TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Amma Usman]

If I can't find the name of a firm's recruitment, who do I address a cover letter to? Also, I would appreciate if anyone has any tips for drafting a legal cover letter (how to approach it, what kind of questions to asnwer etc) thank you!

Hey,

Usually, “Dear Graduate Recruitment Team” or “Dear Hiring Manager” is fine.

Three key things to cover include;

- Why commercial law.
- Why X firm.
- Skills, experiences, achievements, which make you stand out as a candidate - essentially “why you”.

 

[TC129129]

Hey! Has anyone got any advice for the SPB AC? I’m really anxious especially about the written exercise and group task. Any advice would be appreciated!! Also I’m really confused about the impact of the current tarriffs being imposed by the US on law firms. If anyone could explain this that would be great

what office?

 

[ecohorts]

what office?

Manchester

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi Andrei,

How would you advise researching how the legal work done in practice areas is different from one another?

Firstly, to be able to make relevant comparisons between their work you will need to have a high level understanding of what each practice area does. A useful concept here is the transactional/contentious/advisory distinction:

• Transactional practices: core purpose is to enable clients to complete deals, focus of work will be around preparation of contractual documents and negotiating favorable terms (with research and drafting tasks mostly pertaining to that).
• Contentious practices: core purpose is to obtain favorable outcomes in disputes, whether via a settlement or a more litigious procedure, work being therefore focused on presenting (and responding to) good legal arguments.
• Advisory practices: core purpose it to help client understand their legal position within a particular field and to help them structure their business in compliance with it; thus, work is concentrated around researching complex legal and regulatory frameworks.

After you identify where the practice are you are interested in is placed between these categories, you will want to better understand the work done by other practice areas in the same category (as they will be most similar, and therefore finding differences here will be most difficult). To understand the basics of the work done by these other practices, I would have a read through the Chambers practice area overviews.

Finally, you want to get the most detailed understanding possible of the specific practice you want to differentiate from others. I would use a combination of targeted Google searches with different variations of relevant key words ('name of practice are' and 'junior lawyer work', 'trainee tasks' etc) in conjunction with the Chambers UK overviews (for a shorter and more high level description) and then the Practical Law/Westlaw Practice Area Introductory Guides (which are very comprehensive but in many places go in more depth than you need). Throughout your readings, actively consider questions such as the following:

• Is there any particular task or set of tasks that are more needed in these areas than others?
• What is the basic rationale of clients paying for service in this practice? What is their commercial benefit, and does it different from that in other practices?
• Does the class of clients most often advised by this practice differ from that of other practice areas?

 

[xere]

Hi - has anyone heard back from Clyde? They said they would get back to us in Feb but have not received anything.

 

[Andrei Radu]

@Jessica Booker Is it safe to sell successful applications to services like TCLA/ Commercial Law Academy/ NextCityLawyer? I'm selling the one whose firm's VS I'm not accepting, if somehow I got caught (even though it's anonymised), could there be any consequences? Would the SRA see it as a problem?

Just to add to Jessica's response, I am also quite certain there is no issue with selling past applications. Written applications are your own work and therefore you have a (at least prima facie) right to do as you wish with them. As compared to information or materials you may have obtained during interviews or a VS, an application cannot be argued to be covered by any kind of confidentiality agreement. The only conceivable angle where the SRA could take issue with this would be around its 0-tolerance for dishonesty policies for character suitability assessments. However, since (i) platforms like the ones you have mentioned only advertise past applications as illustrative examples of what a good application should be (and not as something to copy and paste from); (ii) firms generally have effective automated systems to check plagiarism; (iii) access to past applications is quite widely available in university law society mentorship schemes; and (iv) wanting to access to model applications as a means to review one's own work is a legitimate motivation and stands to improve quality of application, I definitely think selling your applications would not be deemed as 'dishonest'.

 

[Zara.Th]

Can anyone give Sidley Austin AC insights plsss!!

 

[Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha]

Denton's and BCLP VS offers!

Has anyone heard from Reed Smith after the AC? It's been a month 😢

 

[y3920]

Can I ask about the TCLA Accelerator for Path 1? I am really interested in it but the link on the email takes me straight to the Gold Membership page. How do I join?

 

[acb0410]

Does anyone know if an elevator pitch is usually around something you are passionate about? Or would it be more likely to be something around the firm? Should I prepare for both circumstances?

I would be grateful for any advice please! @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

 

[tosin4774]

Can I ask about the TCLA Accelerator for Path 1? I am really interested in it but the link on the email takes me straight to the Gold Membership page. How do I join?

I was wondering that too

 

[Jessica Booker]

Does anyone know if an elevator pitch is usually around something you are passionate about? Or would it be more likely to be something around the firm? Should I prepare for both circumstances?

I would be grateful for any advice please! @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

It really depends on the context. In what type of setting/assessments would this be?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Can I ask about the TCLA Accelerator for Path 1? I am really interested in it but the link on the email takes me straight to the Gold Membership page. How do I join?

If you are an existing premium member you will have access to the accelerator programme.

 

[Newport@2008]

If you are an existing premium member you will have access to the accelerator programme.

Hi Jessica, I'm an existing bronze member but am struggling to find the link for the accelerator programme. Could you please share it (or is it only available for gold members)?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi Jessica, I'm an existing bronze member but am struggling to find the link for the accelerator programme. Could you please share it (or is it only available for gold members)?

Apologies - I should have been clearer, that the accelerator will be for Gold members rather than Bronze.

 

[aspiringcitylawyer]

Just to add to Jessica's response, I am also quite certain there is no issue with selling past applications. Written applications are your own work and therefore you have a (at least prima facie) right to do as you wish with them. As compared to information or materials you may have obtained during interviews or a VS, an application cannot be argued to be covered by any kind of confidentiality agreement. The only conceivable angle where the SRA could take issue with this would be around its 0-tolerance for dishonesty policies for character suitability assessments. However, since (i) platforms like the ones you have mentioned only advertise past applications as illustrative examples of what a good application should be (and not as something to copy and paste from); (ii) firms generally have effective automated systems to check plagiarism; (iii) access to past applications is quite widely available in university law society mentorship schemes; and (iv) wanting to access to model applications as a means to review one's own work is a legitimate motivation and stands to improve quality of application, I definitely think selling your applications would not be deemed as 'dishonest'.

Thank you for your insights.
Do you then think that selling AC insights for instance could be problematic? (If somehow firms were to find out which candidates have done so)

 

[aspiringcitylawyer]

Denton's and BCLP VS offers!

Has anyone heard from Reed Smith after the AC? It's been a month 😢

Congrats! Is your BCLP offer for Spring or Summer?

 

[knight1999]

Do people know about any people that got back from Debevoise yet ? Also maybe any insights from last year at what time they got back to people with offers and if they sent them out in one bunch?

 

[aspiringcitylawyer]

Apologies - I should have been clearer, that the accelerator will be for Gold members rather than Bronze.

Thank you! I am a Gold member, however I am unsure about how to access the relevant resources and support (for Path 1), including upcoming live sessions and the Guide. If possible, could you please provide further guidance? (Or perhaps the programme has not quite started yet?) Many thanks!

 

[acb0410]

It really depends on the context. In what type of setting/assessments would this be?

Hi Jessica, it is for an AC at a US law firm