TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[ashwright]

Might just be me being technologically inept, but I can't find a 'back' button on the A&O Shearman application portal to look at previous parts of my application? If I press the 'Back' button at the top, it just takes me to the application portal homepage. I can only see 'Save and continue' and 'Save and finish later'...

Any advice before I start re-entering all these entries for a third time? 😵‍💫

 

[law123456789]

I submitted FF test one on Nov 5th and got stage two on Nov 10th, so 5 days between them. Think they send the tests in batches though so it could be more or less time for others.​

Really confused - what are the stages for FF? I've submitted my written app today.. what can I expect?

 

[Superfrozone]

Out of interest how many words did you guys do for your Travers Smith cover letter?

I did close to the max word count

 

[Ben14014]

Hello, has anyone done the Clifford Chance VI - I tried to find information on their website about format but there's not much

Thank you

Have you got an invite yet ? They’re not sent until December

 

[GUt02]

Out of interest how many words did you guys do for your Travers Smith cover letter?

I did about 700ish words

 

[flower1]

Have you got an invite yet ? They’re not sent until December

I haven't - I was just wondering because I was looking through the firm's website and couldn't find anything

 

[Bob142]

I had a DTC interview at Slaughters last week and my application has now changed from 'under consideration' to 'interview confirmed'. My references haven't heard either - should I lose hope

 

[Irishman11]

I did an interview with Slaughters so thought I would be able to get interviews with more firms, but doesn't seem to be working out that way. I think there is a bit of randomness to this whole thing.

 

[Bread]

I had a DTC interview at Slaughters last week and my application has now changed from 'under consideration' to 'interview confirmed'. My references haven't heard either - should I lose hope

I did an interview with Slaughters so thought I would be able to get interviews with more firms, but doesn't seem to be working out that way. I think there is a bit of randomness to this whole thing.

Hi, would you mind sharing when you applied? Thanks

 

[Irishman11]

Hi, would you mind sharing when you applied? Thanks

I did Slaughters in the last cycle, for 2027. I applied like a week before the deadline or something, and did my interview in September. I was waiting like 7 weeks in total.

Edit: 7 weeks after applying until interview.

 

[Tcmaker]

I did an interview with Slaughters so thought I would be able to get interviews with more firms, but doesn't seem to be working out that way. I think there is a bit of randomness to this whole thing.

When did you hear back from them after interview

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hey guys, with application answers if the word count is 500 words or 300 words, is hitting 50 so words under e.g. 420 or 230 sufficient or should you bump this up. I feel like ive said everything i want to say but not sure if this means im not saying enough? any help would be appreicated!

For 300-word count limit questions I think you definitely want to come as close to the maximum as possible, and in any event no less than 10-15 words under; I have heard from a number of recruiters that they might infer that you were unwilling to put enough effort in otherwise. For the 500-word one, you may be able to get away with being 20ish words under the limit, but I would again not go lower than that. That being said, of course, you want to avoid writing in an unnecessarily verbose manner just to fill up space - if you are struggling to think about other points you could elaborate on to add value to the answer, feel free to let me know what the questions are and I will tell you if I have any ideas.

 

[ineedajob123]

Silly question, but let's say you get a TC offer from firm A and firm B. You accept the firm A offer and reject firm B, telling firm B that you have rejected them because you accepted a TC elsewhere.

Then firm B asks you which firm's offer you accepted instead, so you tell them that you accepted an offer from firm A.

Why does firm B want to know where you went instead, and would firm B verify this with firm A?

 

[Irishman11]

When did you hear back from them after interview

Like a week and a bit, maybe 9 days

 

[Willgetatc]

Should I expect PFO from Freshfields if I’ve not gotten a stage 2 invite after over 2 weeks?

 

[yk1906]

Should I expect PFO from Freshfields if I’ve not gotten a stage 2 invite after over 2 weeks?

No, they send it in batches, I think... Some people waited over 1 month

 

[Irishman11]

No, they send it in batches, I think... Some people waited over 1 month

I did my stage 2 last week. Probably will be a PFO I reckon, I hate VI's, it fees so unnatural talking to a computer and not to a person. For me at least.

 

[yk1906]

I did my stage 2 last week. Probably will be a PFO I reckon, I hate VI's, it fees so unnatural talking to a computer and not to a person. For me at least.

I don't think anyone received an AC yet, so we should just wait!

 

[ILauw]

Hi All, I am a 2025 U.S. law school grad who recently relocated to the U.K. with plans to become a solicitor. I obtained the right to work this month and began my applications for direct training contracts. I received the Stage 1 Freshfields Online Assessment and as I understand, it does have a critical reasoning/mini-WG component.

Does anyone have any tips on preparing for the assessment as someone new to this process?

 

[ILauw]

Might just be me being technologically inept, but I can't find a 'back' button on the A&O Shearman application portal to look at previous parts of my application? If I press the 'Back' button at the top, it just takes me to the application portal homepage. I can only see 'Save and continue' and 'Save and finish later'...

Any advice before I start re-entering all these entries for a third time? 😵‍💫

If you click through all the way, the penultimate page lets you edit certain pages before submitting your application.