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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

elle woods

Legendary Member
  • Dec 4, 2025
    209
    387
    Hi all, I'm wondering if it's possible to email Early Talent about switching my application from a Spring scheme to the Summer one? The timeline no longer works and the deadline for both schemes is today - if I email today would that be acceptable? I don't want to cause a lot of hassle for them though. Please let me know if anyone has tried doing this before!
     

    johnsmith

    Legendary Member
  • Oct 2, 2025
    303
    392
    Hi all, I'm wondering if it's possible to email Early Talent about switching my application from a Spring scheme to the Summer one? The timeline no longer works and the deadline for both schemes is today - if I email today would that be acceptable? I don't want to cause a lot of hassle for them though. Please let me know if anyone has tried doing this before!
    It seems to vary by firm, but I had Links cancel my winter VS application in favour of a DTC app.
     
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    Novaa

    New Member
    Dec 2, 2022
    3
    0
    Hi all, I'm wondering if it's possible to email Early Talent about switching my application from a Spring scheme to the Summer one? The timeline no longer works and the deadline for both schemes is today - if I email today would that be acceptable? I don't want to cause a lot of hassle for them though. Please let me know if anyone has tried doing this before!
    I don’t see why it would be an issue, the spring/summer interviews are usually ran on a similar timeline. So as long as you let them know early on, should be okay. There’s also no harm in asking, I say go for it :)
     

    Trophy

    Legendary Member
    Oct 29, 2025
    132
    198
    For those applying to Akin, how are we meant to approach these two questions, as they appear to be pretty similar:

    1: what motivates you to pursue a career as a commercial solicitor, and why do you see Akin as the right place to begin that journey?

    2: what are you looking for in your legal career, and how do you see a firm like Akin helping you achieve those goals?

    Any help would be appreciated! Also, if @Andrei Radu or @Abbie Whitlock have any insight that would be super helpful too!​
    Ask Chris brown he said he got a vs there…
     
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    Abbie Whitlock

    Administrator
    Staff member
    Gold Member
    Premium Member
    Sep 11, 2025
    628
    574
    Hi all, I'm wondering if it's possible to email Early Talent about switching my application from a Spring scheme to the Summer one? The timeline no longer works and the deadline for both schemes is today - if I email today would that be acceptable? I don't want to cause a lot of hassle for them though. Please let me know if anyone has tried doing this before!
    Hi!

    This can vary between firms, but it's often possible! After securing a Summer VS, I contacted the early careers team at another firm I had to applied to for a Summer VS and asked whether I could switch to the Spring scheme instead. They agreed, and I ultimately received a Spring VS offer from them (so it isn't going to negatively impact your application!).

    If you're considering doing the same, just make sure you reach out as early as possible as it makes the process much easier for them to accommodate. A polite email explaining your situation and asking whether a switch is possible is completely acceptable :)
     

    Andrei Radu

    Legendary Member
    Staff member
    Future Trainee
    Gold Member
    Premium Member
    Sep 9, 2024
    1,013
    1,761
    Thank you @Andrei Radu - this is really helpful. Also, I'm wondering beyond knowing about banking & finance, M&A, and private equity - is there any other concepts regarding practice areas that we need to know. I don't mean like trends or inflation etc, but pure substantive concepts and content. And if so, what exactly should we learn? I hope that makes sense. The US firms I have in mind are strong in corporate, PE, capital markets etc

    Thank you
    No worries! For the types of transactional-focused firms you mentioned, the information relating to the practices you mentioned covers the core of what you will need to know. Besides that, I think you should just aim to be able to explain in laymen terms some more basic business and commercial law concepts, such as:
    1. 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, differences between companies and partnerships, etc.
    2. The different economic sectors: you should be able to categorise an companies according to the sectors they operate in, and to have a general understanding of how the sectors work (ie what are the final products and services, how do their supply chains operate, who are the biggest players in the market)
    3. Types of institutions in financial markets and their different 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, particularly in relation to what teams come into a transaction at different times (ie you should be able to explain what antitrust, employment, data & privacy, disputes, tax, IP and other teams do and how they contribute to successfully representing a client in an M&A or finance mandate).
    5. A basic understanding of the differences between dispute resolution methods: you should be able to explain what litigation, arbitration, mediation, and negotiated settlement are and when each of those may be most appropriate.
     
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    Andrei Radu

    Legendary Member
    Staff member
    Future Trainee
    Gold Member
    Premium Member
    Sep 9, 2024
    1,013
    1,761
    How many achievements/positions of responsibility did you discuss on Willkie's application given the 500 word limit? Gemma said 3 should be fine but firms usually have 300 words for this question not 500.
    I think what matters more here is how you go about discussing achievements or positions of responsibility rather than how many of them you discuss. You want each of your points to be properly contextualised and to be very specific about what you exactly did and accomplished, but at the same time to be concise and to stick to what is truly important. For a 500-word answer, I think anything in the range of 3-5 separate experiences to discuss would be considered acceptable.
     

    elle woods

    Legendary Member
  • Dec 4, 2025
    209
    387
    Hi!

    This can vary between firms, but it's often possible! After securing a Summer VS, I contacted the early careers team at another firm I had to applied to for a Summer VS and asked whether I could switch to the Spring scheme instead. They agreed, and I ultimately received a Spring VS offer from them (so it isn't going to negatively impact your application!).

    If you're considering doing the same, just make sure you reach out as early as possible as it makes the process much easier for them to accommodate. A polite email explaining your situation and asking whether a switch is possible is completely acceptable :)
    Thank you!! I've emailed them now - the deadline for the scheme is tonight, so hopefully I am early enough!
     
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    Reactions: Abbie Whitlock

    Andrei Radu

    Legendary Member
    Staff member
    Future Trainee
    Gold Member
    Premium Member
    Sep 9, 2024
    1,013
    1,761
    Hi @Andrei Radu @Abbie Whitlock please can I ask during a 2 minute video interview response, if I talked about all important points and got cut off when I was trying to end the whole answer with a nice conclusion sentence, does that automatically mean failing the video interview question?
    Not at all - I was progressed to the AC stage following two different VI experiences where I had failed to properly conclude my point and got cut off in at least one answer. I think recruiters generally care a lot more about your substantive points and about how you went about expressing them than about whether you stuck very strictly to the intended format, to the extent that they can easily overlook issues with the latter if they are quite happy with how you handled the former.
     

    TortillaTC

    Legendary Member
    May 10, 2025
    147
    108
    I think what matters more here is how you go about discussing achievements or positions of responsibility rather than how many of them you discuss. You want each of your points to be properly contextualised and to be very specific about what you exactly did and accomplished, but at the same time to be concise and to stick to what is truly important. For a 500-word answer, I think anything in the range of 3-5 separate experiences to discuss would be considered acceptable.
    Thank you, I was thinking 4! Would you recommend highlighting exact skills developed and connecting them back to the role of a trainee solicitor? (The original question is: "Please tell us about your achievements and positions of responsibility.") Their grad rec said no skills under the work experience section but this is a supporting question so I'm unsure.
     

    Harvey Specter

    Legendary Member
    Jul 4, 2024
    738
    2,752
    How many achievements/positions of responsibility did you discuss on Willkie's application given the 500 word limit? Gemma said 3 should be fine but firms usually have 300 words for this question not 500.
    I think I discussed 4, 3 positions of responsibility and 1 achievement. Don’t think you’d need to hit the full word count for it. Depends on the amount of detail you go into for each I guess.​
     
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    CharlesT47

    Distinguished Member
    Gold Member
    Premium Member
    Jun 30, 2025
    58
    33
    @Abbie Whitlock @Andrei Radu Hi, I've got a VS at Slaughter and May (HK). I'm also applying to VS in London, targetting specifically US firms. Is it worth mentioning this VS despite the fact that it really doesn't fit the profile of the firms I am applying to in London? In other words, is it better to show I am a desirable candidate by mentioning this experience? Or does it actually negatively impact my application because 1) it shows I am not committed to HK and 2) I am not committed to PE/ US firms.
     
    Reactions: Abbie Whitlock

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