General Discussion Thread 2020-21

[Lottie98]

Has anybody heard from PwC following the final stage partner interview?

 

[smith363]

Out of interest those who are waiting to hear back from DAC Beachcroft did you apply for training contract or vacation scheme?

 

[gg999]

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone knows how the GDL cohorts are structured? I have a TC offer with a magic circle firm and was wondering if we will be grouped like the accelerated BPP consortium or will we be with people from others firms with and without TCs. Can't seem to find any information on this online.

Specifically interested about the GDL at BPP and not other law schools**

 

[Andre]

Anyone heard from Dentons post-interview (1st round) for a TC?

 

[WannabeSolicitor24]

In no different way than they should have been if the vacation schemes took place.

Some firms whose vacation scheme recruitment process replicates the TC process may make direct offers. But even then it would only be to candidates they were exceptionally confident would meet the benchmark.

When you assess vacation scheme candidates you ultimately are looking for different things (you can be a bit more open minded/take more risks with VS candidates).

You can’t do that with TCs - the level of investment is far too high to take a punt on someone.

Some firms will just recruit later though - I wouldn’t expect all firms to make VS candidate direct TC offers instead. For those firms that do choose this route, it will only be a proportion of training contracts they offer anyway.

Hi Jessica, thank you for this - it is very useful!

For a Firm like Freshfields, where the Vac Scheme is only open to second years - do you think this will impact if they make offers? And with the cohort being both law and non-law (who would have different TC starting dates) - do you think they will only offer TCs to Law Students as they will be starting earlier?

Thanks

 

[Tcapplicant]

In a question like this 'What distinguishes you from the other applicants applying for this position?' do you concentrate on one piece of experience you have ie paralegal in a city firm and try match it to the competencies or a number of different things about yourself?

 

[Alice G]

In a question like this 'What distinguishes you from the other applicants applying for this position?' do you concentrate on one piece of experience you have ie paralegal in a city firm and try match it to the competencies or a number of different things about yourself?

Best to go into a deeper analysis on fewer things I would say to ensure you are really explaining well and evidencing why these competencies or experiences are relevant to law and the firm specifically. Remember to be truly personal and develop your writing so it is really catered to not just the firm but why you. So don't speak in the abstract about a role you have held or work you have done, really try to tease out why it matters and why you are writing about it to help explain why you are different and well suited to the job.

 

[S87]

In a question like this 'What distinguishes you from the other applicants applying for this position?' do you concentrate on one piece of experience you have ie paralegal in a city firm and try match it to the competencies or a number of different things about yourself?

Are you applying to H&L?

@Alice G so would you focus on quality rather than quantity? Would you mention skills acquired as a paralegal?
@Jessica Booker what do you think?]

I have just finished to amend my answer to this question

 

[Alice G]

Are you applying to H&L?

@Alice G so would you focus on quality rather than quantity? Would you mention skills acquired as a paralegal?
@Jessica Booker what do you think?]

I have just finished to amend my answer to this question

I personally would do, yeah. You are able to put lots of detail in the work experience sections and I think to get the level of detail and analysis required for the application questions it is best to focus on fewer solid examples. Obviously, if you can cleverly conflate examples as evidence in some way then do this and if the analysis can be applied to all of the examples well.

In terms of the skills question, firms may have different styles and approaches but I tended to find that most wanted the 'show not tell approach'. This basically means they want you to give the evidence of skills without necessarily explicitly stating them as grad rec can read between the lines and it helps you with your word count and leaves you room for the analysis and detail I am referring to. I found this was favoured by the firms I was applying to but would not necessarily assume this is an industry-standard thing though so @Jessica Booker may have more insight.

 

[AH9891]

In a question like this 'What distinguishes you from the other applicants applying for this position?' do you concentrate on one piece of experience you have ie paralegal in a city firm and try match it to the competencies or a number of different things about yourself?

I just did this for H&L and I wrote about having worked in media on some of the projects they have advised on on the client side, but then equally having worked in corporate finance and am currently working on an acquisition that would size-wise be what they’d be advising on, skills this has thought me and the different perspective and industry understanding I have from 8 years of working in it. Hope that helps.

 

[Alice G]

I just did this for H&L and I wrote about having worked in media on some of the projects they have advised on on the client side, but then equally having worked in corporate finance and am currently working on an acquisition that would size-wise be what they’d be advising on, skills this has thought me and the different perspective and industry understanding I have from 8 years of working in it. Hope that helps.

that sounds good and really well-tailored to you

 

[S87]

I personally would do, yeah. You are able to put lots of detail in the work experience sections and I think to get the level of detail and analysis required for the application questions it is best to focus on fewer solid examples. Obviously, if you can cleverly conflate examples as evidence in some way then do this and if the analysis can be applied to all of the examples well.

In terms of the skills question, firms may have different styles and approaches but I tended to find that most wanted the 'show not tell approach'. This basically means they want you to give the evidence of skills without necessarily explicitly stating them as grad rec can read between the lines and it helps you with your word count and leaves you room for the analysis and detail I am referring to. I found this was favoured by the firms I was applying to but would not necessarily assume this is an industry-standard thing though so @Jessica Booker may have more insight.

Thank you, I am going to write my role as a litigation paralegal specifically my tasks and what I have learnt.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone knows how the GDL cohorts are structured? I have a TC offer with a magic circle firm and was wondering if we will be grouped like the accelerated BPP consortium or will we be with people from others firms with and without TCs. Can't seem to find any information on this online.

Specifically interested about the GDL at BPP and not other law schools**

You will probably find most of your cohort are fellow city firm future trainees, but that some modules might be with wider groups or general student cohorts.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Hi Jessica, thank you for this - it is very useful!

For a Firm like Freshfields, where the Vac Scheme is only open to second years - do you think this will impact if they make offers? And with the cohort being both law and non-law (who would have different TC starting dates) - do you think they will only offer TCs to Law Students as they will be starting earlier?

Thanks

no - I don’t think it will be any different

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Are you applying to H&L?

@Alice G so would you focus on quality rather than quantity? Would you mention skills acquired as a paralegal?
@Jessica Booker what do you think?]

I have just finished to amend my answer to this question

Being a paralegal won’t make you stand out. There will be 100s of other applicants with paralegal experience or similar work experience applying.

someone’s individuality will come through a combinations of experiences, strengths, motivations and learnings. I would expect an answer like this to talk about that combination that makes someone unique.

I wouldn’t necessarily also try and “fit” into competencies the firm is trying to assess - this is about the additional things that bring flavour to your application and make you stand out. Every candidate will be able to fit into the competencies and therefore by default, not stand out.

 

[Tcapplicant]

Being a paralegal won’t make you stand out. There will be 100s of other applicants with paralegal experience or similar work experience applying.

someone’s individuality will come through a combinations of experiences, strengths, motivations and learnings. I would expect an answer like this to talk about that combination that makes someone unique.

I wouldn’t necessarily also try and “fit” into competencies the firm is trying to assess - this is about the additional things that bring flavour to your application and make you stand out. Every candidate will be able to fit into the competencies and therefore by default, not stand out.

By "experiences, strengths, motivations and learnings" what do you specifically mean? There is another question asking about interests you pursue outside of law so don't want to repeat those.

 

[thirdtimelucky]

Anyone heard from Gibson post-app?

someone on the Student Room said they were sending out emails this week but idk?

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

By "experiences, strengths, motivations and learnings" what do you specifically mean? There is another question asking about interests you pursue outside of law so don't want to repeat those.

I would expect them to be very different questions/answers.

your experience, strengths, motivations and learnings are a whole spectrum of things that will be different to each person. “What specifically” they are are very specific to each individual.

I think people need to stop trying too hard in questions like this - it’s one of those questions where there really isn’t one approach because it is purely about you.

think about it this way:

what is your USP?
What are you proud of achieving that few other people have?
What have you done/achieved that is different/out of the ordinary?
What have you created?
What specialist skill/knowledge do you have that other candidates are unlikely to have?
What motivations do you bring that most candidates won’t have?
How would your friends/family describe your character that would identify you out of a crowd of people?
What have you done differently that’s resulted in success?
How have you proven people wrong it what you could do/achieve?

I’m not saying every candidate will have enough to answer all of the above questions - it’s more picking your specific uniqueness points out of things like this.

 

[AH9891]

By "experiences, strengths, motivations and learnings" what do you specifically mean? There is another question asking about interests you pursue outside of law so don't want to repeat those.

I went through all their trainees on LinkedIn and most of them (90%) have some kind of industry experience either having been a paralegal at one of their clients (Universal, Sony or a big name like that) or worked in the industry in some other capacity. Lee & Thompson on their vac scheme app form stated that they are particularly interested in hearing from career changers that have relevant experience in their client’s fields. I obviously don’t have any insight into the firms, but based on firms’ current trainees and comments like that it seems that the way in which you can set yourself apart from other applicants the easiest is relevant work experience. If you don’t have that then Jessica’s prompts will hopefully be really helpful.
It’s only 250 words, so I’d say less is more in terms of how many things you mention.

For the second question about your interests, the second half of the question is the important part. So I would talk about your achievements and positions of responsibility like they asked. They probably won’t make you unique, but they can demonstrate drive, resilience, teamwork and so on depending on what you list.

good luck

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Legal experience isn’t necessarily the way to set yourself apart.

1) this will be on your application form elsewhere anyway

2) there might be something far more interesting/challenging/meaningful/substantialyou have got outside of your work experience

PS: lots of trainees don’t have paralegal experience prior to becoming a trainee, so don’t worry if you don’t have any. Some trainees come in with little to no legal work experience full atopZ