TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[tarastar]

Anyone heard back from PH

someone PMed me saying they already did a final stage interview with PH

 

[Shiv Lawy]

Has anyone that did orrick ac heard?

Got a missed call today- voicemail said "feedback" so I assume it's a PFO

 

[TCLAAAA]

Hey guys, I am back and rejoining (low-key recovering from last cycle's post-ACs rejection). Does anyone know which firms have an online assessment centre for a direct training contract (I'm currently moving abroad for a one-year study)? I'd really appreciate any insights!

 

[sarg1234]

What does a good training contract interview look like? I'm asking as i have one upcoming.

 

[paolodul]

What does a good training contract interview look like? I'm asking as i have one upcoming.

what firm?

 

[trainee1012]

Hi guys! Whoever did the HLC stage 1 assessment, can you please confirm whether there is a video interview aspect of it? And is it just Watson Glaser? Thanks !

 

[AryanAgg]

Hi guys! Whoever did the HLC stage 1 assessment, can you please confirm whether there is a video interview aspect of it? And is it just Watson Glaser? Thanks !

HLC stage 1 is just SJT + WG + proofreading, if I'm remembering correctly.

 

[siilvert0ngue]

bombed my a&o amberjack vi..... kms

 

[Antoni Trochimowicz]

bombed my a&o amberjack vi..... kms

I'm sorry to hear that! But honestly, all my friends who ever succeeded through VIs always said they felt like they bombed them when they did them. Keep your head up and onto the next !!

 

[cs3008]

What are the questions for A&O VI this time? And are they untimed? Like the prep.

 

[Vdfrz]

I’ve only ever done one video interview.


(And I suck. Anyway, I built this.)


Aspiring solicitors already go through enough stress during application season. I don’t think we should also be paying £20–50 a month for software just to practise video interviews.


So I built Video Interview OSS and I’m open sourcing it.


You can record your answers, practise as much as you want, and get AI feedback. The software is completely free. You just plug in your own OpenRouter key, and a feedback run costs around $0.18, depending on the model you use.



https://github.com/vdfrz/Video-Interview-OSS


If you’re not technical, there’s a copy-paste prompt in the README you can give to your favourite coding agent to get everything set up.


Hope this makes VI prep a bit easier


Massive thanks to TCLA for their VI question bank!

Posting a demo on LinkedIn soon not an ad for anything - feel free to check the repo out and play around w it, the demo goes live on my LinkedIn at 10 am Uk time
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mishra-vedant