• Get Everything You Need to Secure a Training Contract
    Now 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.
    Join Premium →
  • SQE Student Panel with BPP
    19 Nov 2025 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm (UK) Zoom (registration required)
    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.
    Register on Zoom →
  • A Deep Dive Into Reed Smith's Sector Focus (Transportation)
    24 Nov 2025 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm (UK) Zoom (registration required)
    Dive into Reed Smith’s transportation practice to see how their legal advice drives the world’s largest shipping, aviation, and logistics businesses, and how trainees can make their mark.
    Register on Zoom →

Search results

  1. Jaysen

    TCLA Year In Review 2019

    TCLA Year In Review 2019 It’s hard to put into words how incredible this year has been. I plan to start writing these reviews at the end of each year to take stock of what we’ve achieved so far and map out where we’re hoping to go in the future. Hopefully, it'll also give you guys an insight...
  2. Jaysen

    Commercial Awareness Guide 2019

    Hi All, @Harry Clark has kindly shared the below commercial awareness guide with you guys. I hope you find it useful! Best, Jaysen
  3. Jaysen

    Join our commercial writers' team!

    Hi all, We have one position available to join our commercial writers' team. This position will begin 9 December 2019 and end 7 February 2020. You'll work closely with TCLA and the rest of the team to produce a 300-350 word commercial update each week. This is a great chance to improve your...
  4. Jaysen

    Linklaters Vacation Scheme Interview 2019

    Thank you to this poster, we really appreciate everyone who comes back to share such detailed write-ups :)! Linklaters Winter Vacation Scheme 2019 Assessment Centre There were three parts to the AC – Graduate Recruitment Interview, Case Study and Partner & Managing Associate Interview. When...
  5. Jaysen

    Ask Shearman & Sterling Anything!

    Hi All, I'm delighted to say that the Shearman & Sterling graduate recruitment team (Paul Gascoyne and Alexandra Roots) will be running this Ask Me Anything thread. A big welcome to them to the forum. As with the other threads, feel free to post any questions you have at any time and they will...
  6. Jaysen

    Herbert Smith Freehills Vacation Scheme Interview 2019

    Huge props to this candidate for sharing such a detailed overview! This candidate successfully secured the HSF vacation scheme. Overview of the firm’s selection process Two question application form -> blended online test (SJT, VRT, personality test) -> Assessment centre (case study...
  7. Jaysen

    Contact during the Christmas period

    Hi All, Just something I wanted to flag up, so I can feel a little less guilty! I'm completely floored at the moment and it's quite a challenge to respond to the number of messages I receive. So I can make this more efficient: If you have a general question you wanted to ask me, please could...
  8. Jaysen

    Shearman & Sterling Vacation Scheme Interview 2019

    Thanks to @AS98 for sharing this: "It was an hour HR/associate interview that was mainly competency questions (tell me about a time...why law, why Shearman, commercial news) so they really just want to see who you are. They could tell that I was slightly nervous in the beginning and said that...
  9. Jaysen

    Legal Technology Crash Course - to be released this week!

    Hi All, Our legal technology crash course will be released this week. In this course, you will learn: - Learn about how the financial crisis and advancements in machine learning and AI kickstarted the 'new wave' of legal technology - Learn about the business drivers influencing the adoption...
  10. Jaysen

    Server Upgrade - 24-48 Hours

    Hi All, Just a heads up that I’ll be upgrading our servers tonight (so we can handle the traffic a bit better). Hopefully that time will cause the least disruption, but please note, you may have difficulties accessing TCLA over the next 24 hours (48 at most). You may also note that any posts...
  11. Jaysen

    Happy World Mental Health Day!

    Hi everyone, Just a quick note from me: Spending hours and hours on applications, interviews and vacation schemes, only to receive a rejection, is mentally very tough. If you're struggling, feeling demotivated, wondering if you'll every make it through this process, that's nothing to be...
  12. Jaysen

    BCLP Training Contract Interview 2019

    First Round: The drafting exercise was about investing in [redacted] (was it a good investment, what was its position in relation to competitors and how it could improve/work on its competitive advantages?). It was definitely time pressured (1 hr and around 8 pages), but was really doable and...
  13. Jaysen

    Faegre Baker Daniels Interview 2019

    First round interview Fairly relaxed, lots of opportunities to break some jokes. About half of the questions were CV-based, so make sure to review your application before the interview. Most of the questions were very specific to what I wrote, e.g. I put in my application that I was training...
  14. Jaysen

    Legal 500 - 2020 Rankings

    Thanks to @Lumree for flagging this up. Legal 500 recently released their UK 2020 rankings: http://www.legal500.com/assets/pages/united-kingdom/uk.html. Many of you will be familiar with the site, but if you aren't already, they're quite a useful way of researching a firm's practice area...
  15. Jaysen

    Let us follow your Training Contract Journey!

    Hi All, You may have just seen this new section of the forum pop up. It's an opportunity for you to introduce yourself and let us follow along your training contract journey. You might also find this a good way to motivate yourself to work on specific things in the application process. Anyone...
  16. Jaysen

    We're teaching daily commercial awareness on Instagram!

    Hey everyone, We've started teaching daily commercial awareness on Instagram. You can give us a follow here: https://www.instagram.com/thecorporatelawacademy/. If you don't have Instagram, don't worry - I'll start including these posts in our emails: Here's a sample of our latest post...
  17. Jaysen

    TCLA Brand Ambassador - 2019/20

    Hi All, We've decided to open up applications to become a TCLA Brand Ambassador: https://forms.gle/yETz6zTXJEAvzpYp7. The deadline is 4 October 2019. The purpose of the role will be to help raise awareness of TCLA within your university over the 2019-20 academic year. It's mostly a remote...
  18. Jaysen

    Getting through another application cycle after rejections?

    Some great advice from @Alice G - Top tips for renewing your motivation for the next application cycle Give yourself time. Time really is a great healer, so give yourself time to reflect and process the events from the past year. While some applications open in August, do not forget that firms...
  19. Jaysen

    The Rise of the Big 4

    Those of you wanting to discuss the Big 4 when answering the popular interview question: "What are the biggest challenges facing law firms over the next five years?" will enjoy this one! @Oliver Gilliland's latest article is an in-depth look at exactly how the Big 4 pose a threat to law firms...
  20. Jaysen

    How does Artificial Intelligence assist contract review?

    Hi All, I came across this post today, it's a clear explanation of the benefits and evolution of contract review software: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2019/09/19/the-kira-systems-guide-to-ai-driven-contract-analysis/, as well as touching on the technology behind it. Best, Jaysen

About Us

The Corporate Law Academy (TCLA) was founded in 2018 because we wanted to improve the legal journey. We wanted more transparency and better training. We wanted to form a community of aspiring lawyers who care about becoming the best version of themselves.

Newsletter

Discover the most relevant business news, access our law firm analysis, and receive our best advice for aspiring lawyers.

    Share this page

    Community platform by XenForo® © 2010-2022 XenForo Ltd. | Style and add-ons by ThemeHouse | Community services from Audentio
    XenCarta 2 PRO © Jason Axelrod of 8WAYRUN
    Top Bottom