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Join Premium →Get Everything You Need to Secure a Training ContractNow half the price. Join TCLA Premium for £30/month and get step-by-step application support, daily commercial awareness practice, and 700+ successful examples of past applications and interview experiences. Plus so much more.
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Register on Zoom →Ace Your Vacation Scheme Applications with Reed Smith10 Nov 2025 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm (UK) Zoom (registration required)Join Reed Smith for this practical session on how to write a strong vacation scheme application ahead of key deadlines. Understand what recruiters look for and how to get past the application review stage.
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Register on Zoom →Write Winning Vacation Scheme Applications with Osborne Clarke11 Nov 2025 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm (UK) Zoom (registration required)Hear from Recruitment Advisor Patrick Fermin Ryan at Osborne Clarke on how to write a successful vacation scheme application. Gain expert advice on what makes applications stand out and how to approach yours with confidence.
Search results
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Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!
Hi @thirdtimelucky this is definitely not something you should let yourself get down about because often these exercises really are not designed to be finished! As @Jessica Booker mentioned, it is impossible to know for sure until you find out the result, but I definitely would not let it play...- James Carrabino
- Post #5,210
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
You've had some great answers above but personally, I always relish the opportunity to write more words! I am sure you have loads to mention if you think about all the various things that could relate to your application :)- James Carrabino
- Post #2,042
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
Don't get me wrong - I found them incredibly frustrating too! It is tough because we all want to be able to control everything we can, especially once we get past the application stage with a firm. A faulty answer in a live interview does not feel half as bad as a bad answer in a video interview...- James Carrabino
- Post #18,120
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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Let's hear about TCLA members' hobbies!
This sounds like an amazing route!- James Carrabino
- Post #57
- Forum: General Discussion
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LPC Application strategy
Hi @F1_Legal, this is an excellent question! I have given this a Starred Thread Award for the coming week, which I hope will attract some useful suggestions from the TCLA community :)- James Carrabino
- Post #2
- Forum: General Discussion
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Starred Thread Awards (opportunity to win a free month of TCLA Premium!)
For a chance to win a free month of TCLA Premium over the coming week, we would like your input on the following starred thread: ☆☆☆ LPC Application Strategy ☆☆☆ We are looking for TCLA members who may have suggestions on applying to the LPC if you have the option where to go and want to...- James Carrabino
- Post #15
- Forum: General Discussion
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Starred Thread Awards (opportunity to win a free month of TCLA Premium!)
Congratulations on the latest Starred Thread Award winner, @lawnoob, who went above and beyond on their own thread by providing an interesting list of books with insight into commercial law, along with brief descriptions of each book! They have also been a great asset to the Starred Thread Award...- James Carrabino
- Post #14
- Forum: General Discussion
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TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
Hi @JohnDoeTCLA, my understanding is that certain firms (like some of the Magic Circle) operate a process as you've described where candidates apply for vac schemes in their second year and direct TCs in their third year, but the vast majority of firms which have direct TC routes have them open...- James Carrabino
- Post #2,035
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
I also agree that this question is looking for your extra-curricular activities primarily and in theory 'any positions of responsibility you've held as part of these' could equal zero positions of responsibility (although that would certainly not be the strongest answer). In my view, the...- James Carrabino
- Post #2,034
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
This is so excellent to hear, congratulations!!!- James Carrabino
- Post #18,100
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
Congratulations - I guess they made up for the wait on the VI :D- James Carrabino
- Post #18,099
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
I never liked video interviews either, although I did come to realise that recruiters are more charitable than you think when watching them! This is to say that everyone finds them awful and it is easy to make mistakes, so it is definitely not the case that you are out of the running with one...- James Carrabino
- Post #18,098
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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TCLA General Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
This is fascinating, maybe over time things will change!- James Carrabino
- Post #675
- Forum: General Discussion
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Let's hear about TCLA members' hobbies!
This is great! I am in agreement with @George Maxwell - I would love to hear where this interest came from :)- James Carrabino
- Post #53
- Forum: General Discussion
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TCLA General Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
Hi @gdelle, This is a really interesting question. I would start by saying that I have not personally come across many such 'Graduate Apprenticeships', so I am not sure if this is a one-off concept that you have seen or if you believe that you have noticed it catching on more broadly? I do...- James Carrabino
- Post #672
- Forum: General Discussion
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TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
Take this as a positive - clearly they really liked you but you didn't quite tick the box in the other assessments and so they are giving you another chance to prove your capabilities on the vac scheme :) If you can get some feedback then that would be really helpful and I am sure you are going...- James Carrabino
- Post #2,003
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
Hi everyone, my new weekly interview insights post on how to approach motivational interviews is up and the master post is updated :)- James Carrabino
- Post #18,043
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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James's Weekly Interview Insights
Week 4 - Motivational Interviews Motivational interviews are oftentimes the most important interviews for firms to determine which candidates they want to hire. Competency interviews, psychometric tests, written exercises and case studies are important insofar as they are box-ticking exercises...- James Carrabino
- Post #8
- Forum: Interviews Discussion
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
Grad rec may actually ask you to inform them (I had that happen on one vacation scheme) because sometimes they take feedback from the people you meet or do work for in order to gain a holistic picture of you as a candidate. For other firms these informal coffee chats are purely a way of you...- James Carrabino
- Post #18,040
- Forum: Applications Discussion
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
@thirdtimelucky I would not worry too much about being perceived as rude, but at the same time it does not take long writing a thank you e-mail and so I figure that there is no reason not to! I wrote a post a couple of months ago about this here. I hope this helps :)- James Carrabino
- Post #18,038
- Forum: Applications Discussion