• 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 →
  • How to Secure a Vacation Scheme (Ropes & Gray)
    1 Dec 2025 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm (UK) Zoom (registration required)
    In this interactive session, Maya Shah, Senior Early Careers Specialist at Ropes & Gray, will walk you through every stage of the firm's application process.
    Register on Zoom →
  • How to Stand Out in Law Firm Interviews (Willkie)
    3 Dec 2025 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm (UK) Zoom (registration required)
    Willkie’s new graduate recruiter and two trainees will break down what the firm looks for at the interview stage, common pitfalls to avoid, and how you can demonstrate confidence, clarity, and genuine motivation throughout an assessment centre.
    Register on Zoom →

Search results

  1. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    When you say a year was wrong, do you mean both the start and end date was wrong? Or could it have looked like you were in employment for a longer period of time than you actually were?
  2. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    Maybe the person already has a lot of legal work experience and may not benefit as much from a vacation scheme (almost a step backwards for them). I also used to push people to direct TC processes when they were already in employment in other firms or with clients due to conflict checks.
  3. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    Even the £175 probably isn't legal. Minimum wage would be over £300 a week (assuming it was a full-time role for 5 days a week).
  4. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    If I was simplifying it down to very broad themes. Purely by prestige, Macfarlanes. Considering it on an international perspective, Ashurst.
  5. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    Some people only focus on practice areas and that is fine. It really depends on what your motivations are. If you have a particular interest in a sector group though, it's worthwhile highlighting. Yes, as I understand it BCLP consider departments as the teams within the broader practice areas...
  6. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    (although I am not convinced it has a place in IB either...)
  7. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    Make sure everything is connected back to a sector or practice group. This is where lots of people go wrong with this question in my opinion. You could reference deals, but you need to be clear how that links to a particular sector or department and also why that deal is so important for your...
  8. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    Just seen the number of pages of the forum
  9. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    I don't think a tick box exercise solves that problem though. It's not telling you where the spelling/grammatical errors are, which sentence was unclear that led to the firm stating something about your written communication, or where your understanding of what the law firm does was incorrect...
  10. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    I’ll be honest - I don’t think this would work, so it wouldn’t be something I would personally endorse/support. It seems simplistic but it requires technology and in the era of data and subject access requests could actually present more risks to a employer than benefit. It would also be time...
  11. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA General Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    This may sound odd, but the interviewer may have actually been trying to push you to think of your extra curricular activities as ways in which you have built up your transferable skills and trying to encourage you to think about pulling out examples from them to show the skills you do have...
  12. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    Completely agree with this. Sometimes people over prepare and get a very strong mindset on what a written exercise should be structured like. They then get into the exercise and apply that thinking despite instructions saying otherwise or the content not really needing that format. There is...
  13. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    Honestly, no. It isn’t “that” expensive compared to other things and even then if firms stopped putting on the expensive socials, that money could easily go into people’s pockets instead. Many other industries will pay somewhere around 70% of a graduate salary, which looks to be what Travers...
  14. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    Their website states they pay this, so I don't see how/why they would be able to pay less. Maybe they see it that the £750 covers the short term costs associated with a short placement. However, £750 a week is £39k per annum too, so would still be significantly below a starting salary for a...
  15. TCLA Community Assistant

    Can anyone give me ideas on how to answer the question, "Please tell us about something which did not turn out as you expected"?

    You could focus on one of your client examples - you don't have to name the client and can be vague in places to ensure people/places/names/companies wouldn't be identified.
  16. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    I doubt it as simple as that - the assessments are likely to be looked at holistically rather than having an individual weighting.
  17. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    Amazing news! Posts like this really make my day so thank you for taking the time to post and say such lovely words. But most importantly, congratulations - delighted to hear you have had so much success!
  18. TCLA Community Assistant

    Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

    You are scored individually and against matrix that everyone else is scored against, not against other people.
  19. TCLA Community Assistant

    Ask A Graduate Recruiter Anything!

    Yes, I’d explain your circumstances about work and needing to arrange accommodation and ask them whether a decision could be made this week, and if not when you would expect to hear back at the very latest
  20. TCLA Community Assistant

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

    I would only contact them if you know it is automatically sent to everyone.

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.

Get Our 2026 Vacation Scheme Guide

Nail your vacation scheme applications this year with our latest guide, with sample answers to law firm questions.

    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