TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

[amb303]

Anyone still in limbo for Withers post test? No rejection no interview—do we think they will still send out invites later based on past cycles?

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hi all, hope you are well. I recently booked an assessment centre at a London law firm. I am not from the UK and will be travelling to London for the first time. Does anyone have any cheap accommodation suggestions. I am okay to commute from 30-45 minutes away into the center everyday. I plan on spending a week after the AC as well to solo travel. I did try and look all these things online but I am not really sure if I am making the right decision. Any help will be appreciated. My top priorities are cheap (but not horrible) accommodation yet safe areas. thanks.

 

[jy1041405]

I just did KN written case study and it was TOUGH. I guess it’s meant to be tough :-(

Does anyone who’s in the process know if we need a pass to do the next stage or automatic group exercise?

Thanks! x

 

[zonnonomo]

I just did KN written case study and it was TOUGH. I guess it’s meant to be tough :-(

Does anyone who’s in the process know if we need a pass to do the next stage or automatic group exercise?

Thanks! x

i know right i felt like there was just too much information & not enough time

group exercise is the next stage and not automatic unfortunately

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi all, hope you are well. I recently booked an assessment centre at a London law firm. I am not from the UK and will be travelling to London for the first time. Does anyone have any cheap accommodation suggestions. I am okay to commute from 30-45 minutes away into the center everyday. I plan on spending a week after the AC as well to solo travel. I did try and look all these things online but I am not really sure if I am making the right decision. Any help will be appreciated. My top priorities are cheap (but not horrible) accommodation yet safe areas. thanks.

Travelodges near major train stations in zones 3 or 4 are your best bet. Look at places like Wimbledon, East Croydon, Dagenham.

Wimbledon/Kingston upon Thames are probably seen as the safest areas. Wimbledon would be very easy as there are trains to Waterloo that only take 15 minutes or so and you can get the District line on the tube too.

 

[Raspberry44]

Who is still waiting to hear back from BM following VI?

I heard back, got pfo :/ Heard back on Friday and submitted VI on Sunday.

 

[K87]

Hi all,

I have looked at the very helpful Definitive Guide to Law Case Studies and the 2 Case Study examples on TCLA.

I was wondering if anyone knows where I can find more written practice Case Studies? I am currently struggling with them and would really appreciate any recommendations.

Thank you!

 

[trainee4u]

Hi all, hope you are well. I recently booked an assessment centre at a London law firm. I am not from the UK and will be travelling to London for the first time. Does anyone have any cheap accommodation suggestions. I am okay to commute from 30-45 minutes away into the center everyday. I plan on spending a week after the AC as well to solo travel. I did try and look all these things online but I am not really sure if I am making the right decision. Any help will be appreciated. My top priorities are cheap (but not horrible) accommodation yet safe areas. thanks.

you can get a travelodge for around £50/night. a hostel is around £25-£30, but that will be a shared room so isn't recommended. premier inn is likely to be more expensive but is worth checking

if you are going to be in London long-term you should buy an Oyster card and a 16-25 railcard (assuming you are of the appropriate age). You need to ask at an Underground or Elizabeth line station for them to load the discount on to the Oyster card (1/3 off fares, not applicable before 09:30 or 4pm till 7pm going home, so potentially not very useful during your VS but still worth doing for long-term savings).

It's cheaper to use Elizabeth Line than other rail (non-underground services) (assuming in both cases you stay within London).

E.g., Romford is zone 6 and is £5.80 peak, £3.80 off-peak into London including Underground, whereas for East Croydon (Zone 5) it's £8.80 or £6.30 to an Underground station (it's £1.90 cheaper if you don't use the Underground); it's £300 for 6 nights in Romford Travelodge and £373 for 6 nights in East Croydon Travelodge. So e.g., Croydon £16.30/day (cap within London), Romford £11.60/day, something in zone 2 £7/day, all at peak times.

It depends where you are working - if you are in the City (i.e. around Moorgate/Liverpool Street/Bank), then going east is likely to be quicker than other parts of London for the money. However, if you're in the West End then this is not applicable. Also it's worth checking walking distance to train/underground stations. If you're staying in South London then there's often no underground, so you should check train frequencies, as they can be infrequent; however, it's more pleasant to take a train the underground, and if you happen to be working, say, near City Thameslink, then getting one train into there would be preferably to having to use the underground (although as above, it's likely slightly more expensive)

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

t

you can get a travelodge for around £50/night. a hostel is around £25-£30, but that will be a shared room so isn't recommended. premier inn is likely to be more expensive but is worth checking

if you are going to be in London long-term you should buy an Oyster card and a 16-25 railcard (assuming you are of the appropriate age). You need to ask at an Underground or Elizabeth line station for them to load the discount on to the Oyster card (1/3 off fares, not applicable before 09:30 or 4pm till 7pm going home, so potentially not very useful during your VS but still worth doing for long-term savings).

It's cheaper to use Elizabeth Line than other rail (non-underground services) (assuming in both cases you stay within London).

E.g., Romford is zone 6 and is £5.80 peak, £3.80 off-peak into London including Underground, whereas for East Croydon (Zone 5) it's £8.80 or £6.30 to an Underground station (it's £1.90 cheaper if you don't use the Underground); it's £300 for 6 nights in Romford Travelodge and £373 for 6 nights in East Croydon Travelodge. So e.g., Croydon £16.30/day (cap within London), Romford £11.60/day, something in zone 2 £7/day, all at peak times.

It depends where you are working - if you are in the City (i.e. around Moorgate/Liverpool Street/Bank), then going east is likely to be quicker than other parts of London for the money. However, if you're in the West End then this is not applicable. Also it's worth checking walking distance to train/underground stations. If you're staying in South London then there's often no underground, so you should check train frequencies, as they can be infrequent; however, it's more pleasant to take a train the underground, and if you happen to be working, say, near City Thameslink, then getting one train into there would be preferably to having to use the underground (although as above, it's likely slightly more expensive)

this is so helpful honestly. can i please pm you for more questions? dont want to spam here.

 

[AnAnonymousDuck]

@ZNadeem @Jessica Booker

i have an upcoming interview where eight partners will be interviewing me and i have been told their names in advance. i have never had this before (during past acs, its usually been communicated that they can't say who in advance).

other than researching them and knowing what their specialities are, what big cases they've worked on, etc, how can i use this to my advantage and ask good and unique questions at the end of the interview? or just, use this information throughout the interview in general?

 

[LawLawMcGraw]

For those who did their KN assessment today, do you receive a confirmation email when you email your submission in? Thank youu

 

[Jessica Booker]

@ZNadeem @Jessica Booker

i have an upcoming interview where eight partners will be interviewing me and i have been told their names in advance. i have never had this before (during past acs, its usually been communicated that they can't say who in advance).

other than researching them and knowing what their specialities are, what big cases they've worked on, etc, how can i use this to my advantage and ask good and unique questions at the end of the interview? or just, use this information throughout the interview in general?

I personally wouldn’t spend too long researching interviewers, especially if you are going to have so many of them.

Your interview is about you, it’s not about them. If you find things uou are naturally interested in that the partners have worked on, then I would focus on these aspects rather than trying to understand everything they do/have done. You can then adapt your questions at the end to your natural/genuine motivations rather than trying to set up questions you think are relevant to them. The questions need to be relevant to your interests first.

I’ll bet now that at least one of the interviewers will change/no show anyway!

 

[AnAnonymousDuck]

I personally wouldn’t spend too long researching interviewers, especially if you are going to have so many of them.

Your interview is about you, it’s not about them. If you find things uou are naturally interested in that the partners have worked on, then I would focus on these aspects rather than trying to understand everything they do/have done. You can then adapt your questions at the end to your natural/genuine motivations rather than trying to set up questions you think are relevant to them. The questions need to be relevant to your interests first.

I’ll bet now that at least one of the interviewers will change/no show anyway!

Thank you so much! Another question i had was relating to tailored my reasons for why this firm. During my previous interview i gave two main reasons as my interest and n the firm: their strength and excellence in a practice area which i linked back to a module i took in dispute resolution and mooting, as well as their smaller intake which i linked back to my past experience in customer service working in similar smaller groups with high responsibility. I also talked abt a conversation i had with a current trainee and linked it back to why what they said was important to me and why i liked it (again, talking abt my work experience which aligned with).

During my feedback call, grad rec mentioned that the interviewers felt i didnt quite convey my interest in the firm enough and that it was a little too general. I couldnt ask exzctly what they meant by that or what i said that conveyed this. Would you have advice on how to improve in the next stage, especially since i feel like that my reasons for why the firm were quite well linked to the firm and me?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thank you so much! Another question i had was relating to tailored my reasons for why this firm. During my previous interview i gave two main reasons as my interest and n the firm: their strength and excellence in a practice area which i linked back to a module i took in dispute resolution and mooting, as well as their smaller intake which i linked back to my past experience in customer service working in similar smaller groups with high responsibility. I also talked abt a conversation i had with a current trainee and linked it back to why what they said was important to me and why i liked it (again, talking abt my work experience which aligned with).

During my feedback call, grad rec mentioned that the interviewers felt i didnt quite convey my interest in the firm enough and that it was a little too general. I couldnt ask exzctly what they meant by that or what i said that conveyed this. Would you have advice on how to improve in the next stage, especially since i feel like that my reasons for why the firm were quite well linked to the firm and me?

I would try to find more unique elements of the firm. Many firms will have DR specialisms/expertise, so it isn’t really explaining why the firm specifically - you are just saying you have a preference for contentious work.

The same could be said of the small trainee intake. Is there something more specific in how they train trainees that you could leverage instead rather than the cohort size?

 

[LawInTheNorth]

I heard back, got pfo :/ Heard back on Friday and submitted VI on Sunday.

Yeah same here, annoyingly going to be another cycle :/

 

[dlc3266]

Anyone know if the Morgan Lewis and Paul Hastings TC is rolling or not?

 

[Tintin06]

Anyone know if the Morgan Lewis and Paul Hastings TC is rolling or not?

Neither of them are rolling, no.

 

[Tintin06]

Yeah same here, annoyingly going to be another cycle :/

Not necessarily, TCs are still open.

Dentons, Stephenson Harwood to name two.

How much do you want this? Not to be patronising with that. It’s what my friend asked me. It finally clicked this year ultimately. It’s worth applying to more firms.

Like with the UCAS application basically.

 

[FCL25]

Anyone heard back from Shoosmiths yet?

 

[mostlyLsrareWs]

Anyone heard back from Shoosmiths yet?

They’re going to get back tomorrow I think. Didn’t their email say 19th May?