• 📅 Vacation Scheme Applications 2025–26

    Planning to apply for winter, spring or summer vacation schemes? Join our dedicated threads for support, deadlines, and discussion:

    Let’s make this your strongest application season yet 💼

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  1. Andrei Radu

    Vac scheme or Direct TC?

    My advice is to focus the majority of your time and efforts on vacation schemes. The majority of firms either exclusively recruits from the VS route or have a strong preference for that recruitment line and only consider direct TCs applications for leftover places - and this trend of increasing...
  2. Andrei Radu

    Visa sponsorship

    If your questions is as to what firms offer visa sponsorship, I think the vast majority of large firms in the City will (so the Magic Circle, Silver Circle, large US, large international etc). Besides those, many of the smaller US firms will also sponsor your visa. Finally, many of the smaller...
  3. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    @Jessica Booker will be able to tell you more but from what I know it is common for firms to take 1-2 weeks to get back to you post-AC. For one of the firms I was interviewing with it took around a month and I actually ended up getting an offer (although I had been notified before by the...
  4. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    I do not see any reason why they could not, and I very much suspect that sometimes they do. Even if not intentionally, lawyers at all levels at MC firms leave every year. When top partners are poached, it is not uncommon for them to bring over to the new firm entire teams of associates in their...
  5. Andrei Radu

    Ask 4 future trainees ANYTHING! *New TCLA Team Members*

    Hi @allwillbewell! I think what the law firm means by it depends on the context, but I think it is likely it refers to one of the two related concepts: Multidisciplinary approach to client service: Essentially, the idea here is that clients (and especially clients in the financial sector) are...
  6. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    I completely agree with @IneedaTCASAP's great response. Having gotten TC offers from a number of firms with low VS conversation rates, I observed that most of the very visible people, who would always make it a point to be seen and to try to impress those around them, tended not to get offers...
  7. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    I think there is a limit as to how much you can prepare for the WG - both because of the structure of the test itself and because of the limited availability of resources. There is also definitely a point of diminishing returns, as the time you invest in WG preparation can also be used for...
  8. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    Just to add to @Jessica Booker's response, I think mentioning Chambers/Legal 500 rankings can be very useful for your reasoning around the firm's unique selling points in terms of practice areas strength and sector expertise. It is a way of evidencing your claims and placing the firm in the...
  9. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    I would definitely advise you to let the firm know that you will unfortunately not be able to attend the open day. However, I would not make it a point to mention that the reason is a conflict with an event at another firm. I also cannot see any potential harm in asking if there is any...
  10. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    If you want to be able to reference the answers given to you in a subsequent VS application, I would advise you to ask for more insight about or just general questions around the firm's unique selling points that you think you could connect with your own interests, motivations and experiences...
  11. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    I will also add to @Jessica Booker's comment that different firms have different policies for considering people who reapply after being rejected at different stages. Some will outright not consider people who were rejected in a vacation scheme or AC and some will consider it but advise you to...
  12. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    Hi, I would say it is fine to repeat information from your CL in a video interview. The main purpose of video interviews is to assess how well you respond verbally to questions or prompts in a high pressure environment. Therefore, while bonus points may be awarded for particularly novel or...
  13. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    I would not treat it completely like your standard 'Please tell us about your extracurriculars' section, but my answer would not be very far from that. I think just generally with application form answers the rule is you want depth over breath, so while I would try to choose the experiences...
  14. Andrei Radu

    Ask 4 future trainees ANYTHING! *New TCLA Team Members*

    Hey @aspiringlawyer12 I will list some of the other benefits I can think of bellow, although what you have listed is already quite persuasive in my opinion. As for the situational interview resources, you can find a section on it in the TCLA course you can find here. Benefits from working in a...
  15. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    I would not use headings as I do not think that is common practice and I would not want to take the risk of a recruiter disliking that. I would also not necessarily try to list as many experiences as possible, but I would focus on thoroughly explaining the 2-3 experiences that are most relevant...
  16. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    Just to add to @Ram Sabaratnam's great response: 1. I agree with Ram here that you can choose any alternative career path to discuss as long as you can provide a convincing analysis of your motivation. However, I also think that, all other things being equal, you want your fundamental...
  17. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

    Hey @whywhy88! If you have already emailed once, my instinct would be to wait for them to come back to you, but to be completely honest I do not know much about this kind of situation. I thought to just tag @Jessica Booker as she might be able to give you a more informed perspective on the issue.
  18. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

    So the general rule is that firms will not normally be willing to sponsor visas for vacation schemes - as from their perspective, the costs which range from 3000-5000 pounds are not justified given the duration of the work experience. Paul, Weiss and Slaughter and May do cover flights for...
  19. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

    Last year I applied at the end of October and ended up receiving a VS offer. However, my VS interview was scheduled quite late (around the end of January) and the graduate recruitment team said they were going to have interviews all the way until the end of February for people who had applied...
  20. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    I think the natural reading of this question basically covers the three usual cover letter questions - why law, why the firm, why you. Thus, I think you should cover all three. However, to the extent that there is overlap between your why TW and why law motivations, you can try to write about...

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