TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[choicefox212]

Hi all, first post here and I'd love some advice. I'm an Oxbridge non-law grad (2:1) currently doing the PGDL, hoping for a training contract to materialise this year...

I have a few pieces of legal work experience - time spent in a corporate set, vac scheme in a regional firm, and two weeks of quite intense work experience in private wealth at a big London/international firm (I'm speaking to their recruitment team today). I have also have some semi-relevant work (including an internship at a private tax company in Switzerland) and generally useful trustee experience and my own small business.

I'm applying for small-medium UK-based firms, with view to working in private client (wealth, trusts, family, etc.) teams. So, not many training contracts available.

Do I apply for vac schemes or direct TCs? Some firms mainly / exclusively recruit through VS so I'll obviously apply for those, but for the firms that don't - do I have to apply for a VS? I know there are many pros, but I know the application pools are much bigger than for DTCs. Does this matter? I'm not just trying to game the system, because I can't make many of the spring VS and I have no idea when I'll be free for some of the summer weeks. However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to apply to VS because there are generally more applicants.

Would it be really stupid for me to only focus on DTC applications?

 

[adh3]

Hi all, first post here and I'd love some advice. I'm an Oxbridge non-law grad (2:1) currently doing the PGDL, hoping for a training contract to materialise this year...

I have a few pieces of legal work experience - time spent in a corporate set, vac scheme in a regional firm, and two weeks of quite intense work experience in private wealth at a big London/international firm (I'm speaking to their recruitment team today). I have also have some semi-relevant work (including an internship at a private tax company in Switzerland) and generally useful trustee experience and my own small business.

I'm applying for small-medium UK-based firms, with view to working in private client (wealth, trusts, family, etc.) teams. So, not many training contracts available.

Do I apply for vac schemes or direct TCs? Some firms mainly / exclusively recruit through VS so I'll obviously apply for those, but for the firms that don't - do I have to apply for a VS? I know there are many pros, but I know the application pools are much bigger than for DTCs. Does this matter? I'm not just trying to game the system, because I can't make many of the spring VS and I have no idea when I'll be free for some of the summer weeks. However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to apply to VS because there are generally more applicants.

Would it be really stupid for me to only focus on DTC applications?

Honestly, it sounds like you have more than enough experience to be making DTC applications. If that's the route you want to take, you should go for it.

 

[ashwright]

Hi @Andrei Radu, @Abbie Whitlock and the team,

Hope you're doing well!

Do you guys have any advice for preparing for an AC in a short space of time? I received my first AC invite ever (A&O Shearman) and I don't have much time to prepare. I never thought that I would reach this stage (years of rejection have made me uber-cautious!), so I would greatly appreciate any firm-specific and/or general guidance.

Whilst I read/listen to the standard commercial awareness podcasts, my technical knowledge (e.g., how to calculate EBITDA, company value, market cap) is lacking. Any advice on this in particular would be especially appreciated.

On a separate note, I would also appreciate any guidance on building confidence. I am not sure whether I can change how I feel inside in just a few days, but I would appreciate any advice at least on appearing confident to others (even if just for a couple of hours).

Thank you

 

[sunsoul]

Hi @Andrei Radu, @Abbie Whitlock and the team,

Hope you're doing well!

Do you guys have any advice for preparing for an AC in a short space of time? I received my first AC invite ever (A&O Shearman) and I don't have much time to prepare. I never thought that I would reach this stage (years of rejection have made me uber-cautious!), so I would greatly appreciate any firm-specific and/or general guidance.

Whilst I read/listen to the standard commercial awareness podcasts, my technical knowledge (e.g., how to calculate EBITDA, company value, market cap) is lacking. Any advice on this in particular would be especially appreciated.

On a separate note, I would also appreciate any guidance on building confidence. I am not sure whether I can change how I feel inside in just a few days, but I would appreciate any advice at least on appearing confident to others (even if just for a couple of hours).

Thank you

congrats!! when did you get the invite if you don’t mind me asking? and is this for dtc 2027 or 2028? and don’t worry, the key to confidence is to fake it til you make it. you deserve to be there, you just gotta show them once!

 

[yasmars]

Hi @Andrei Radu, @Abbie Whitlock and the team,

Hope you're doing well!

Do you guys have any advice for preparing for an AC in a short space of time? I received my first AC invite ever (A&O Shearman) and I don't have much time to prepare. I never thought that I would reach this stage (years of rejection have made me uber-cautious!), so I would greatly appreciate any firm-specific and/or general guidance.

Whilst I read/listen to the standard commercial awareness podcasts, my technical knowledge (e.g., how to calculate EBITDA, company value, market cap) is lacking. Any advice on this in particular would be especially appreciated.

On a separate note, I would also appreciate any guidance on building confidence. I am not sure whether I can change how I feel inside in just a few days, but I would appreciate any advice at least on appearing confident to others (even if just for a couple of hours).

Thank you

Omg amazing, so happy for you!!!

 

[choicefox212]

Honestly, it sounds like you have more than enough experience to be making DTC applications. If that's the route you want to take, you should go for it.

Thank you - I think that's the direction I'm leaning towards now. Just don't have masses of time or emotional bandwidth to have to jump through even more hoops....

 

[ashwright]

congrats!! when did you get the invite if you don’t mind me asking? and is this for dtc 2027 or 2028? and don’t worry, the key to confidence is to fake it til you make it. you deserve to be there, you just gotta show them once!

Thank you so so much!! I really appreciate it a lot. ❤️❤️ I received the invite on Monday late morning & unfortunately, I am not sure whether I clicked 2027 or 2028. If there is a way I can check, please let me know & I can have a look for you guys

 

[ashwright]

Omg amazing, so happy for you!!!

Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it!! The TCLA family has been one of the main sources of support on my journey, so I am really grateful for your kindness, along with everyone else's ❤️❤️

 

[enyildiz]

Slaughter PFO

 

[yk1906]

Thank you so so much!! I really appreciate it a lot. ❤️❤️ I received the invite on Monday late morning & unfortunately, I am not sure whether I clicked 2027 or 2028. If there is a way I can check, please let me know & I can have a look for you guys

Congrats!!

 

[routetotrainingcontract]

Thank you so so much!! I really appreciate it a lot. ❤️❤️ I received the invite on Monday late morning & unfortunately, I am not sure whether I clicked 2027 or 2028. If there is a way I can check, please let me know & I can have a look for you guys

This might help, you just have to sign in and you should see the year! Congratulations also by the way❤️❤️❤️

https://jobs.aoshearman.com/TGnewUI/Search/Home/Home?partnerid=30147&siteid=5040#home

 

[tcappps123]

Has anyone received an update from Links? - I know the deadline was yesterday but can't help but stressing😭

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Andrei Radu, @Abbie Whitlock and the team,

Hope you're doing well!

Do you guys have any advice for preparing for an AC in a short space of time? I received my first AC invite ever (A&O Shearman) and I don't have much time to prepare. I never thought that I would reach this stage (years of rejection have made me uber-cautious!), so I would greatly appreciate any firm-specific and/or general guidance.

Whilst I read/listen to the standard commercial awareness podcasts, my technical knowledge (e.g., how to calculate EBITDA, company value, market cap) is lacking. Any advice on this in particular would be especially appreciated.

On a separate note, I would also appreciate any guidance on building confidence. I am not sure whether I can change how I feel inside in just a few days, but I would appreciate any advice at least on appearing confident to others (even if just for a couple of hours).

Thank you

Hi @ashwright and first of all huge congratulations for getting your first AC - you should be very proud of yourself 🥳 🥳 !! As for your questions, I would say the following:

• For general competency interview preparation advice, I would advise you to follow the step-by-step approach I laid out in the Complete Competency Interview Preparation Guide. Its underlying philosophy is to enable you to develop great interview skills rather than simply memorising answers, and I converted ACs at MC/US firms 4/4 times I implemented it.
• For firm-specific preparation, I cannot give you much guidance as I have not applied to the firm. Nonetheless, I would highly recommend you check out (i) any interview experience articles at A&O Shearman on TCLA's Premium Database; and (ii) texting people in your wider social circle/messaging LinkedIn connections who interviewed at the firm to ask for best advice.

For improving technical knowledge and commercial awareness, I would advise you to consult Investopedia and use general Google searches to clarify any important business/legal concepts that you may be asked to explain. I do not think you need to be able to calculate EBITDA or company valuation; these are matters generally expected of financial analysts at investment banks rather than commercial lawyers. I have not heard about such tasks featuring in ACs at law firms, and I can say from personal experience that (i) I have been successful without knowing how to do that; and that (ii) the vast majority of people I know who have been successful would also not known how to do that. As such, I would not worry over and invest a lot of time in trying to memorise complex formulas; rather, I would simply try to be acquainted with and be able to explain in laymen terms the underlying concepts (ie. what is EBITDA and why is it useful?). More generally, to ensure you have covered your bases technical knowledge-wise, I think you should have a basic understanding of the following:

1. Some fundamental company law & company organisation matters, such as the different roles of shareholders vs directors, role of articles of association, concept of limited liability and separate legal personality, etc.
2. Common financial jargon - ie interest rates, equity vs debt finance, IPOs, bonds, securities, market capitalisation etc.
3. Types of institutions in financial markets and their roles: corporates, investment banks, PE funds, hedge funds, venture capital funds, asset managers, private credit funds, etc.
4. The different types of legal services offered to these clients by different practice areas of a law firm (ie you should be able to explain what department of the firm is responsible for what type of legal service and why clients need that type of legal service).
5. Some knowledge of M&A: you should understand the basic nature and structures of M&A deals (asset deal vs share purchase agreement), their strategic rationales, risks associates with M&A and how that is mitigated through contractual terms, the basic M&A terms (warranties & indemnities, NDAs, conditions precedent, etc), and the rough stages of an M&A transaction.

Finally, for building and improving confidence, I would say the following:

1. Have the right mindset and do not put too much pressure on yourself: of course, having the right mindset is key; the hundred dollar question is identifying (i) what exactly is this optimal mindset to aim for; and (ii) how can you actually go about developing it. For (i), I would say you want your attitude on the day to be something along these lines "The fact that I have gotten to this stage out of a huge pool of candidates is clear proof I have everything it takes to succeed. I have prepared thoroughly and I know that, if I simply focus on answering each question well and I therefore score well across the board, I have a really good chance to succeed. I do not need to put pressure on myself to be absolutely exceptional in any way or to compare myself with and try to outshine others, as I know this actually more often than not leads to making major errors and to not scoring well at all in some assessment criteria." For (ii), I think you should try to continuously internalise this line of thinking by consciously reminding yourself of it every time you catch yourself worrying a lot before the AC and thinking you may not be good enough. At first, you may not think this is very helpful, but as time goes on, continuously directing your thoughts in a positive way can definitely work wonder.
2. Speak at a slower pace and take more strategic breaks when answering questions: this is a point I have made a number of times on the forum, but I truly think it can make a huge difference. In stressful scenarios, people naturally start speaking faster, which unfortunately leads to you having less time to consider exactly what you want to say and how you want to go about saying it, which can then cause you to choose suboptimal substantive points to make or to express them in an unclear/inarticulate manner. This can then cause a negative feedback loop that impacts your whole performance. If instead you slow down and take more 2-3 second breaks between points/before starting an answer, that gives you more time to think and will also make you appear more composed and in control, which can create a positive feedback look and actually make you feel more composed and in control.

 

[bells123]

Just received the test for Freshfields after 5 days of waiting - is the test all situational like the FF scenario based questions they provide on Preparation Plus or is it WG-style, or a mix etc?

 

[SemperParatus]

I completed Freshfields stage 1 10 days ago, if I haven't heard back is it a pfo

 

[SemperParatus]

I applied to Fieldfisher for their tc 18 days ago and I still haven't got through to their online assessment, is this a pfo? I applied 2 years back and I got it in like 10 days, just wondering how long it took for everyone to get their tests, thank you

 

[Rads]

Hello, for Links, can we email the early careers team for the WG report? If yes, how many days did you wait after completing WG before emailing them?

 

[bells123]

I completed Freshfields stage 1 10 days ago, if I haven't heard back is it a pfo

I’ve got fingers crossed for you! If you don’t mind me asking, are the questions more WG style or is just just like the FF based scenario questions they provide on Preparation Plus? Mainly wondering if they jump scare you with VIs also

 

[sunsoul]

Anyone that has done Freshfields Stage 2 and could provide some insight please? I would very much appreciate it as this is my top choice of firm and since Stage 1 was SJT idk what to expect for stage 2. Are the questions strengths based or motivational for the VI?

 

[yk1906]

Hello, for Links, can we email the early careers team for the WG report? If yes, how many days did you wait after completing WG before emailing them?

Yes! I did it a couple of weeks back, and I think it took them a day to send my results. Maybe now it might take them longer