TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[boots pharmacy]

Has anyone heard anything from hsfk for summer Vs? Passed benchmark for test in early Nov.

PFO'd. No news is good news for HSFK.

 

[boots pharmacy]

Latham, it's been 1 month since your deadline. I’m going to need you to start moving your bodies 🤨😩

Acquaintance who's an assoc there swears she sees them on their phones every time she passes by 🤣🤣🤣

 

[boots pharmacy]

I attended one of the application webinars they hosted and somebody asked something similar. Rik Palmer, one of the grad rec team bascially described it as they categorise people at each stage of the process. He didn't go into too much detail but essentially something like Exceptional, Very Good, Good, Average, Poor. etc.

E.g like this. Person A applied in September, Person B applied in November. Person A had a 'Good' written application' so they're put on hold for a bit. Person B has an 'Exceptional' so even though they applied two months later, they're progressed to test + VI straight away. But now Person B had a 'Poor' SJT + VI performance, so they are rejected/put on hold, and they'll now go back to Person A and progress them through etc.

He specifically mentioned plenty of people categorised lower at application stage, make it through the whole process and secure places on the scheme, because they perform well on the other components. It's generally a matter of waiting until higher scoring people progress/fail. Hence why some people have vac scheme offers, and some people have been waiting for months. Not a great feeling of course, but does not = PFO at all.

Great info. Very detailed, and makes sense based on my (anecdotal) experiences as well. Thank you for sharing.

 

[TCLAuser2002]

Oh to receive an email from Bakers. just say hi to me Bakers

 

[Afuturetrainee]

Sidley Austin has a Joint London and Singapore TC route open for applications. Incase some of yall are interested. Deadline is on the 31st of Jan.

 

[xMontmorency]

Interested how firms get rid of associates to realise this - does it tend to be through formal redundancy or 'managing out'?

I don't know. Depends on the firm, and also the practice within the firm.

They probably don't want to straight up fire anyone, since that's bad PR (and it's very difficult to fire without cause). More likely is that people just naturally leave and the numbers more or less work out. If they ever need to top up on associates they can always lateral new people it.

E.g. at Slaughters they will tell you by about 3-4 PQE whether you're on partnership track. If you're not, it's not like you will be fired. You'll just stay at associate/managing associate/counsel level and never get promoted. Most people take the hint and leave (many of whom end up as partners at other firms), but, even if they stay, given their experience they're still going to be billing lots for the firm so it's a win-win from Slaughters' perspective.

But there's always edge cases. E.g. this article (former Latham HK counsel sues the firm in part because the partners kept lying to her about her chances of making partner)

 

[boots pharmacy]

Sidley Austin has a Joint London and Singapore TC route open for applications. Incase some of yall are interested. Deadline is on the 31st of Jan.

Thank you for sharing. Do you know if it's possible to apply concurrently to the London VS and this joint TC as well?

 

[solicitor_2028]

@Afraz Akhtar How would you advise on approaching this question?

"Please give a brief summary of any activities you've been involved in outside academic study or work over the last four years."

In the WE section itself, I have listed out my part-time job, committee roles and pro bono work. Would you advise to consolidate these and provide a summary for the sake of this question or maybe look outside of these experiences? The only thing I am conscious about is repeating myself and I know recruiters advise against doing that. Any insight would be helpful, thanks!

 

[abc124]

did anyone else who applied to white and case for winter and did the vi get told theyre being considered for spring/summer. i got this a while back but wasn't too sure what to think

Someone I know also got it, as far as I know she hasn’t heard back. In the past cycles they had a ranking system and this happened quite a lot but I think they got rid of it this year. My guess is they kept some people who narrowly missed out on winter to see how they compare against the new applicants

 

[solicitor_2028]

Sidley Austin has a Joint London and Singapore TC route open for applications. Incase some of yall are interested. Deadline is on the 31st of Jan.

Thanks for that! Sadly, the website says only penultimate year students can apply. Guess I won't be eligible lol.

 

[EfficientBag123]

Oh to receive an email from Bakers. just say hi to me Bakers

Starting to get worried. Not about the outcome, but about grad rec’s wellbeing. Like are they alive???

 

[user123987]

Has anyone been given the test for Bakers summer Vac scheme

 

[Afuturetrainee]

Thank you for sharing. Do you know if it's possible to apply concurrently to the London VS and this joint TC as well?

Yes definitely.

But under this route, you do the Vs (termed a summer internship), in Singapore. If given the tc, you do the first year in London and second year in Singapore. Then qualify in the Singapore office. It’s also English law based so UK university graduates are encouraged to apply.

The internship is for a month.

 

[radssss]

can some who has given the Shepherd and Wedderburn assessment pls dm me😭

I am absolutely traumatised - it didn’t feel like the test is designed for a law firm but for a pure math data analyst person😭😭😭😭 I like numerical reasoning but this was way too much and only had numerical ques (that too for 40 mins)

 

[Afuturetrainee]

Thanks for that! Sadly, the website says only penultimate year students can apply. Guess I won't be eligible lol.

I think maybe cuz it’s 2028 start. So only one year to do the SQE.

 

[ilikelaw]

i was looking at the tcla profile for orrick to see what the qs are. the question..

‘Have you used AI in preparing your application? If so, how? If not, why not? (200 words)’

..scares me i won’t lie, because… do they want you to use AI? feels like such a trick question but maybe i’m overthinking 😓 im guessing they wanna see how you use the tech to its best advantage but idk😭😭😭

 

[radssss]

Hi
I just received Shepherd and Wedderburn tests invite. However the practice test does not work and I wanted to take the real tests tomorrow. Could anyone indicate which SHL practice test is the accurate one? It says general ability but there are the interactive and the MCQ ones on SHL website? Also would anyone be willing to share how many questions there are ? the email just mentions the time we have.

BRO I AM TRAUMATISED😭😭😭😭

 

[ExcitingEasting]

For those who heard back after Milbank stage 2, how long did it take for them to reach out?

 

[Harvey Specter]

Starting to get worried. Not about the outcome, but about grad rec’s wellbeing. Like are they alive???

This is the update from Bakers grad rec (it seems they’re alive but being held hostage)… 😮​

 

[BealMcAlly]

The main question I have is why would someone be submitting an application twice?

Like you see that declaration form at the end of an application, it mentions the SRA and honesty too much for my liking to try applying somewhere twice in the same cycle with a different email.

At one of the open days I went to in October, the people at my table were talking about how they know people who submit fake applications just to get access to the automatic VIs so they prepare for the real application. I was shook, no integrity... at the same event grad rec said different people would come to ACs to the ones in the VIs... some people really are brave.