A renewed Master's student's journey to a TC??? (Plz give me a TC)

[LillyandSilver]

Intro:
Hello, I'm Lilly. I joined the TCLA at the start of this round of applications and in my head, I was going to have a TC before the cycle was over. I realise now that I was a little bit delusional but I'm a law student, so it comes with the territory.

I realise that it is rather late in the day to be posting this, but idk I didn't feel like I had anything to post about until now and have decided to share my story in case people ever feel like they aren't going to get anything either. Also, I am slacking on my applications at the moment and need something to get me back on track. I do not think for a moment I'm going to be the next legal influencer of the decade but here's to hoping.

Plans for the thread.

• I think I also want to use this thread to share some of the tricks I have learnt. I know my strengths and my weaknesses.
• All the feedback I have ever gotten has said that I interview very well, it is often why after the app stage I can make it to the end.
• I have developed a few hacks throughout my time for this which I thought I would share.
• Throughout this journey, I know that I need to develop my written skills. My downfall has always been the written tests. I'm a slow writer and I like to redraft things or else they are riddled with errors. My feedback confirms it.
• So I hope to share any tips I learn along the way as well.

A bit about me (sans some pesky details).

• I am a master's student at an RG uni. I studied law for my undergrad and got ok grades. It's nothing special but what can you do about it?
• I wanted to go to The Bar up until the end of my third year when I failed to get any mini-pupillages.
• I made two applications at the end of my third year for training contracts. Got offered one and made it to the AC stage for another.
• I ultimately couldn't accept the TC offer. I know this sounds awful but it didn't have a department in the area I was interested in, it was a small firm which would have required me to self-fund the SQE which I couldn't afford. It also wouldn't let me defer a year. I have wrestled with this decision over the last few months, thinking about whether this was the right one. I think it was, especially after the mess that happened with the SQE 1 this year but at the same time I really want a job.
• This year I have fully committed to the solicitor route and have picked out a few firms I like the look of.
• I try and only apply to firms where I know they have done at least one famous case in the area of law I am interested in.

Applications:
I have so far made 8 applications
A mix of TC and Vac Scheme. It appears that once I get past the written application I make it to the end and I have more success on the direct TC route where the firm does not have a VS.

I have decided that some of these firms are very niche and it would be very easy to discover who I am from them. So I have assigned them aliases from Suits in italics.

1. Russel Cooke Direct TC - PFO
2. Wakefield Cady TC - PFO post-final stage.
3. Boodle Hatfield VS - PFO (training contract still pending)
4. PMC VS - PFO
5. Bratten Gould TC - PFO post-final interview.
6. Farrer and Co VS - PFO
7. Mills and Reeve VS - PFO
8. Irwin Mitchell - VS - OFFER
9. Rand Caldor Zane TC - PFO
10. Pearson Hardman VS - First Interview Invite💃

Pending:

Wedlake Bell TC: Pending
Withers TC - Not Submitted
Darby International TC - Not submitted. (July)

 

[LillyandSilver]

I'm in my boutique era. 💅
I am expanding my application to smaller specialist firms.
There is method to this madness, I am less likely to have to do those online assessments which I am very bad at. The only time I succeed is when I pick the opposite of how I would actually act.
Stay tuned for another round of applications. Although I might run out of Suits aliases so i'm going to have to get creative with other legal shows.

 

[LillyandSilver]

I really hope the places that I've applied to will let me do secondments, I've realised the office I have applied to doesn't do a seat in the area I really want.

 

[LillyandSilver]

I lied about being in my boutique era I just submitted a very rushed application to Wedlake Bell. Don't ask me why I decided it was a good idea. While I was doing it I also realised there is a spelling mistake in the CV of an application I sent in ages ago and am waiting to hear back from. I really wanted that one so this has ruined my entire day. It was a stellar application apart from that so I really am about to cry.

 

[LillyandSilver]

Not much to update:
I took a break from LinkedIn for a full four days. I regret it because I missed an opportunity I should have known about, but I was spending far too much time on it.
The spelling mistake on that last application is still haunting me it genuinely keeps me up at night. I need to work on letting things go but at the same time (not to be dramatic), I feel like I'm in mourning. Does anyone else get this?
I got some uni deadlines out of the way and now it's back to applying; I have two (maybe three) applications to do this week. I'm waiting to hear back from some non-law work experience which should help with commercial awareness and not being seen as a one-dimensional candidate.
I think I need to start looking at paralegal work, there is one that looks appealing but says they want previous experience as a paralegal, it might be worth just tossing my hat in the ring, the worst thing they can say is no.
If I make any more niche applications I am going to run out of Suits references so I'll have to expand to other legal shows. I am also starting to forget which aliases refer to which firm which is confusing because it's my system.

 

[LillyandSilver]

AHAH I have an assessment for a non-law internship I don't know if I should do it since it is a proper internship (2 months) and I wouldn't be able to do it alongside my VS but that will be a nice bridge to cross no?

 

[LillyandSilver]

YES!!!! 🥳🤩🥳🤩💃💃💃💃
Despite my spelling mistake, I am through to the first interview at my dream firm. Only issue now is that the partner who is interviewing me is something of a personal hero so there is every chance I'll just stare at him and they think I'm brain-dead.
The interview is going to be based on my CV (apparently), but I've been tricked like this before (one day I might be able to talk about it 😭) so I'm brushing up on legal knowledge just in case.
If anyone actually reads this thread I'll post some of my interview prep that people may or may not find helpful.

Hope you lovelies are enjoying the sunshine as much as I am right now and getting through exams and summatives.

 

[LillyandSilver]

Rejected from a firm I did work experience with last year. Bit surprised I didn't even make it past the application stage but at the same time, I was told by their current trainees that they like to recruit internally from their paralegal pool which makes sense. They did soften the rejection by asking if I was interested in paralegalling with them which was nice. It's in an area I'm not very interested in but I might as well try for it.