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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26
- Thread starter Ram Sabaratnam
- Start date
Hi Abby,Hello!
I would structure a strong 300-word answer to Ashurst's question by following a clear framework that shows: (1) you understand the firm, (2) you understand the sector, and (3) you can analyse future opportunities. A good structure could follow something along the lines of:
1. Opening (40-50 words)
Start by briefly stating the sector you've chosen (e.g. energy transition, digital economy, real estate, etc.). Show that you understand Ashurst's strategic focus and global position in the sector - this can involve discussing deals, published insights, or public statements from the firm.
2. Context of the sector (80-100 words)
Move on to explain what key facts or market trends are creating opportunities in that sector. For example:
You can support these points with news articles and current market insights, statistics, or trends - although there is no need to go into huge detail on the specifics!
- Regulatory reform
- Technological disruption
- The global push toward net zero
- Increased private capital deployment
- Geopolitical risk and supply chain restructuring
3. The biggest opportunity (100-120 words)
Identify one major opportunity and go into more detail on it - for example, digital assets regulation or demand for sustainable infrastructure funding.
Whichever opportunity you choose, explain why this is a priority, who the clients are, what problems they need solving, and how the opportunity is likely to evolve over time commercially and legally.
4. How Ashurst is positioned (40-60 words)
Finish your answer by linking the opportunity to Ashurst's specific strengths - for example:
To wrap up your answer, end with a confident line that shows how the firm can capitalise on this shift!
- Cross-border capabilities
- Strong regulatory advisory practice
- Financing and project development experience
I hope that helps, and best of luck with the application!
Thank you very much for this structure — it’s been really helpful.
I was wondering what your view is on “opportunity” and how we should present it. For example, I’ve identified a regulatory reform as my commercial issue, which is highly relevant to one of Ashurst’s core practice areas, but I’m not sure how to frame it as an opportunity.
What I’ve done so far is explain that Ashurst is already strong in this practice area, so they could use that as a platform to attract more clients and resolve the challenges they face. Do you think that’s the right approach, or does it need to be a completely new opportunity — for instance, investment in a new practice area? At the moment, I’ve focused on how their existing strength positions them well to support clients through these upcoming reforms but I am not sure if that is enough.
Would really appreciate your thoughts!
Kind Regards,
LB
you will find out tomorrow ! you get the results in a day I think, i did last year. my report was really bad and i sitll passed the benchmark
Hi! I have some thoughts / advice for your Qs, but please take it with a pinch of salt as I'm no expert lol.Hi guys,
I'm currently going through the Bird & Bird application form, and I had a few queries - if anyone has any tips, I'd be really grateful!
1. On the Work Experience section, candidates are asked:
"Please list any experience(s) where you feel you've developed your skills or knowledge, this could include paid or unpaid work, legal or non-legal internships, volunteering, societies/clubs, and attending events."
How detailed do you think candidates should be in this section - after all, it appears to cover not only work experience per se, but also a wide range of extra-curricular stuff (e.g. attending events). For instance, would it be relevant to talk about doing Bird & Bird's online Virtual Experience Programme? Moreover, do you think candidates would be expected to mention any work experience they've done (even, for instance, a short volunteering role at a local charity several years ago?). I'm quite anxious about failing to write down something which I ultimately should have written down; but at the same time, I'm aware that if I interpret Bird & Bird's definition of "work experience" too broadly, then I might end up writing down about so many events that it actually ends up having a detrimental effect on my application!
2. I took some time out of my degree due to unforeseen circumstances, and so although I took exams at the end of three academic years, it took me more than the usual three years to graduate from university. The problem is that the application form assumes that if, for instance, your degree lasted four years (i.e. there was four years between the start date and end date of your degree), then you received academic results for each of those four years - the form doesn't allow me to leave "Year 4" blank, and so I've had to resort to typing in "N/A" in the "module name" and "module grade" section. Does this sound okay?
3. The application form asks candidates to give their "Overall university average score/GPA". Is this literally just a case of adding up all of my module scores (as a percentage), then dividing them by the amount of modules I took? Or do I have to take weighting into account? To be honest, I'm not even entirely sure how my university grade are weighted - all I know are my marks for each module, the grade I received at the end of each year, and the final grade I was awarded!
4. The application form asks: "Why do you want to be a trainee solicitor at Bird & Bird?" - would it be valid to include some reasoning explaining why I am thinking of becoming a commercial solicitor (in other words, why I'd like to go into commercial law), or is best just to focus on "why Bird & Bird?"
1. Based on the Q Bird & Bird itself proposes, it seems like you can talk about anything really. Is this for the work experience section? I would honestly add any experience I had if there were no restrictions.
2. Yes - I would also put N/A and explain the unforeseen circumstances in the application.
3. Yes, add up and divide based on how each module is weighted. It seems like you can just use your final degree grade here.
4. I would personally just focus on why Bird & Bird, because you don't want to risk seeming like you haven't read the Q properly if you start discussing more general reasons about wanting to pursue commercial law. But that's just my take!
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A few commercial advantages of a sector-focused approach that come to mind are:
- Ease of service: essentially, a sector-focused firm will deliver legal services in a way that is a lot easier for the client to use. Firstly, if a firm organizes teams more around sectors than practice areas, it looks and is a lot more similar to the client's business. Businesses perceive themselves as players in a certain industry and do not neatly separate their legal needs between the different workstreams of different practice areas. Thus, the legal service of sector-focused firms seems a lot more tailored to the client. Secondly, industry-focused firms tend to have partners with significantly broader expertise. Hence, the firm can provide a 'one-point-of-contact' system to clients, which is easier to navigate administratively.
- Strategic advice: the idea is that if you spend years and years working on matters in a single industry, by the time you become a more senior practitioner you will have almost as much technical expertise in the sector as the client themselves. Having this kind of deep insight and knowledge of the industry will not only mean that you can give better advice to clients on particular mandates, but it will also mean you will be in a better position to form a client-lawyer relationship which goes beyond that. This way, you will have a good chance of getting to know all the insides of the client's business and becoming their go-to strategic advisor. Thus, the client gets the benefit of exceptional business and legal advisory services simultaneously.
- Industry reputation: if the firm generally does a lot of high-end work in a particular sector, it will become very reputable with businesses in that sector. The fact that firm will simply be a very well-known name definitely helps in terms of shaping advantageous negotiations dynamics with opposing counsel. A great example of this is Kirkland in the PE sphere. Simply because of the firm's reputation in this area, it is able to obtain advantageous terms for clients by insisting they are "market terms". Because nobody does as many deals as they do in PE, it is sometimes difficult for the other side's counsel to counteract Kirkland's claims.
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Hi @pfoapplicant just to add to the great response from @wooliewoo I wanted say that based on the firm's prompt, you can definitely include a wide range of experiences that go beyond contract-based roles that would formally be classified as "work experiences". That said, as I see it, if you have attended many commercial law-related events, you should not make a separate entry for each of them and provide a detailed description. Instead, I would advise you to have one big "Careers events" entry, where you list the events you attended and also explain how these events/any particularly impactful event shaped your motivations. If you have completed multiple virtual experiences or short volunteering activities (or, really, any less substantial experiences that can be easily grouped together based on a set of common features), I would advise the same thing (although, of course, you can also draw connections to skills/abilities they've helped you develop).Hi guys,
I'm currently going through the Bird & Bird application form, and I had a few queries - if anyone has any tips, I'd be really grateful!
1. On the Work Experience section, candidates are asked:
"Please list any experience(s) where you feel you've developed your skills or knowledge, this could include paid or unpaid work, legal or non-legal internships, volunteering, societies/clubs, and attending events."
How detailed do you think candidates should be in this section - after all, it appears to cover not only work experience per se, but also a wide range of extra-curricular stuff (e.g. attending events). For instance, would it be relevant to talk about doing Bird & Bird's online Virtual Experience Programme? Moreover, do you think candidates would be expected to mention any work experience they've done (even, for instance, a short volunteering role at a local charity several years ago?). I'm quite anxious about failing to write down something which I ultimately should have written down; but at the same time, I'm aware that if I interpret Bird & Bird's definition of "work experience" too broadly, then I might end up writing down about so many events that it actually ends up having a detrimental effect on my application!
2. I took some time out of my degree due to unforeseen circumstances, and so although I took exams at the end of three academic years, it took me more than the usual three years to graduate from university. The problem is that the application form assumes that if, for instance, your degree lasted four years (i.e. there was four years between the start date and end date of your degree), then you received academic results for each of those four years - the form doesn't allow me to leave "Year 4" blank, and so I've had to resort to typing in "N/A" in the "module name" and "module grade" section. Does this sound okay?
3. The application form asks candidates to give their "Overall university average score/GPA". Is this literally just a case of adding up all of my module scores (as a percentage), then dividing them by the amount of modules I took? Or do I have to take weighting into account? To be honest, I'm not even entirely sure how my university grade are weighted - all I know are my marks for each module, the grade I received at the end of each year, and the final grade I was awarded!
4. The application form asks: "Why do you want to be a trainee solicitor at Bird & Bird?" - would it be valid to include some reasoning explaining why I am thinking of becoming a commercial solicitor (in other words, why I'd like to go into commercial law), or is best just to focus on "why Bird & Bird?"
As for your more general worry on including too many or two few of your experiences: I think you want to find a right balance and not overwhelm recruiters with dozens of long entries, but, at the same time, you want to add as much value to your application as possible by including many experiences that formed relevant skills. Sometimes, it is true that "less is more" in that if you have way too many long entries, your most impressive and substantive experiences may make less of an impact on a recruiter than they could have had if they had not been drowned in a sea of other information. As such, I would advise you not to feel like you have to include everything and anything that could possibly go in. That said, generally, people err more often by being under-inclusive rather than over-inclusive, and recruiters constantly try to emphasise that a very wide range of experiences can be included in the work experience section.
As such, I would say that as long as you do not have more than 7-8 entries, you should not worry about this issue; while if you have 8+ lengthier ones, you should start considering the overall value add of each new entry vs the cost of adding more information for a recruiter to get through.
@Andrei Radu @Abbie Whitlock and anyone else, please, how do I approach answering this question: Describe a recent commercial news story that interested you and explain how it relates to Trowers & Hamlins (max 250 words). Does it have to be a deal the firm has worked on/been involved in? Also, how do I go about structuring it to make it as tailored as possible? I appreciate any tips!
Hello!
This wouldn't be discouraged at all - in fact, I really would encourage you to talk about it! It's a feature that is unique to Reed Smith, and if you can tie this to other elements of your background (i.e. your working style, previous experiences, etc.), this can help make your answer tailored and well-researched
Hello!
A few resources below that I used / might be useful:
- Definitive Guide to Law Firm Case Studies (something I found super useful last cycle!)
- TCLA Written Exercises (a good way to practice if you are able to pay to access resources)
- Some law firms upload example written exercises online - I believe DWF has one available!
Hopefully they help as a starting point (particularly Jacob Miller's post!)
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