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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

gao8899

Standard Member
Nov 26, 2025
5
4
Hello!

For Q4, you don’t necessarily need a separate example of each skill. With only 200 words, it might be more effective to identify 2-3 key skills / qualities and then use one strong example that demonstrates all of them in action. This allows the graduate recruitment team to see how your skills interact in a real situation, rather than a list of disconnected mini-stories.

For the “next generation of lawyers” part, it helps you frame your answers around qualities that reflect how the legal industry is evolving. Things such as adaptability, commercial awareness, tech-literacy, cross-team collaboration, or the ability to learn quickly tend to resonate as firms are thinking about the future of the profession, not just what lawyers needed 10 years ago.

A good structure to follow could be:
  1. Briefly identify the skills you think matter for future lawyers
  2. Explain why they matter in the modern legal landscape (with reference to changes in the legal market / profession)
  3. Give one concise example of when you have demonstrated those skills
This keeps it clear, focused, and (hopefully!) within the word limit. I hope that helps! :)
Thank you! This is so helpful
 
  • 🤝
Reactions: Abbie Whitlock

InterestInPublicLaw

Legendary Member
  • Feb 7, 2024
    169
    148
    Not done the Gowling one, just the NRF one and a couple other non-law ones in the past.

    I would try and make sure you're in a really calm and relaxed environment (difficult with a test, I know!) and really get focussed, especially for the middle two games. These tests are geared towards directly testing your soft skills and the NRF one, from what I understood about the test, in order of games, tested your pattern recognition/problem-solving, attention to detail/focus/ability to perform under pressure (both games in the middle test this in similar but different ways), and emotional intelligence on the basis of recognition of facial cues (I honestly think this one is quite bs but you can find ways of "practising" by looking up facial expressions for different emotions).

    Hope this helps, I've never used any practice tests for these so can't recommend any of those, I'm afraid.
    Thank you! What's going on with the Directions game ☠️
     

    johnsmith

    Legendary Member
  • Oct 2, 2025
    277
    356
    If anyone didn’t get involved this year I’d really recommend participating in the Aspiring Solicitors Commercial Awareness competition - there was a phenomenal room of finalists to meet and learn from and the AS team are so slick in how they run it and support everyone.

    At least one winner is on TCLA as well 💪 (not me!)
     
    Last edited:

    abc124

    Esteemed Member
    Aug 9, 2025
    90
    45
    Hi @abc124

    Our application form does ask for GCSE qualification, each topic, and each grade to be listed, so I suspect it could be an issue you're experiencing accessing the system.

    Thanks!

    Kirsty
    Hi Kirsty,

    Thank you very much for letting me know! I’ve contacted Vantage about the issue, so hopefully it’ll be resolved soon. If not, would it be alright to submit my application and reach out to you directly as well?
     

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