TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Ram Sabaratnam]

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 🤞❤️

Hiya @CupOfTea17 😊


In addition to the always brilliant advice mentioned by @Andrei Radu, I'd highly recommend applying to the Aspiring Solicitors Aspire Programme. The deadline is in June, but it’s a fantastic way to meet firms directly and start building those early connections before the next application cycle start. The sessions will also help deepen your commercial awareness and get tailored support and resources before you start your PGDL. I would also just keep your eyes on the SEO London programme offerings. I've heard excellent things from future trainees who participated in these programmes and found them helpful in some of the ways that I mentioned above.

As someone who hadn't really been switched on to the activities of the student law society during my LLB, I found programmes like these particularly useful. And even if vacation schemes feel out of reach right now (totally normal in your first cycle!), there’s so much these opportunities can help you do over the summer to build your profile/experiences. Happy to share more ideas if helpful!

Best of luck, and good on you for thinking ahead already!

 

[Ram Sabaratnam]

🎉​

Dear trainee4u

We are pleased to inform you that you've been selected for our summer vacation scheme. Please confirm if you are available to attend the vacation scheme on either of the weeks listed and if you had a preference for a particular week.

Not surprised at all - your input on this forum has been fire. Hope they’re ready for you!!!! 👀🔥

 

[helloj]

how to distract yourself post scheme waiting for a TC response? i am struggling...

 

[Victor107]

Hey guys, this may not be the appropriate forum for this, but has anyone heard back from Linklaters regarding their international arbitration internship?

 

[JasmineM9]

Hi @JasmineM9 I am not sure if this was mentioned before, but for the purpose of creating an index of terminology, one resource I found really helpful was Investopedia. You can look up almost any finance-related jargon term and you will find one of the most comprehensive explanations available online. The really useful thing about it is also the fact that when further jargon terms are used to define/explain the initial one, there will always be a link sending you to a new page with its explanation. This was great for me because every time I went on it and was searching for a term I actually ended up learning the and meanings connections between of 5-6 different concepts instead.

If you choose to use this, or just generally when creating the index, I think your primary goal should be to learn how to unpack each concept in very simple layman terms - ie not having to rely on any further complex terms you cannot precisely explain. As the rather cliche test of whether you have really understood something puts it - you need to think whether you could explain it in such a way that even a kid could understand given enough time and attention. For the purposes of an interview this is essential, because if you use a jargon term and are then asked to unpack it, partners will insist you use very simple language and will easily catch out any ambiguities in your response.

Amazing, thank you so much Andrei, I will be using Investopedia and I will also purchase the TCLA Academy course. When you were beginning your commercial awareness journey, did you have a specific process or routine? As I struggle consistency, I think I need to set up a routine to follow daily and weekly to build knowledge over time. Additionally, as there is so much information online I get so overwhelmed and give up completely lol, did you stick to one or two commercial awareness resources? I only have two Little Law and Morning Brew which I am finding easy to read and engaging. I won’t be tackling FT articles until I get significantly better 🙂

 

[Ram Sabaratnam]

Hi everyone! Does anyone have any advice on how best to answer this question or what things I could focus on as I am struggling to think of ideas:

If you were to create a new law, what would it be and why? (250)

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hiya!

I wanted to add to the fantastic advice given by @trainee4u. This is a great question to showcase your creativity and your understanding of the firm's key practice areas.

I'd start by researching the firm’s strengths. If the firm is known for life sciences, tech, or regulatory work (like Covington, for instance, a firm that asked this question in my second application cycle), then proposing a law around ESG disclosures in biotech, regulating generative AI, or data privacy reform would feel far more tailored than, say, real estate reform or changes to leasehold law. If the firm focuses more on private equity, funds, or restructuring, you might suggest reforms relating to these areas. By aligning your proposal with what the firm actually does, I think you’ll show commercial awareness and legal interests.

Second, I don't think you need to reinvent the wheel here. When I’ve answered questions like this in the past, I’ve looked at what leading think tanks or policy groups in sectors I’m interested in have proposed (often in the form of policy/law reform recommendations). It’s absolutely fine to build on something that’s already been suggested by the Law Commission, the courts, a government consultation, or a respected think tank. I actually think doing this can help ground your proposal a bit more and show that you’ve engaged with ongoing legal and commercial developments.

Third, in your answer, I think it also helps to demonstrate that you’ve thought about how your law would work in practice. So you'll want your answer to touch on such questions as: Who would it affect? Are there trade-offs to consider, like cost vs fairness or innovation vs regulation? A good answer shows that you’re not just interested in legal ideas but in how those ideas would land in the real world. Briefly reflecting on those tensions is a great way to show maturity of thought and an understanding of the broader policy landscape.

Finally, think about what the law you’re proposing says about you as an applicant. Does it show that you’re someone who thinks about fairness, innovation, sustainability, or risk? By picking a topic/reform that resonates with you, I think you can better reflect to the reader the kind of lawyer you want to be.

Good luck!

 

[Andrei Radu]

Amazing, thank you so much Andrei, I will be using Investopedia and I will also purchase the TCLA Academy course. When you were beginning your commercial awareness journey, did you have a specific process or routine? As I struggle consistency, I think I need to set up a routine to follow daily and weekly to build knowledge over time. Additionally, as there is so much information online I get so overwhelmed and give up completely lol, did you stick to one or two commercial awareness resources? I only have two Little Law and Morning Brew which I am finding easy to read and engaging. I won’t be tackling FT articles until I get significantly better 🙂

I did not have a routine from the very beginning, but I slowly built it up. In forming it, I think I was guided by a principle of maximizing efficiency: essentially, I would try and think which moments of the day I do not or cannot do anything else very productive/enjoyable in and then use as many as them as possible for building commercial awareness. Over time, as I was consciously looking for these 'dead moments' to use, I formed a bit of a routine:

• First thing in the morning: as I was brushing my teeth or making coffee, I would listen to the FT News Briefing. This worked great because it just gave me a short summary of the important items in the news and enabled me to decide what I specifically wanted to learn more about in the rest of the day.
• When I first checked my email: I would take 5-10 minutes to briefly skim newsletters I subscribed to (such as Little Law and Zip Law). This normally took quite a short time as the main topics had normally already been covered by the FT News Briefing.
• During a commute: I had a roughly 30-40 minute commute to campus every day, so either on the way there or on the way back home I made it a point to listen to a more in depth commercial law podcast: either Watson's Daily, Bloomberg News, BBC Business Matters, or some law firms' podcasts.
• In the weekend: After I became more advanced, I normally tried to take around 1 hour on Saturday or Sunday to either research one topic in a lot of depth by reading FT and other articles on it, or to complete some of TCLA's courses on practice areas.

 

[A worried graduate]

I got 4 above average and 1 average last year and didn’t but people with less did - hard to say what Mayer Brown places weight on!

Probably the CV/Background

 

[lawgal1908]

Hi all, I just wanted to ask something important regarding a decision related to a VS and TC. I received a vac scheme for a big American firm in London in February, and just last week, received a TC offer for another firm. I'd really like to do the vacation scheme because I've already processed everything and it would be my last opportunity to work in the UK, as my TC is for Hong Kong. I just wanted to ask if it would be inappropriate to mention this to the firm that offered me the TC, or if it's best to just renege for the vacation scheme and do the TC.

 

[👩🎓]

Hiya!

I wanted to add to the fantastic advice given by @trainee4u. This is a great question to showcase your creativity and your understanding of the firm's key practice areas.

I'd start by researching the firm’s strengths. If the firm is known for life sciences, tech, or regulatory work (like Covington, for instance, a firm that asked this question in my second application cycle), then proposing a law around ESG disclosures in biotech, regulating generative AI, or data privacy reform would feel far more tailored than, say, real estate reform or changes to leasehold law. If the firm focuses more on private equity, funds, or restructuring, you might suggest reforms relating to these areas. By aligning your proposal with what the firm actually does, I think you’ll show commercial awareness and legal interests.

Second, I don't think you need to reinvent the wheel here. When I’ve answered questions like this in the past, I’ve looked at what leading think tanks or policy groups in sectors I’m interested in have proposed (often in the form of policy/law reform recommendations). It’s absolutely fine to build on something that’s already been suggested by the Law Commission, the courts, a government consultation, or a respected think tank. I actually think doing this can help ground your proposal a bit more and show that you’ve engaged with ongoing legal and commercial developments.

Third, in your answer, I think it also helps to demonstrate that you’ve thought about how your law would work in practice. So you'll want your answer to touch on such questions as: Who would it affect? Are there trade-offs to consider, like cost vs fairness or innovation vs regulation? A good answer shows that you’re not just interested in legal ideas but in how those ideas would land in the real world. Briefly reflecting on those tensions is a great way to show maturity of thought and an understanding of the broader policy landscape.

Finally, think about what the law you’re proposing says about you as an applicant. Does it show that you’re someone who thinks about fairness, innovation, sustainability, or risk? By picking a topic/reform that resonates with you, I think you can better reflect to the reader the kind of lawyer you want to be.

Good luck!

Thank you so much, this advice is really helpful moving forward.

 

[SeniorJunior]

TC offer post SVS with AG 🥳

 

[SamiyaJ]

TC offer post SVS with AG 🥳

Absolutely amazing!!! Congratulations legend 🫶🏾✨✨

 

[theruleofno]

Hi all, I just wanted to ask something important regarding a decision related to a VS and TC. I received a vac scheme for a big American firm in London in February, and just last week, received a TC offer for another firm. I'd really like to do the vacation scheme because I've already processed everything and it would be my last opportunity to work in the UK, as my TC is for Hong Kong. I just wanted to ask if it would be inappropriate to mention this to the firm that offered me the TC, or if it's best to just renege for the vacation scheme and do the TC.

Do the VS, you might enjoy it more and regardless you will build valuable skills and a professional network.

 

[A worried graduate]

Hi all, I just wanted to ask something important regarding a decision related to a VS and TC. I received a vac scheme for a big American firm in London in February, and just last week, received a TC offer for another firm. I'd really like to do the vacation scheme because I've already processed everything and it would be my last opportunity to work in the UK, as my TC is for Hong Kong. I just wanted to ask if it would be inappropriate to mention this to the firm that offered me the TC, or if it's best to just renege for the vacation scheme and do the TC.

I'd be honest about it unless the American firm has no presence in HK as you might want to go back to them at some point.

Actually if you haven't took the TC then go for the Vac scheme if you feel you might prefer a London TC.

 

[billyonthespeeddial]

Renege the VS - other candidates with no TC offers will be on the waitlist for that VS. Good luck with your TC

This isn't good advice and I find it really wrong that it's become the norm here. If they got the UK VS offer fair and square, and they'd rather train at the UK firm, they are absolutely entitled to do the VS and shoot for the UK TC. They have something to gain here (literally a different jurisdiction that they want more), and they earned the chance to try it. Even if it weren't a massive difference like it being a different jurisdiction, they just wanted this second firm a little more, the best advice is for them to take it. I understand that it is frustrating not being able to secure a TC, but that doesn't entitle anyone to give advice not in the best interest of the person seeking the advice.

 

[trainee4u]

This isn't good advice and I find it really wrong that it's become the norm here. If they got the UK VS offer fair and square, and they'd rather train at the UK firm, they are absolutely entitled to do the VS and shoot for the UK TC. They have something to gain here (literally a different jurisdiction that they want more), and they earned the chance to try it. Even if it weren't a massive difference like it being a different jurisdiction, they just wanted this second firm a little more, the best advice is for them to take it. I understand that it is frustrating not being able to secure a TC, but that doesn't entitle anyone to give advice not in the best interest of the person seeking the advice.

It appears from tc1999's post history that they are on the waitlist for a VS, so there might be some self interest here....

 

[User5678]

This isn't good advice and I find it really wrong that it's become the norm here. If they got the UK VS offer fair and square, and they'd rather train at the UK firm, they are absolutely entitled to do the VS and shoot for the UK TC. They have something to gain here (literally a different jurisdiction that they want more), and they earned the chance to try it. Even if it weren't a massive difference like it being a different jurisdiction, they just wanted this second firm a little more, the best advice is for them to take it. I understand that it is frustrating not being able to secure a TC, but that doesn't entitle anyone to give advice not in the best interest of the person seeking the advice.

I completely agree and came here to write this!
I understand it’s hard to get a tc but we should celebrate everyone’s achievements and we all will get there eventually. I don’t think not doing the vac scheme is good advise at all.

@lawgal1908 you have worked hard to get this and you should do the vac scheme regardless of accepting the tc offer or not especially because you mention that you want to get some work experience in UK. You might also end up liking the UK based firm and choose to accept a tc here (you never know🤷🏻‍♀️) And regardless it will only help you in future

 

[James Wakefield]

Hi all, I just wanted to ask something important regarding a decision related to a VS and TC. I received a vac scheme for a big American firm in London in February, and just last week, received a TC offer for another firm. I'd really like to do the vacation scheme because I've already processed everything and it would be my last opportunity to work in the UK, as my TC is for Hong Kong. I just wanted to ask if it would be inappropriate to mention this to the firm that offered me the TC, or if it's best to just renege for the vacation scheme and do the TC.

First thing is to check the details of your offer letters. Either offer may specify a problem about accepting the other, e.g., "your vacation scheme placement is conditional on not accepting a training contract elsewhere."

Second its completely up to you to do both. You might consider not doing the VS if you're 100% certain you want to take the TC in Hong Kong. But there's no harm in accepting and no one can hold it against you, and its still worth doing if there's even a remote chance you'd accept the TC in the UK.

 

[lawstudent272003]

Hi If anyone has any advice/knowledge about the IM Insight day and final interview please pm me x

 

[lawstudent272003]

Has anyone heard from Blake Morgan/ PMC direct TC?