TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[confusedbird]

It’s very difficult to give further context on your feedback without being an assessor from the day.

What I would generally say on the points you raise are:

1) Rapport needs to be something built from the start of the interview. Although your interviewer may have spoken about themselves at the end, I wouldn’t necessarily say this signals rapport. I can’t say this is what happened in your interview but rapport generally comes down to:

- eye contact
- smiling
- if you have two interviewers, making sure you engage with both of them, not just the one asking you the questions or the one who is most senior.
- active listening - ensuring you really listen to what the interviewers are asking if you and adapting your answers accordingly.

2) Detail - interviewers can often be looking for the detail in your initial response/answer rather than it having to be drawn out from further follow up questions. From what you have said, there is likely to have been a mismatch in expectations as to what they thought was sufficient and how detailed you perceived your answers to be. It’s hard for me to give further guidance on this based on what you have said. Feel free to PM me with further detail of the question you felt wasn’t relevant to you and we can potentially explore this further.

3) Scenario based question - this is likely to have assessed different elements. Although it maybe that you impressed in certain aspects and that was reflected on what was said in the interview, it may have been that other elements were missing. I wouldn’t necessarily expect interviewers to always give you feedback in the interview itself to give you clarity on what you had and hadn’t presented well, so it maybe that they just focused on the positive elements to keep the interview energy levels up and in a positive way.

Thank you so much for this! I appreciate the pointers.

I do feel like I did the things you listed for building a rapport but I'll focus more on it in the future and reflect on the other pointers to adjust my approach accordingly.

 

[confusedbird]

Just to add a couple of points to @Jessica Booker 's great response:

1. Judging the building of rapport is difficult as partners have very different approaches to interviews. Whilst I think discussing personal life is a positive sign in this regard, it is definitely not conclusive. Besides Jessica's tips, I would also advise you to aim to mirror the attitude of the interviewers and to continuously update your approach depending on the interviewer's reactions (including body language, facial expressions etc). Some interviewers are more formal and like looking 'strict' - when speaking with them, it is good to always be maximally focused and act a bit like you are responding to a judge in court. Some may be very direct, in which case you may want to cut the use of buzzwords and exaggerated claims about yourself or the firm. Others may be a lot more relaxed and interested in learning about you as a person, and if so it would be ideal to also relax a bit as well and drop the unnecessary formalism. Point is, different approaches will work with different people and you cannot know which is the best before you enter the interview room. Start from a point of a formal yet enthusiastic attitude and then adapt based on the cues you receive.

Similarly, this applies to the substantive content of your answers as well. Some partners will appreciate really detailed commercial analysis and knowledge of the legal market - and if so, you may want to integrate that in your answers as much as you can. Others will really like detailed explanations of your non-legal experiences and ask a lot about them, in which case you should aim to bring them up more often than you would have otherwise. The idea is just that you should try to learn as much as you can about what works during the interview itself and not hold to a pre-established rigid approach. My best interview performances happened when I deviated from the "ideal" answers I prepared initially.

2. As Jessica said, I think in most cases it is better to build in the detail into your initial answers rather than inviting follow ups. The partners can appreciate a more complete analysis of your experiences and motivations without wanting to open a whole new discussion on them. Of course you do not want to overdo it and overload them with information, but I think most candidates worry too much about this. If your answer is well structured and your tone is right, I think it can go well into three minutes without being considered "too long".

That makes sense! Thank you so much!!

 

[emma.d]

Hi, hope everyone is doing well ❤️ I have been asked the question

'Please provide three examples (with relevant detail) of how we as a law firm differs from our competitors?' (200 words)

Would I be able to mention how at an Open Day a partner mentioned that they moved from another A&O Shearman as this firm was more collaborative. Or does it need to have more of a legal/client focus rather than cultural/internal?

 

[camrxc]

Hi, just wondering how the best way to structure an answer in an interview to the question about a deal of the firm that had interested me?

 

[kuuks_]

someone from the forum got an assessment invite

someone passed the amberjack stage?

 

[jp123]

Has anyone not heard anything from NRF following Arctic Shores? I'm assuming PFO, but haven't heard a peep

 

[bsh]

someone passed the amberjack stage?

not seen this anywhere but apparently somewhere on the forum

 

[tosin4774]

someone passed the amberjack stage?

someone passed the amberjack stage?

 

[Legal Wizard]

Anyone heard from V&E post VI?

 

[bsh]

View attachment 6853

This is for the amberjack i think

 

[kuuks_]

View attachment 6853

that's from January 31st so i'm assuming it's the test invite

 

[applicationzzzzz]

Has anyone been given a place on Milbank's SVS yet? Also does anyone know how Milbank's AC is marked? Which parts of the application process have the most weight in the decision?

 

[tosin4774]

that's from January 31st so i'm assuming it's the test invite

oh okay my bad. also do you know the score one needs to get to proceed to the invterview phase

 

[kuuks_]

oh okay my bad. also do you know the score one needs to get to proceed to the invterview phase

that's alright. and I don't think anyone has any idea yet. Some people with higher scores have already received pfos so i don't know if it's weighted (so dependent on their test scores) or due to the substance of their application

 

[Chris Brown]

that's alright. and I don't think anyone has any idea yet. Some people with higher scores have already received pfos so i don't know if it's weighted (so dependent on their test scores) or due to the substance of their application

I don’t know what Paul, Weiss are looking for at this point because I saw someone on the forum earlier received a PFO despite having 3 A* at A-level, a first-class degree from a RG and they had even attended the Paul, Weiss Oct open day. 😮

I imagine they’ll want to see 9999 in the SJT or something lmao. 🤣​

 

[trainee4u]

Has anyone been given a place on Milbank's SVS yet? Also does anyone know how Milbank's AC is marked? Which parts of the application process have the most weight in the decision?

The SVS or the SVS?

 

[applicationzzzzz]

The SVS or the SVS?

Haha yes apologies, I was unclear--I mean Summer!

 

[g.cl.2020344]

Haha yes apologies, I was unclear--I mean Summer!

I haven’t heard back post app!! I applied 13th Oct- sometimes I think my early apps seem to be ignored…

 

[bsh]

I don’t know what Paul, Weiss are looking for at this point because I saw someone on the forum earlier received a PFO despite having 3 A* at A-level, a first-class degree from a RG and they had even attended the Paul, Weiss Oct open day. 😮

I imagine they’ll want to see 9999 in the SJT or something lmao. 🤣​

I think it'll be based on a mixture of your test and your app. at the Dec Open Day, Paul said that grades were important of course, but he would consider applications as a whole.

 

[trainee4u]

Hi, hope everyone is doing well ❤️ I have been asked the question

'Please provide three examples (with relevant detail) of how we as a law firm differs from our competitors?' (200 words)

Would I be able to mention how at an Open Day a partner mentioned that they moved from another A&O Shearman as this firm was more collaborative. Or does it need to have more of a legal/client focus rather than cultural/internal?

I think the point is that these things benefit the firm, e.g., collaborative can help get better quality work for clients, nice place to work can mean clients can build relationships with the same lawyers over decades, instead of the firm focusing on poaching other people's talent.