TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Amma Usman]

The upcoming cycle is going to be my 2nd application since graduating. I've only been doing retail work and volunteering in this time. Is this something I am likely to be questioned on during interviews? IDK why but it feels like I've done nothing with my time, but I'm committed to law so I haven't felt the need to pursue graduate positions other than vac schemes. I've also had medical issues that made doing things and being active quite difficult, although I'd rather not disclose it to the firms I apply to.

This is something I'm always worried about for whatever reason, does anybody have personal experience or know somebody who has been in this position and succeeded?

Please don’t worry. Retail and volunteering experience are really valuable. They show transferable skills like communication, teamwork and resilience that law firms highly value.

For example, you could say something like, managing volunteering alongside part-time retail work helped you learn how to juggle multiple responsibilities while staying organised and reliable. That’s a key skill in law, where you often have to manage competing deadlines.

It’s all about how you frame it. Many people secure training contracts without legal experience by showing strong skills and self-awareness. You’re doing really well. Keep going.

 

[Mug Fan]

Morning everyone, I have a bit of a silly question. How do you actually build your commercial awareness? I have signed up to newsletters such as Little Law and Non-billable which I am trying to be more consistent with my reading. I just realised that I have been passively reading without retain the information 🤣 Any tips to improve your commercial awareness and how to think more commercially are welcome 🙏

I subscribed to the commercial awareness course on TCLA. The key with commercial awareness is to build it over time - eventually you start seeing/recognising the same themes cropping up and your CA feels organic and not crammed.

TCLA course gives you a 15 minute revision/quiz every day of the main stories going on and I found it really helped me!

I also listen to the 10 min FT podcast each day.

Little and often works for CA!

 

[Mango]

Anyone heard back from Amex post round 1 interview?

 

[CupOfTea17]

Hi guys!

This was my 1st application cycle and so far nothing come from it yet 😅
I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on what to do over summer and also during my PGDL (which i start in sept) which isn't just VS's as they seem hard to come by! Any knowledge about building legal experience or what stands out on an application which I can do in my own time would be amazing!
Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear 🤞❤️

 

[User5678]

has anyone heard from Browne Jacobson post TI today? (Losing patience now😭)

 

[jta227]

Does anyone have any good ideas/resources for temp legal jobs to do in the next 2 months? I’d have to take a month worth of annual leave in June/July for schemes and so getting a new job right now isn’t that feasible but would still like to be doing *something* relevant if possible.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi guys!

This was my 1st application cycle and so far nothing come from it yet 😅
I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on what to do over summer and also during my PGDL (which i start in sept) which isn't just VS's as they seem hard to come by! Any knowledge about building legal experience or what stands out on an application which I can do in my own time would be amazing!
Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear 🤞❤️

Hi @CupOfTea17 I think working on building your profile and knowledge and preparing for the next cycle over the summer is a great idea. For some reason, the majority of people concentrate the vast majority of their efforts in the normal applications cycle, which is also the time they tend to be busier with university and other commitments. However, starting preparation early can be hugely beneficial. A friend of mine who was previously unsuccessful took this very seriously over the last summer (treating it almost like a full time job towards the end) and now has several VS offers.

I would advise you to do the following things:

1. Start writing applications early: The first and most important thing is to start working on applications early. Some firms already open their applications in early August, and even for the ones that do not, you can (i) do the research work and determine what would go into your why the firm reasoning; and (ii) if the specific firm's applications questions stay constant between the cycle, you can have a go at answering them already. The most important thing for maximizing chances of securing a VS/TC is to send as many high quality applications as possible. Since researching and writing an application takes a lot of time, particularly before you have built your skills in this regard, it will be very difficult to attain this when you have other commitments and when you have to get many of them done over a short span of time. If you can do some of the work in the summer, this should enable you to improve both quantity (as ideally you can have many of them already completed by the time most people start - my friend had around 20-25 done by late September) and quality (as you will have more time to invest to ensure each one is up to standard).
2. Work on your commercial awareness: as you may have heard other people say, commercial awareness is a skill that you can only build over a longer time span. If you can invest time daily to read articles or listen to podcasts discussing the business world, this will pay huge dividends when you reach the interview stage.
3. Do Forage Work Experiences: these work experiences are very useful for a number of reasons - they help you learn about practice areas, give you proof you can mention of your interest in them, show commitment to pursuing commercial law, and can be used to showcase interest in a specific firm. The more you can do (ideally across a wide spectrum of practice areas and firms you are interested in), the better.
4. Try to find other work opportunities: I know this is quite difficult, but if you can get any work experience at law firm or in house legal department, even if not in the commercial sphere, or if merely a shadowing opportunity, this could be also very useful. A method that I have heard sometimes work with smaller firms and businesses is simply cold calling and emailing. If you do not necessarily ask to be compensated and want the experience more as an insight opportunity, given enough tries, I think this could work.

 

[lawstudent2]

I subscribed to the commercial awareness course on TCLA. The key with commercial awareness is to build it over time - eventually you start seeing/recognising the same themes cropping up and your CA feels organic and not crammed.

TCLA course gives you a 15 minute revision/quiz every day of the main stories going on and I found it really helped me!

I also listen to the 10 min FT podcast each day.

Little and often works for CA!

Hi, I was just wondering which TCLA course it was that gave you the quizzes as I cannot seem to find it? Everything seems to be not relevant or closed for enrollment.
Thanks!

 

[johnnysins]

Has Winston & Strawn sent out all their AC invites?

 

[gazdgazd11]

Has Winston & Strawn sent out all their AC invites?

I’ve not seen anyone receive it?

 

[Mug Fan]

Hi, I was just wondering which TCLA course it was that gave you the quizzes as I cannot seem to find it? Everything seems to be not relevant or closed for enrollment.
Thanks!

I think it’s called TCLA Academy. @Jaysen what’s the commercial awareness course called again pls?

 

[johnnysins]

I’ve not seen anyone receive it?

I think W&S sent out a few AC invites last Friday, but given that they staggered their WGT invites i'm assuming that their AC invites are staggered too.

 

[futuretrainee7]

has anyone heard from Browne Jacobson post TI today? (Losing patience now😭)

Same! Their first AC is next Wednesday I think - would anyone know if it’s normal for firms/Browne Jacobson to wait until the last moment to send out AC invites (or should I expect a PFO in due course)?

 

[Legal Beagle]

Any insights on Winston and Strawn final interview? I’m really panicking (it’s tomorrow!) and I can’t seem to find anything online.

 

[louislittup]

Hi, I reached the VI stage for Willkie but did not realise that we could ask for feedback at that stage and did not. Is it too late to ask now / will it reflect badly on me?

 

[User5678]

Same! Their first AC is next Wednesday I think - would anyone know if it’s normal for firms/Browne Jacobson to wait until the last moment to send out AC invites (or should I expect a PFO in due course)?

Same, I don’t know tbh, but I don’t think they’ve gotten back to anyone at all yet! Hope they get back by this Wednesday!!

 

[3000to1shoteverytime]

I think W&S sent out a few AC invites last Friday, but given that they staggered their WGT invites i'm assuming that their AC invites are staggered too.

They have said that all interviews will be between 16 and 25 April. I was a Friday notification with my interview scheduled at the end of that period.

 

[johnnysins]

They have said that all interviews will be between 16 and 25 April. I was a Friday notification with my interview scheduled at the end of that period.

Oooh okay, thank you for the clarification, must have bombed the WGT HAHA

 

[19.mfjones]

Brabners AC lancashire office! Ahhh I'm so excited! Got a chance to fix my mistakes from last year. 🤞 this will be my last cycle

 

[Jessica Booker]

I think it’s called TCLA Academy. @Jaysen what’s the commercial awareness course called again pls?

It is the TCLA Academy - you can find out more here: https://tcla-academy.circle.so/checkout/commercial-awareness