I don’t think how much work experience you have is necessarily that relevant, besides the fact that it can support the fact that you’re sure you want to pursue a career in law without having done the “trial run” of a vac scheme. I think on the whole it makes more sense for graduates / career changers / people with other responsibilities that mean it is very difficult to take 2 weeks off in the summer, to apply for a direct TC. I’ve got 2.5 years of paralegal experience but applying for a direct TC for me more has to do with the fact that taking time off work would be very annoying and difficult. But I imagine someone with work experience in an unrelated field, who can demonstrate why they are passionate about working in law without doing a vac scheme, could very well succeed at a direct TC application if they decided that was a better match for their schedule.