TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

[RPA200]

I gave it on 16th July. I wonder how are they going about it- if they are contacting only the people who have progressed or if they are doing it in batches.
@RPA200 when did you give yours?

16th July

 

[helloj]

has anyone heard back from WFW with an AC and if so when did you complete the VI

 

[helloj]

And any news from BCLP?

 

[PlscanIhaveaTC]

Stressing so much about HFW lol

 

[ashwright]

Quick q about whether to focus on TCs or vac schemes

I'll be starting a job (in law) during September on a 1-year basis, + I haven't had any prior legal experience (e.g., VS). Since a lot of apps for VS + direct TCs open around September, I wanted to ask..

For firms which offer both VS and direct TCs, which should I go for? I'm not sure if I should focus on direct TCs because by the time I apply, I might have only been in my job for a couple weeks/month(s) - is that enough legal experience to warrant a direct TC?

Thank you!

 

[billyonthespeeddial]

Quick q about whether to focus on TCs or vac schemes

I'll be starting a job (in law) during September on a 1-year basis, + I haven't had any prior legal experience (e.g., VS). Since a lot of apps for VS + direct TCs open around September, I wanted to ask..

For firms which offer both VS and direct TCs, which should I go for? I'm not sure if I should focus on direct TCs because by the time I apply, I might have only been in my job for a couple weeks/month(s) - is that enough legal experience to warrant a direct TC?

Thank you!

I think it is- especially if it's a month or two. By the time you start the training contract you will have the full year anyway!

 

[wannabe_solicitor]

@Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman @Jaysen having a bit of a crisis here, I refreshed by broweser and my Stephenson Harwood app submitted when I wasnt finished I emailed grad rec to explain that if they dont have time to reply before the deadline, I'll make a different account to submit and leave a note on the new application - do you think that is okay and will this put me at a disadvantage do you think? thanks guys! from a worried applicant :')

 

[Irishman11]

Has anyone received a Slaughter and May PFO yet, do they send them all out at once?

 

[BillSikes]

Happy PMC response day...

 

[Deek14]

Hi, anyone else heard back from W&C post VI? Progression or PFO?

 

[AnAnonymousDuck]

@Ram Sabaratnam @Andrei Radu
does anyone have any idea about to answer a question for who slaughter and may's competitors are? how can i discuss the international outlook on things given that they operate a best friends network?

 

[Vasil2004]

Anything from WFW post AC?

 

[Ram Sabaratnam]

@Ram Sabaratnam @Andrei Radu
does anyone have any idea about to answer a question for who slaughter and may's competitors are? how can i discuss the international outlook on things given that they operate a best friends network?

Hiya @AnAnonymousDuck

Great question, and it’s one that often comes up when candidates are trying to understand how firms like Slaughter and May operate internationally.

When it comes to identifying a firm’s competitors, the most helpful approach is to focus on practice area strengths, client base, and deal type, rather than just prestige or size. I've quoted a post by Andrei, which perfectly sets out how you can go about this.

In terms of your question about international outlook, I think you’re right to be thinking beyond just office locations. In fact, I'd go further and argue that looking at a firm’s global footprint (i.e. how many offices it has all over the world) is actually not a very good indicator of how international the firm is. A firm can have 20+ offices all over the world (e.g. many swiss vereins work this way), and yet those offices only advise on domestic law and rarely collaborate across borders. In such cases, it would be odd to think that a firm's work is truly international in substance. By contrast, firm like Slaughter and May (despite their limited physical presence) often advises on matters with a heavy international element. So the better indicators of a firm's international outlook are:

• How often the firm’s work involves cross-border elements;
• The firm's client base (multinationals, global banks, sovereigns, etc.)
• The jurisdictions and sectors frequently mentioned in their deal highlights

Hope that helps!

Hi @TonyStark since I have gotten this type of questions a number of times, I firstly just want to make some general observations as to how I think you should go about researching them.

My responses will be based on general knowledge based on reading the legal press, experience in commercial law, and sometimes some quick research using some of the sources I will list bellow. I think my experience and readings sometimes give me an opportunity to add substantial value through my input, but most parts of the answers I give will be based on the quick research I do. For the purposes of an interview or application, I think you should normally aim to do this research yourself, as it (i) will build useful skills and add depth to your understanding of the legal market; and (ii) will likely mean you can find more unique insights and form a more nuanced and accurate view of a given firm - I am unable to spend more than a 10-15 minutes on such a task.

Now go through the resources I would rely on and my research methodology:

1. First, I would start by using resources that can give me a broad overview of the firm, such as the TCLA, Law.com, and Chambers Student Firm Profiles. They will give you a good understanding of the 'type' of firm you are looking at, which will help a lot with narrowing the pool of potential competitors you are looking at.
2. Then, you should look at the firm's profile on Chambers UK and Legal 500 to identify what are the practice areas the firm has received good rankings for - you can generally assume those will be its areas of focus. After you have identified the main practice areas, you should look up the general rankings for each practice areas on Chambers UK and Legal 500 - this will help you identify the firms that are also well recognized for their expertise in those rankings. For US competitors, you will perhaps want to look at Vault and Chambers USA rankings as well to make more global comparisons - as in many cases, their client base for which they compete for UK mandates will greatly depend on their original client base in the US.
3. Finally, to differentiate the firm from other well-recognised firms in a practice area, use the legal press: articles on publications like The Lawyer, Law.com, Legal Business, Bloomberg Law, or The Global Legal Post (but also some podcasts such as The Lawyer podcast, Law, Disrupted, or Bloomberg Law) are very useful to look at comparisons between the best firms in different practice areas and sectors. For instance, in corporate M&A, you might find about the total value of deals a firm has advised on in a given period, the average value of deal they worked on, whether it has advised on lots of deals in a given sector, how much revenue the practice has generated, how much it has grown, whether it gained/lost partners through lateral hires etc - and how all of those date points compare to those of rivals. This research can definitely help in finding an a great answer to 'what makes us different' types of questions.

Once you have gathered all this information, you should be able to identify both competitors in core practice areas and more general US competitors; but, more importantly, this will make you able to discuss the firm in a much more convincing and impressive manner than if you had not undergone this research yourself.

Finally, to come back to your initial question, I will give you the input that I think would be perhaps the biggest value-add (particularly if you do not have time and/or access to some of the legal press resources I mentioned). Skadden is known to be an elite US firm (consistently ranked in the V10) with great Transatlantic capacities (having a middle to large US office, more well developed than of most other V10 players) and is probably the leading corporate M&A firm in this space. Corporate M&A is its core area of focus, as Skadden is perhaps the one firm that has actually shaped this practice area, pioneering core parts of the field. In modern rankings, it is consistently ranked as having the among the top 3 highest total values of deals the advised on, and in many cases it is the 1st. Regarding competitors in corporate M&A, in the UK we would be looking at mainly the MC firms (particularly Slaughter and May and Freshfields), whereas for US firms this would be Latham, Sullivan & Cromwell, Cleary Gottlieb and Davis Polk.

 

[rosedunn]

anyone know when we should typically expect to hear back from paul hastings? i know they only contact successful candidates

 

[Chris Brown]

anyone know when we should typically expect to hear back from paul hastings? i know they only contact successful candidates

On the website it says the DTC deadline was 30/06/2025 and interviews for March and Sept 2027 TCs will begin in August. Best of luck for the Paul Hastings DTC! 😅

Careers | Paul Hastings LLP

www.paulhastings.com

 

[Jaysen]

@Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman @Jaysen having a bit of a crisis here, I refreshed by broweser and my Stephenson Harwood app submitted when I wasnt finished I emailed grad rec to explain that if they dont have time to reply before the deadline, I'll make a different account to submit and leave a note on the new application - do you think that is okay and will this put me at a disadvantage do you think? thanks guys! from a worried applicant :')

Sorry to hear this! I can imagine that's stressful.

I think this is the right approach. As you've emailed and explained the situation (while sending in a corrected version), I think you've handled this well. They won't penalise you for this technical error!

 

[EG3]

Anyone heard back from PMC?

 

[eleanor_2001]

Has anyone heard from RPC post Watson Glaser yet?

 

[wannabe_solicitor]

Sorry to hear this! I can imagine that's stressful.

I think this is the right approach. As you've emailed and explained the situation (while sending in a corrected version), I think you've handled this well. They won't penalise you for this technical error!

Thanks so much Jaysen, really appreciate it!!

 

[InterestInPublicLaw]

Just did two apps today, and finally survived the recruitment cycle!