TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25
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Do law firms have waiting lists for training contract offers? Especially if you’ve been rejected after completing a vac scheme and a TC interview with them?
Hello, I start my vac scheme tomorrow. What questions should I ask trainees? And can someone pls give me a prompt on how to introduce myself and ask what do you do here haha. Also I want to talk to people in the corporate and intellectual property teams. What questions should I ask them which sounds insightful? Am I allowed to ask them about deals?
What sort of questions did they ask please-thinking of applying to next year?Beale and co DTC partner and HR interview invite. The only thing mentioned in their email is the interview would be for 30 mins on teams.
Does anyone who did the interview for the firms VS know what the interview is like (commercial or motivation and competency based or a mix of both?)
many thanks!
@Ram Sabaratnam @Andrei Radu @ZNadeem @Jessica Booker
Hi, does anyone know if Perkins Coie VS is a route to the LBA? IE is it like a traditional VS that you can convert?
- Sep 7, 2024
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A mix of bullet points and prose is always recommended. Though, given the word limit constraint, I understand your carefulness around this. I would personally aim for around 2-4 bullet points (depending on how detailed you really want to be) accurately explained. You don’t need to link it to the firm at this point, but it’ll be good to weave in any skills acquired. Though, please don’t stress about it too much for now as the other application questions/cover letters will provide way more scope to go into that in more detail anyway.
Let me give you one example of a bullet point below:
- Interned within the in-house legal team of an investment bank. I was responsible for compiling a detailed list of matters for consideration in the next AI report to be disseminated across global fronts. In addition, typical daily tasks included document review, and recording minute meetings. Feedback from my manager on my ability to manage multiple commitments easily and simultaneously produce high-quality work, fuelled my passion to become a commercial lawyer.
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Hi @bangarangbass39
Yep, many firms do have waiting lists for training contracts. The size of the list tends to vary based on the size of the intake. From what I've understood, these lists are usually made up of strong candidates who just narrowly missed out on an offer and are kept in reserve in case places become available. That said, if a firm has already sent a rejection after a vacation scheme and final interview, it unfortunately means the candidate wasn’t placed on the waiting list. In those cases, it's not a matter of waiting to hear back, because the rejection is a final decision during that cycle.
- Sep 7, 2024
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Hiya @Kakaboo
I'm sure @Amma Usman would also have more to add here, but wanted to get something to you in the meantime
I'd say don't overthink your intro. You can send an email and say something alone the lines of: “Hi, I’m [Name], I’m here on the vacation scheme this week. I'd be really grateful to schedule a chat to discuss [your work in X team/your experiences at the firm]." That said, I'd say try to arrange coffee chats with people you genuinely want to speak with; I really believe those are the conversations that will seem more organic and where your enthusiasm can really shine through.
It’s also completely fine to ask about corporate/IP matters. Just make sure to do some research before each of your coffee chats. It's very easy to tell when candidates are simply scheduling coffee chats for the sake of it, instead of doing so because they are genuinely interested in engaging with the person on the other side. Even having a quick look at the person’s LinkedIn profile and the firm’s corporate/IP page of the website can help you ask genuinely interesting questions. To start off those conversations, you can ask/say something like:
- “What kind of matters are keeping the team busy right now?”
- “What does a typical day look like for you in corporate/IP?”
- “What sorts of clients or industries do you mostly work with? Do you find the corporate team is more sector-agnostic in the work it carries out?”
- “Is there a recent deal or case the team’s worked on that stood out to you?”
With respect to trainees, you'll want to try to get a sense of their professional development, training, and involvement at the firm. Some useful questions to put to them might include:
- What was it like when you actually began at the firm? How did you find the transition?
- How did you end in at your practice area? Where would you have gone if you hadn't ended up here?
- Is there any scope to contribute ideas to the firm as a trainee?
- How is it ensured that trainees on client secondments get the same standard of training?
- How would you describe X firm’s place in the market?
- How has the firm invested in your personal training/development?
- How many of you tend to work on a deal?
- Do you find the culture non-hierarchical? Open door policy?
- What do you wish you’d known about being a trainee before you started that you now do?
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Stay doing the paralegal work. It may end up being qualifying work experience if you end up having to self fund.
Even if you don't have to self fund because you get a traditional TC it is better experience to take into the tasks you may be asked to perform as either a written test or during a vacation scheme.
Has any one
I'm wondering about this too - has anyone been able to clarify - it does say by 23 June which makes me wonder if they do mean by midnight today.
I’m praying the deadline is 5pm tomorrow omg why is it so hard for them to give a clear deadline
Yes I take "by date" to mean before that date so 23.59 tonight.
guys I need some help on the education part of Perkins Coie's application. I can only find my university but cannot find my secondary school/sixth form -- where am I supposed to list my grades? Am I supposed to write them out in the GPA box??
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