TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[EfficientBag123]

is baker mckenzie rolling? does anybody know if it's like they give out ACs rolling, or will they act similarly to reed smith and still view all apps before the deadline?

Everyone will hear soon for Bakers as their ACs take place on 9th and 14th for spring vac scheme.

 

[Lord Sumption]

DLA London AC! Any insights and tips would be incredibly helpful!

On Boxing Day wow! Congrats

 

[BealMcAlly]

how did i get a 1 on creative force for MB....... i got a 7 yesterday for weil 😭

That's so bonkers.

These tests drive me up the wall.

 

[angdps]

Does anyone know how many questions are on the Baker VI

 

[billyonthespeeddial]

Pretty sure they’re non-rolling. The vac scheme deadline is 01/01/2026. Does anybody know what the dates are for the schemes? Idk if I’m looking in the wrong places but I can’t seem to find the vac scheme dates anywhere lmao.​

Yep, non-rolling. Exact dates are sent out alongside offers I believe. Last year the dates were:
-First half of April
-Second half of June
-First half of July
Two weeks each

 

[Harvey Specter]

AngryThat's so bonkers.

These tests drive me up the wall.

Firms: hey we’ve simplified our app process and so now we’re only gna ask for work experiences and academics, i.e., no more long written questions.

Me: ayy that’s light work let me get started on my app cos this should be a breeze. Surely there won’t be a catch or any hidden plot twists right?…

Also firms: yeah, about that… we have introduced 1385959000 different test stages using a mix of SJT, WG, SPAG tests, VI and maths q’s instead…

Me:

 

[A little silly]

It is untimed. Why didn't you take more time on the maths? I actually thought it was basic.

Right, my bad i wasn’t clear enough. I’m not slow at math, I’m just bad at it so its not a time issue😭😭😭i did take 4 and half hours so you best believe I may have looked DISTRESSED in their recording (if they ever check) but atleast I showed some solid resilience lollll, good luck though glad you did well xx

 

[ADhillon01]

Right, my bad i wasn’t clear enough. I’m not slow at math, I’m just bad at it so its not a time issue😭😭😭i did take 4 and half hours so you best believe I may have looked DISTRESSED in their recording (if they ever check) but atleast I showed some solid resilience lollll, good luck though glad you did well xx

I just turn off my camera in the non-recorded elements of tests to avoid this. Some of these budget and stats questions, I am oddly changing seat position every minute checking my working out - I do not need them seeing that haha

 

[Partcore22]

Hill Dickinson amberjack assessment and video interview invite! Any insights would be greatly appreciated !

Hey when did u send ur application? Also how was the assessment, what’s the time frame u have to do it

 

[Afuturetrainee]

Y’all

If a mark on my transcript says 59.80, is it misleading if I put it as a 60 on my application.

Just so it doesn't look like I got a 2:2🥹

 

[londonlawyer]

Y’all

If a mark on my transcript says 59.80, is it misleading if I put it as a 60 on my application.

Just so it doesn't look like I got a 2:2🥹

I think you should definitely stick to 59.80. Because if your uni had a rounding up policy, then they would have rounded up to 60 on your transcript. Sticking to what your transcript says would definitely be the right approach, especially to avoid any trouble later if the firm checks your transcript (which they will if you get an offer).

 

[wooliewoo]

Does anyone have any insights on Goodwin's VI? I'm kinda confused as to what they'd ask since their app was pretty extensive, unless they'll repeat Qs... Happy to provide some insights to other firms in return!

 

[stilltrying]

Anyone able to provide goodwin vi insights can provide latham and hsfk ac insights in return

 

[EfficientBag123]

Anyone able to provide goodwin vi insights can provide latham and hsfk ac insights in return

Is that Latham AC? Have you done one?

 

[anon78365222111]

Anyone with Goodwin insights for VI mssg me got insights for so many firms lol

 

[De novo]

This might sound a bit silly, but how do people manage feelings of imposter syndrome during a vacation scheme? Some people are naturally very confident socially, and I sometimes feel out of place at London open days and insight events, especially with a northern accent. What are the best ways to overcome that? I think it's mostly psychological rather than actually being able to do anything about it.

Any insights? @Afraz Akhtar @Abbie Whitlock @Andrei Radu

Some GPT notes I had on this if helpful
P.s. Londoners love Northern accents!

What Received Pronunciation ("RP") used to signal​

Historically, RP functioned as a proxy for:

• Education
• Social class
• Institutional authority

That linkage has materially weakened.

What now signals professionalism​

Today, credibility is driven by:

• Precision of language
• Logical structure
• Confidence and control
• Situational awareness

Accent ≠ competence.

In many sectors, regional or international accents are now normalised, including:

• Magic Circle / US law firms
• Big Four and mid-tier advisory
• In-house legal and tax teams

The Actual Standard You’re Being Held To​

The real requirement is not RP, but intelligibility + control.
You are expected to:

1. Be clearly understood by your audience
2. Speak at a measured pace
3. Use professional vocabulary and syntax
4. Avoid slang, filler, or informal constructions

If those are met, accent is irrelevant.

What You Do Need (and What You Don’t)​

You do NOT need:​

• RP vowel shaping
• Upper-middle-class intonation
• Accent suppression or mimicry
• A “BBC voice”

Trying to force RP often:

• Sounds artificial
• Reduces fluency
• Undermines confidence

You DO need:​

• Neutralised pronunciation of key technical words
• Controlled pace and emphasis
• Clean sentence endings
• Reduced phonetic ambiguity

Practical “Workaround”: Accent Neutralisation, Not Accent Erasure​

This is the professional solution used by many senior advisers.

Prioritise Clarity over Accent​

Focus on:

• Fully pronouncing consonants (especially word endings)
• Avoiding dropped syllables in technical terms
• Separating words cleanly (no rushing)

Control Pace and Pausing​

A slower pace:

• Increases perceived authority
• Improves comprehension
• Reduces accent salience

Strategic pauses signal confidence, not hesitation.

The Reality of Bias (and How to Handle It)​

It would be naïve to say accent bias does not exist. It can.
However:

• Bias attaches more to perceived uncertainty than accent itself
• Confidence + clarity neutralise most bias
• Overcompensating (forcing RP) often triggers bias

Senior professionals with strong regional accents succeed because:

• They speak decisively
• They don’t apologise for their voice
• They command the subject matter

A Useful Internal Rule​

A strong heuristic for professional speech:

“If I can be clearly understood by someone who has never met me, and my point lands cleanly, my accent is not the problem.”

You do not need Received Pronunciation.
You need:

• Clear speech
• Professional language
• Controlled delivery
• Confidence in content

Accent is part of identity. Professionalism is behavioural, not phonetic.

What “accent salience” means​

Accent salience is how much the listener’s attention is drawn to your accent as a “feature” rather than to your message.

If your accent is salient, the listener is more aware of:

• Your pronunciation differences
• Your rhythm/intonation
• Your identity cues

If your accent is less salient, the listener is primarily aware of:

• Your reasoning
• Your structure
• Your confidence

This does not mean your accent disappears. It means it stops being “foregrounded.”

What increases accent salience​

• Rushing
• Mumbled endings
• Unstable volume
• Upspeak (rising tone at ends of statements)
• Frequent fillers
• Over-correction (trying to “do RP” mid-sentence)

What decreases accent salience​

• Pace control
• Clear word boundaries
• Clean sentence endings
• Structured speech
• Strong content vocabulary
• Calm, consistent tone

The counterintuitive piece: structure is one of the strongest accent-salience reducers because it gives the brain a predictable map.

Why bias effects feel so powerful to the recipient (imposter syndrome, unconscious bias, etc.)​

This is a deep point. Bias is powerful not only because of the external behaviour, but because it interacts with the recipient’s internal threat systems and meaning-making.

A. The brain treats social evaluation as a threat problem​

Humans are highly sensitive to:

• rejection
• status loss
• exclusion

These are processed by the nervous system as survival-relevant. So even subtle cues—tone, interruption, dismissiveness—can trigger a threat response (fight/flight/freeze), which in turn:

• speeds speech
• reduces working memory
• increases error rate
• makes you second-guess

Then a vicious cycle can form:

1. you sense bias or dismissal
2. your body activates threat state
3. your delivery becomes less controlled
4. the other person reads that as uncertainty
5. they become more dismissive
6. you conclude “I’m not good enough”

That is how external bias and internal imposter syndrome can reinforce each other.

B. “Attributional ambiguity” is psychologically expensive​

When someone treats you dismissively, you often can’t tell:

• Is it me?
• Is it them?
• Is it time pressure?
• Is it bias?

That uncertainty is mentally draining. It leads to rumination and self-monitoring, which consumes cognitive resources you could otherwise use for performance.

C. Identity threat amplifies perception and cost​

If you suspect a negative stereotype is in play (accent, ethnicity, background), you may experience:

• heightened self-consciousness
• performance anxiety
• over-monitoring of speech

This can reduce fluency even if your underlying capability is strong.

So yes: the recipient impact is not “imagined.” It is a plausible interaction of (i) social threat response + (ii) uncertainty about cause + (iii) identity meaning.

“Reduced phonetic ambiguity”: what it means, and before/after examples​

Phonetic ambiguity is when the sounds you produce could plausibly be interpreted as multiple different words or endings, especially in fast professional speech.
In conversations - especially with people who are busy or distracted - listeners often:

• half-listen
• look at their phone or screen
• focus on the overall idea, not every word
• make quick judgments about confidence

It’s not about accent “correctness.” It’s about preventing misunderstanding at speed.

So if your word endings blur or your syllables collapse, the listener’s brain fills gaps with assumptions. That increases the probability you get misheard, interrupted, or asked to repeat yourself - which then makes you feel more anxious.

Minimal daily practice (non-accent-changing) - expanded

1. The “sentence landing” drill (2 minutes)

What to do

• Read any paragraph aloud.
• Put slight emphasis on the final word of each sentence.
• Let your voice drop slightly at the end (not dramatically).

Why it helps

• Trailing off is often read as uncertainty.
• Clean sentence endings signal confidence, even when content is cautious.

Check
Ask yourself: Did the sentence feel finished, or did it fade away?

​

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[legaleagle11]

Does anyone know how many questions are on the Baker VI

3 IIRC

 

[CharlesT47]

Hi, I submitted an application for review before the deadline on the 22nd Dec and no one has got back to me. What should I do? Is there someone I can contact @Abbie Whitlock

 

[shroomini]

Anyone with Goodwin insights for VI mssg me got insights for so many firms lol

I second this!

 

[wrpark]

Pretty sure they’re non-rolling. The vac scheme deadline is 01/01/2026. Does anybody know what the dates are for the schemes? Idk if I’m looking in the wrong places but I can’t seem to find the vac scheme dates anywhere lmao.​

Debevoise is kinda odd, I read somewhere that the application is for their Open Day which they recruit Vac Schemers through?? Not sure how accurate this information is.