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17 Nov 2025
10:00 am – 12:00 pm (UK)
Hosted on TCLA Forum
Chat with Withers' graduate recruitment team and ask about life at the firm, secondment opportunities, and what it's like to be a trainee. Simply return to this page on the day to post your questions.
Join us for a live student panel with BPP University Law School. We'll be joined by Jonny Hurst, Senior Lecturer in Law at BPP, and current BPP students who will share their advice on passing the SQE.
I think making mistakes is inevitable on a VS. It would defeat the purpose of a TC entirely if the firm expected otherwise. If someone was able to complete all their work with zero mistakes, they could be hired as an NQ instead. 🥲
I made some mistakes during my Spring VS and even now during the...
I think normally firms are happy to extend the acceptance deadlines, but it depends on many factors. Some firms don’t offer extensions and so the original deadline remains. 🥲
In that case, you could accept the TC offer and if you convert the SVS into a TC, accept it and renege on the original...
Their FAQ section says only one application is allowed per recruitment cycle, so if you already applied for the VS, you can’t apply for the DTC in this cycle. 🥲
https://ukearlycareers.hoganlovells.com/what-we-offer/vacation-scheme
Reed Smith’s 5 industry groups are: (1) energy & natural resources, (2) entertainment and media, (3) financial services, (4) transportation and (5) healthcare and life sciences. See below links where they are discussed: 🙂
https://www.reedsmith.com/en/capabilities...
Thank you for everything you have done for all of us on TCLA over the past six years. You are genuinely an absolute superstar! 🥳
Thank you so much for helping so many of us achieve our dreams of pursuing a career in the legal profession and in city law! 😅
Your contributions have been...
I think only finalists and graduates can apply for the legal business analyst (LBA) role, which is a form of permanent employment. Anyone who is not a finalist or graduate is not eligible to apply for the LBA role. They can apply for the Perkins Coie Summer VS instead. 😅
Have you considered taking an alternative kind of approach to applications i.e., not playing the numbers game but making fewer, more tailored applications, targeting a select few firms you have a strong interest in (10-15 firms)?
Some firms receive close to 5,000 applications each recruitment cycle. They have to draw the line somewhere to get the numbers down and make TC offers. It’s impossible for a firm to do this without ‘discriminating’ against someone. I think firms try to mitigate this with contextual recruitment...
The FAQ section seems to suggest they assess applications holistically, so won’t automatically screen out candidates that don’t meet their A-level criteria of ABB. 🙂
https://challengers.dentons.com/uk-trainees/faqs/
I think the 1,000 words figure is more of a guide than a specific target you must hit. In my cover letter, I think I wrote around 800 words, including a brief introduction and conclusion. I got past the application stage this cycle for Spring / Summer VS. Best of luck with your White & Case DTC...
White & Case offer 50 TCs per year. They have 3 VS’, with 25-30 candidates per VS (75-80 candidates across the VS’). 50% of VS’ers get a TC offer (40/80). 🥲
This is c80% of TCs (40/50). This means that White & Case take c20% of trainees through the DTC route (10/50) on average. I think these...
I think since the Fried Frank DTC deadline was on Friday (23rd May), we most likely won’t hear back until early June. 🥲
It depends on how many applications the firm has received. Best of luck to everyone that applied to the Fried Frank DTC. 🙂
It’s odd because on Chambers Student it says the minimum A-level requirement is 136 UCAS points (AAB) and 2:1 at degree level. On Legal Cheek, it says BBB at A-level and 2:1. On their website, there is no mention of A-level grades at all, only the 2:1 requirement. It’s probably a good idea to...
On Legal Cheek, it says that Burges Salmon have a minimum A-level requirement of BBB and a 2:1 at degree level. However, on their website FAQ it says they consider mitigating circumstances and won’t automatically screen out applications that don’t meet the minimum academic criteria. I don’t...
I imagine most TCs would go to VS candidates. In terms of %, I think they have 30 slots for both Spring and Summer VS (60 total). I think c50% of VS’ers (30/60) get a TC offer. 🙂
That is around 75-80% of TCs (30/40). Based on this, I think there are around 10/40 TCs available on the Direct TC...
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