TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[anon78365222111]

Any guidance on Akin sjt, didn’t pass last year unfortunately so any advice would be great

 

[BillSikes]

How many questions does CMS VI have?

 

[FutureTraineeMaybe]

Is anybody having trouble viewing the Article Archive in TCLA Academy? I've been trying to view older news for a week now but can't access it. Is there any way i can resolve this? @Jaysen

It keeps showing this :

 

[yk1906]

Anyone ghosted by Sidley and Gibson Dunn as well?

 

[applicant457]

Is TW not going to respond to spring vac scheme applicants by today?

 

[c.t.tc]

Is TW not going to respond to spring vac scheme applicants by today?

I guess it was mid-december after all

 

[Goodbyetc]

Passed dla TI 🎉🎉

 

[applicant457]

I completed fieldfisher online test on 29 Oct, got an email saying my application was forwarded to early careers on 5th November, has anyone received an interview with the same dates as me? (Just asking to know if I should assume PFO)

 

[YS391]

Anyone ghosted by Sidley and Gibson Dunn as well?

From Gibson yep

 

[yk1906]

From Gibson yep

What about Sidley? Note that I don't mean WVS

 

[msclm]

What about Sidley? Note that I don't mean WVS

Their grad recruitment team is small and will be focusing on the wvs now. I can’t imagine they’ll hold interviews in December, while the wvs is going on and both HR and partners are busy. For spring or summer vacs, I would say January is more likely to have updates

 

[yk1906]

Their grad recruitment team is small and will be focusing on the wvs now. I can’t imagine they’ll hold interviews in December, while the wvs is going on and both HR and partners are busy. For spring or summer vacs, I would say January is more likely to have updates

Thanks!!

 

[londonlawyer]

How long did the Mayer Brown test take? How many VI questions were there?

4 VI questions - 2 questions with 2 min prep and 2 with unlimited prep time

 

[dmhwpo]

Passed dla TI 🎉🎉

Congrats! How soon did you receive the TI invite and feedback? I just completed the DLA WG and Im a bit anxious about my feedback report.

 

[Ferran_]

I completed fieldfisher online test on 29 Oct, got an email saying my application was forwarded to early careers on 5th November, has anyone received an interview with the same dates as me? (Just asking to know if I should assume PFO)

fieldfisher r non-rolling
I emailed to check

 

[applicant457]

fieldfisher r non-rolling
I emailed to check

that's true! but they have been handing out interviews nonetheless I believe

 

[jacksollaf]

Just received an LLM offer from King's College London; a little bit of hope after PFOs...

 

[ashwright]

Hi @badmintonflyinginsect I think the effects you mentioned are natural consequences of increased government borrowing. Increased borrowing firstly means an increase in demand for government bonds, which, in the absence of a proportionate increase in supply, results in a decrease in bond price, which leads to an increase in yields. Secondly, increased government borrowing comes with increased defaulting risk, which bond markets price by demanding higher yields as compensation.

On the general interest rate side, an increase of government borrowing can firstly lead to increased government spending, which can be inflationary and thus lead to central banks increasing interest rates. Secondly, rising government borrowing can theoretically have a "crowding out" effect: because of its size, it can absorb a large portion of the economy's lending capacity, potentially leading to higher interest rates across the entire economy, including for private sector businesses and individuals.

Nonetheless, while these consequences follow from an economic theory perspective if you look at this point of fiscal policy in isolation, I do not actullay expect them to end up materialising in practice (at least in a very strong and impactful sense). Firstly, on the yields side: modern governments rise and fall on the reaction of bond markets, as seen with Liz Truss' disastrous mini budget, and this Labour government is very unlikely to take the risk of a similar situation occurring. If there is any wind of a negative outlook as to the country's defaulting risk, this will likely result in further tax rises. Secondly, on the interest rate side, I would not expect this crowding out effect to occur, simply because the UK government has access to immense pools of international public and private capital; and following this post-Covid inflationary period, I think government spending is something that will be a lot more tightly controlled.

Hey Andrei, I'm not OP, but I wanted to say thank you for your reply. Really appreciate your analysis; it really helps us understand these stories in terms of the bigger picture.

I'm curious about how you learned about economic theory - it's always fascinated yet bewildered me! May I ask whether you studied economics at IB/A Level? I didn't & so my economics diet is purely reading snippets from the FT every morning (and listening to their podcast). As a result, I feel that I have a rather disjointed and superficial understanding of current affairs.

I think that learning about some economic theory would help me understand the bigger trends embodied by such stories, so I'm thinking of picking up a traditional textbook to help me. If you have any resource recommendations to help develop a better understanding of these macro concepts & economic theory, I'd be extremely grateful.

This is a little off-topic, so it might be better suited for a PM - let me know & I can follow up with you there. Thank you!

 

[johnsmith]

Does anyone have any insights on the BCLP strengths-based interview?

 

[badmintonflyinginsect]

Hi @badmintonflyinginsect I think the effects you mentioned are natural consequences of increased government borrowing. Increased borrowing firstly means an increase in demand for government bonds, which, in the absence of a proportionate increase in supply, results in a decrease in bond price, which leads to an increase in yields. Secondly, increased government borrowing comes with increased defaulting risk, which bond markets price by demanding higher yields as compensation.

On the general interest rate side, an increase of government borrowing can firstly lead to increased government spending, which can be inflationary and thus lead to central banks increasing interest rates. Secondly, rising government borrowing can theoretically have a "crowding out" effect: because of its size, it can absorb a large portion of the economy's lending capacity, potentially leading to higher interest rates across the entire economy, including for private sector businesses and individuals.

Nonetheless, while these consequences follow from an economic theory perspective if you look at this point of fiscal policy in isolation, I do not actullay expect them to end up materialising in practice (at least in a very strong and impactful sense). Firstly, on the yields side: modern governments rise and fall on the reaction of bond markets, as seen with Liz Truss' disastrous mini budget, and this Labour government is very unlikely to take the risk of a similar situation occurring. If there is any wind of a negative outlook as to the country's defaulting risk, this will likely result in further tax rises. Secondly, on the interest rate side, I would not expect this crowding out effect to occur, simply because the UK government has access to immense pools of international public and private capital; and following this post-Covid inflationary period, I think government spending is something that will be a lot more tightly controlled.

Thanks so much for your response! Do you reckon we're going to see a marginal improvement in deal activity/exits because of this?