TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[Prudentia]

I recently met with some partners and senior associates at A&O Shearman last week (my current employer is one of their clients). Even they said that a lot of the recruitment processes when it comes to training contracts/vacation schemes is down to luck. So if you get rejected at application stage, try not to take it personally. Interview stage is a different matter. They also had a very, very dim view of US firms which makes me wary about applying for them now.

 

[Bread]

I recently met with some partners and senior associates at A&O Shearman last week (my current employer is one of their clients). Even they said that a lot of the recruitment processes when it comes to training contracts/vacation schemes is down to luck. So if you get rejected at application stage, try not to take it personally. Interview stage is a different matter. They also had a very, very dim view of US firms which makes me wary about applying for them now.

Could you please elaborate on what sort of dim views they had?

 

[testing123]

I recently met with some partners and senior associates at A&O Shearman last week (my current employer is one of their clients). Even they said that a lot of the recruitment processes when it comes to training contracts/vacation schemes is down to luck. So if you get rejected at application stage, try not to take it personally. Interview stage is a different matter. They also had a very, very dim view of US firms which makes me wary about applying for them now.

that is really good to know, shame though that it comes down to luck when people put in so much effort to apply. Can i ask, what exactly is their view on US firms? As someone who has never applied to this process before this cycle, i am still trying to figure out what the dynamics are. thanks

 

[M123]

I recently met with some partners and senior associates at A&O Shearman last week (my current employer is one of their clients). Even they said that a lot of the recruitment processes when it comes to training contracts/vacation schemes is down to luck. So if you get rejected at application stage, try not to take it personally. Interview stage is a different matter. They also had a very, very dim view of US firms which makes me wary about applying for them now.

Oo i’m intrigued by your last sentence. Could you elaborate please?

 

[Prudentia]

Could you please elaborate on what sort of dim views they had?

that is really good to know, shame though that it comes down to luck when people put in so much effort to apply. Can i ask, what exactly is their view on US firms? As someone who has never applied to this process before this cycle, i am still trying to figure out what the dynamics are. thanks

Oo i’m intrigued by your last sentence. Could you elaborate please?

They basically said that the training is a lot less structured and there's a lot less support available for trainees. Because US teams are very lean, trainees end up doing a lot of the grunt and grudge work because there's nobody else to do it. Whereas other firms have more staff so it means trainees aren't lumbered with (too much of) the boring work. The culture at US firms also tends to be a lot more cutthroat and they have less tolerance for people who take longer to develop. If you know what you want to do and are prepared to work extremely hard, the US firms are it. If you're unsure, it might be a baptism of fire which you don't recover from. They didn't explicitly say "don't apply for a US firm", but it was more of "know what you're getting into." US firms are also constantly trying to poach their talent, which is a further annoyance. Then again, US firms have massively disrupted the City law market and have become serious competitors to MC firms, who used to have a monopoly on being the pinnacle of the big law legal profession. So there are likely elements of bias, but their perspective was interesting.

I met with another lawyer last week over lunch who trained at Freshfields. They now work for a regional firm, but they advised training at the best law firm possible because it opens doors down the road. It's much easier to move from MC/SC/US to a national or regional firm than the other way round.

 

[Prudentia]

I should also add that the A&O Shearman partners and senior associates I've come across have all been really friendly and very generous with their time when I've had questions about applying for training contracts. I don't have much contact with them on a day-to-day basis, but when I have cold approached them for advice they have been really nice, forthcoming and genuinely passionate about their work.

 

[yk1906]

I should also add that the A&O Shearman partners and senior associates I've come across have all been really friendly and very generous with their time when I've had questions about applying for training contracts. I don't have much contact with them on a day-to-day basis, but when I have cold approached them for advice they have been really nice, forthcoming and genuinely passionate about their work.

Thank you for sharing!

 

[M123]

They basically said that the training is a lot less structured and there's a lot less support available for trainees. Because US teams are very lean, trainees end up doing a lot of the grunt and grudge work because there's nobody else to do it. Whereas other firms have more staff so it means trainees aren't lumbered with (too much of) the boring work. The culture at US firms also tends to be a lot more cutthroat and they have less tolerance for people who take longer to develop. If you know what you want to do and are prepared to work extremely hard, the US firms are it. If you're unsure, it might be a baptism of fire which you don't recover from. They didn't explicitly say "don't apply for a US firm", but it was more of "know what you're getting into." US firms are also constantly trying to poach their talent, which is a further annoyance. Then again, US firms have massively disrupted the City law market and have become serious competitors to MC firms, who used to have a monopoly on being the pinnacle of the big law legal profession. So there are likely elements of bias, but their perspective was interesting.

I met with another lawyer last week over lunch who trained at Freshfields. They now work for a regional firm, but they advised training at the best law firm possible because it opens doors down the road. It's much easier to move from MC/SC/US to a national or regional firm than the other way round.

Interesting! Thanks

 

[Jess_AspiringSolicitor]

Received a Gowling WLG PFO post-Artic Shores test on Thursday evening. I think I had a strong application for this firm overall, I scored 18/20 on the test and tailored my written application well due to having a friend there. But I did lowkey still see this rejection coming.

After submitting, I realised there was a dire mistake in one of my sentences for an application question answer. Not entirely surprised as I submitted this application last minute 2 hours before the deadline due to work deadlines hitting me hard that week. 😖

The struggle of managing TC applications as a career changer whilst working full-time. Sighhh.