan to keep operations going in the company it has just acquired.)

This then means that you don't need to be particularly strong in structured finance to be able to be a sponsor-side powerhouse. (E.g Kirkland) Weil is more highly rated for structured finance/ derivatives but that is because it does some lender-sided securitisation alongside PE/ LevFin. I think this was what I was hung-up about. I saw how Weil is band 2 for securitisation, which is on-par with mega finance firms like Paul Hastings and I thought they must be a structured finance powerhouse as well.

I just have one question though on this
"CLOs and other forms of structured finance are an important part of traditional private equity in the sense that it eases access to debt. But a private equity firm may have nothing to do with the collateralisation of the loans they have taken out."

Are debts generally easier to come by because lenders (like banks) expect to sell their loans to CLO managers? This makes a lot of intuitive sense to me but wanted to confirm.

Again, I appreciate you taking the time out to respond to my message. It's been helpful.

 

[elizabethkate]

reed smith pfo not even WG haha

 

[Bread]

Which test does baker mckenzie use? Thanks

 

[Deleted member 40373]

can you mention an upcoming vacation scheme in an application or is that not good practice?

 

[mg42guy32]

Are you allowed to redo the NRF test?

 

[Lawlawland]

Did anyone hear back from the King and Spalding Disputes Open Day?

 

[abc124]

What is Reed Smith's position on grades - do they require 2.1s in all modules

They said they look for a 2.1 overall and don’t really analyse grades beyond that, whether you progress or not essentially comes down to how you answer the application questions

 

[Sharkfin]

Pretty much Immediately. Or within an hour.

But it's important to note that passing WGT is NOT ENOUGH for CC. They have an internal threshold for percentile that we have to meet. Only then your application will be read.

Any idea what the percentile is

 

[LaDiva]

can you mention an upcoming vacation scheme in an application or is that not good practice?

I would perhaps avoid it, draw whatever conclusion you need without mentioning the upcoming VS?

 

[Lawlawland]

Any idea what the percentile is

Percentile is not the score out of 40.
It's your position among the pool of candidates. For instance, if you have 94%, you are better than 94% people in the pool. (You could have scored 34, but if there are more people above that, your percentile would still be low, if that makes sense.)

Percentile is calculated not just based on your score. Other candidates' scores also determines that. To be on the safer side, you gotta have the best possible percentile.

(That said, I think this is not a good way of measuring someone's skills. But it is what it is)

 

[xMontmorency]

Thanks so much for this! I'll just reframe how I've understood this and perhaps you could let me know whether I'm right?
First, PE and structured finance are different. Structured finance is only relevant to sponsor-side PE in certain situations where the PE firm decides it wants some kind of fancy funding. Equally, it could be useful for NAV subscription lines (which, in my understanding, is when a PE firm needs a short term loan to keep operations going in the company it has just acquired.)

This then means that you don't need to be particularly strong in structured finance to be able to be a sponsor-side powerhouse. (E.g Kirkland) Weil is more highly rated for structured finance/ derivatives but that is because it does some lender-sided securitisation alongside PE/ LevFin. I think this was what I was hung-up about. I saw how Weil is band 2 for securitisation, which is on-par with mega finance firms like Paul Hastings and I thought they must be a structured finance powerhouse as well.

I just have one question though on this
"CLOs and other forms of structured finance are an important part of traditional private equity in the sense that it eases access to debt. But a private equity firm may have nothing to do with the collateralisation of the loans they have taken out."

Are debts generally easier to come by because lenders (like banks) expect to sell their loans to CLO managers? This makes a lot of intuitive sense to me but wanted to confirm.

Again, I appreciate you taking the time out to respond to my message. It's been helpful.

You got it! I would recommend doing some more specific research into Weil to be sure - i.e. the details of the structured finance mandates it has worked on. The ranking's aren't that helpful.

NAV lending is usually medium term debt used by funds with a portfolio of assets, secured by the value of that portfolio. It could be used to fund underlying operations (maybe in real estate or infrastructure PE), but that's an expensive and inefficient alternative to just getting your portfolio company to take out a revolving credit facility. It's more likely to be used for a fund-wide iniative or to pay out LPs when you can't get any cash from your investments. That's why NAV financing is taking off right now - PE firms are struggling to exit investments and need to find ways to borrow to satisfy their investors.

Re CLOs: yes. It depends what kind of product we're talking about.

If the PE firm is directly taking out some form of structured finance, then it helps them because it might provide access to debt at cheaper rates or with better conditions attached - or maybe they just can't get an ordinary TLA or TLB.

If loans taken out by PE firms are being securitised to CLOs and other funds on a secondary market, it helps the PE firms because it creates greater liquidity in the primary market. The same syndicates of institutional and private creditors can keep on lending to PE firms engaging in LBOs since securitisation takes the risk associated with previous loans off their books and frees up capital for lenders to deploy. This is particularly important given the stringent minimum capital requirements for banks under the Basel II regulations.

 

[elliece]

Anyone else having a lot of trouble with the Vantage application platform always crashing and taking ages to load? Any tips to try and fix it would be greatly appreciated

 

[l789]

Did anyone hear back from the King and Spalding Disputes Open Day?

Yes - recieved an offer

 

[Lawlawland]

Yes - recieved an offer

May I know when you applied and when did they get back?

 

[Abbie Whitlock]

What is Reed Smith's position on grades - do they require 2.1s in all modules

Hello!

Just to confirm what other forum users have stated, we look for a 2:1 overall - it doesn't matter if you have a few modules below a 2:1! As long as you meet this requirement, the main thing we'll focus on is your written answers

 

[JBM]

HSFK WVS PFO as expected.

 

[Lawyergyal123!]

Does anyone have any insight on freshfields stage 2 video interview!

 

[Abbie Whitlock]

Hello @Abbie Whitlock @Andrei Radu
This may seem ridiculous but I was wondering how can I actually keep track of ongoing things in the market, like inflation / interest rates, trade wars and geopolitics etc - I feel like there's so much information, and with things like interest rates which keep changing how am I supposed to track when it changes and other things in relation to this?

Thank you

It's not ridiculous at all, and it can feel very overwhelming at first! There is a ton of information out there, and markets do move fast - but you don't need to follow absolutely everything to stay informed. A few simple plans can help you keep up to date.

Set up a small set of reliable sources

I would pick 2-3 places that you trust and understand, and stick with them rather than trying to read everything. For example:

1. Read BBC Business or the Financial Times for in depth articles of the most impactful commercial events
2. Listen to the FT News Briefing daily to keep up to date with recent changes and stories
3. Read LittleLaw (or another similar resource) to follow any commercial stories that are likely to have an impact on the legal sector.

It's important to pick resources that suit your style of learning and retention - I always enjoyed the FT News Briefing for a quick summary, and LittleLaw as it gave examples of how concepts worked in practice. However, this will be individual for you, so make sure to pick resources you know and like

Use alerts instead of constant monitoring

Interest rate changes don't happen randomly, and they will be released on fixed schedules. Most financial news apps or platforms allow you to set notifications for any specific events, so you're only alerted when something actually changes rather than constantly checking for updates.

Focus on broader trends rather than every headline

It can sometimes be more useful (and manageable) to track overarching themes (such as the general state of global trade relations or whether inflation is rising or stabilising) rather than trying to follow every minor update. This makes the information more coherent and easier to connect with your legal studies.

It also makes it easier to discuss commercial issues in activities such as case studies or commercial awareness exercises, as you will have a broader view of the factors currently impacting the market

Remember that you don't have to know absolutely everything - the goal is to keep you aware of the things that matter to you and your interests. I hope that helps!

 

[Amgrad]

Anyone received email from Skadden about our application update? They seem monitor our progress on portal though I haven't submitted it yet