Is the London-China TC less competitive

[HF3000]

Hi all,

for those who have applied to China-London TCs,

I would like some opinions on China-London TC and London-Asia TC Linklaters and Freshfields are doing.

Do you think it's less competitive since they require native speakers? I am a native speaker of Mandarin (I also speak Cantonese) so I thought maybe there are less applicants comparing to their London TCs. But obviously, I don't know how many trainees they take on each year with their Asia programmes.

Will they focus less on GCSE/A Level? I know in Chinese job market, law firms don't ask about secondary education, so I was wondering if that would be the same for their Asia programme?

I was hoping Jessica could share some insight.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Badawy]

From my experience with Middle East TCs - Yes, there are fewer applicants. But there are far fewer spaces in comparison to London. Out of Linklaters' large intake (100?) only a handful of those would be London-Asia future trainees. So it could be less competitive, or about the same. You just have to balance whether your language skills and interest in the region make you the perfect person for the TC, or whether you're better off applying to London.

Although, I am not the person you are looking for nor have any experience with neither, so might be completely wrong! Hope it was useful to some degree.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

As per my PM, it is less competitive in turns of numbers, but the standards will be the same. Some UK firms don’t have specific A-level requirements too (like Freshfields) and so I don’t think that would be any different for their Asia/London contracts.

 

[Dheepa]

Hi all,

for those who have applied to China-London TCs,

I would like some opinions on China-London TC and London-Asia TC Linklaters and Freshfields are doing.

Do you think it's less competitive since they require native speakers? I am a native speaker of Mandarin (I also speak Cantonese) so I thought maybe there are less applicants comparing to their London TCs. But obviously, I don't know how many trainees they take on each year with their Asia programmes.

Will they focus less on GCSE/A Level? I know in Chinese job market, law firms don't ask about secondary education, so I was wondering if that would be the same for their Asia programme?

I was hoping Jessica could share some insight.

Thanks a lot!

So I’ve never applied for London-Asia TCs but I know these TCs are immensely popular with international students. Most apply because I it’s their ideal solution - they’d get to train in London and work closer to home at a prestigious international firm within the short term. Because of that, I really don’t think they’re any less competitive, probably just as if not more competitive than a normal London TC.

 

[Palilegal]

From my experience with Middle East TCs - Yes, there are fewer applicants. But there are far fewer spaces in comparison to London. Out of Linklaters' large intake (100?) only a handful of those would be London-Asia future trainees. So it could be less competitive, or about the same. You just have to balance whether your language skills and interest in the region make you the perfect person for the TC, or whether you're better off applying to London.

Although, I am not the person you are looking for nor have any experience with neither, so might be completely wrong! Hope it was useful to some degree.

Do you by any chance know the number of TC positions Links offers in the ME? If you made it to the Links ME TC AC, how many students do you recall being up against?