TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

[Dwight]

Practices

Jones Day practices

www.jonesday.com

Thanks for sharing, @Jessica Booker. I was thinking one more tailored for trainees if you understand what I mean. I saw this, ands it is very focussed for a client's perspective. EDIT: nvm, I'll just work from this!

 

[ssolicitorz]

would you say a statement such as "I believe the law firm will be the biggest law firm in the next 10 years" comes off cringeworthy?

 

[SOAS22]

Has anyone heard from Birketts?

 

[summer207]

Hey! Adding to James' response, I'd be more than happy to help with competency questions. If you'd like to talk through an answer to a question that you find difficult feel free to DM me . I consider them my strongest point and although this is my first application cycle I've done competency interviews with companies like BT and Barclays and have been successful. So yeah, let me know if I can help on that front

I really appreciate this, I’ll send a message now

 

[lawful_neutral216]

Currently going through some practice questions for ACs and came across this one: 'If you had X amount, how would you invest it?'

I'm wondering how specific of an answer does it require, my initial thoughts are to perhaps divide the amount into different brackets to keep a diversified portfolio.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thanks for sharing, @Jessica Booker. I was thinking one more tailored for trainees if you understand what I mean. I saw this, ands it is very focussed for a client's perspective. EDIT: nvm, I'll just work from this!

This from the London office page might give you a clearer indication:

Jones Day's London Office

Clients are guided through increasingly complex legal and regulatory challenges by a wealth of insight and skills from our lawyers in London.

www.jonesday.com

 

[Jessica Booker]

would you say a statement such as "I believe the law firm will be the biggest law firm in the next 10 years" comes off cringeworthy?

I guess it depends how likely it will be but even then I guess my response to it is, why is this important to your answer?

If you are going to say something like this, also try and be more specific - For instance biggest by what measure? Revenue/lawyers/profits? Just in the U.K. or worldwide?

 

[Rob93]

Currently going through some practice questions for ACs and came across this one: 'If you had X amount, how would you invest it?'

I'm wondering how specific of an answer does it require, my initial thoughts are to perhaps divide the amount into different brackets to keep a diversified portfolio.

Yolo on a diversified memecoin portfolio and pray just one of them goes to the moon.

In all seriousness I think the most important thing here will be to see how you think and your approach to evaluating risk (so the joke answer I gave would be one of very few objectively wrong answers).

 

[Jessica Booker]

Currently going through some practice questions for ACs and came across this one: 'If you had X amount, how would you invest it?'

I'm wondering how specific of an answer does it require, my initial thoughts are to perhaps divide the amount into different brackets to keep a diversified portfolio.

It doesn’t even have to be a portfolio if that isn’t what you would actually invest in. It could be something completely different (for instance, I have heard things like “my children’s education”). Or it could just be one company you believe will grow. This question isn’t really about you knowing what will make the best investment, it’s more about you really.

 

[AL123456]

Hi! Is this AC for their spring or summer vac scheme? All the best btw!

Thanks! Neither actually. It is for the TC

 

[AvniD]

Hey! I had a mock group case study exercise the other day and I came across something quite unusual in the material presented. The task was to advise the client on which company of three to acquire, and for one of the companies it was noted that accurate figures for forecasted cash flow were not available and so the figure was derived by comparing the company with a similar company in a different sector. I have three questions:

1) Am I right in understanding this as a market approach valuation?
2) Beyond noting that this is obviously less accurate (and a bit of a red flag) than other valuations which were based on figures publicly available for the respective companies, I wasn't sure what other information I could ask for- is there something that I could recommend or documents I could ask for to gain a better valuation or is the lack of publicly available figures the end of the story?
3) Why would accurate figures for forecasted cash flow not be available in the first place?

Finally, for the other two companies it was noted that we are confident in the accuracy of this valuation because "figures publicly available" were used. As above, do we just take this for granted and move ahead or is there more to unpack?

I'd really appreciate any advice since I'm just starting to gain a better insight into company valuations

1) Yes
2) I doubt they'll give you more information than others in a group exercise. I'd simply acknowledge that you're missing XYZ information and what this information would help you determine and simply move on.
3) Sometimes these things aren't available in the early days of examining whether or not to acquire a company. You can get more accurate evaluations done later on when you're more sure of your decision to acquire as these services can be expensive.

On your last point- from a legal standpoint, you could simply say that the client could choose to get this independently reviewed before going ahead with their decision to acquire should they want to confirm the publicly available figures. Other than this, I;d say it's okay to depend on the figures.

 

[AvniD]

my face after Mishcon VI - I have never in my life been so shocked than I was with the last question.
genuine question- does it matter if you remain calm, confident and keep answering the question even if the subject matter may have been less than?
So upset that it went poorly

I'm sorry that you didn't have the best experience with your VI. Maybe the point of the last question was to see how well you do under pressure/when you're shocked? Judging by what you've said, you must've come across pretty well.vIt's really commendable that you remained calm. At the end of the day, you gave it your best, all things considered, and that's really not a small thing.

I really hope it works out in your favour but I am confident you'll be good either way- you've got this 💪

 

[layk]

I am currently waiting for an AC outcome which will most probably come next week but till then I have had really bad post AC anxiety. I have one more day before the VS/TC application deadline (31/1/2022) which I want to utilise to apply to at least one more firm to further my chances but I can't seem to focus on writing it. I went on a really long walk because that's all I could really do but I can't help analysing and replaying every wrong thing I did at the interview, and my heart seems to be in this constant nervousness just waiting for the outcome. Any advice would be v much appreciated

 

[Ambs123]

✨✨✨✨✨manifesting✨✨✨✨✨ an AC from Taylor Wessing this week✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

 

[ssolicitorz]

Is there a word count for Fieldfisher's questions?

 

[AP2000]

I am currently waiting for an AC outcome which will most probably come next week but till then I have had really bad post AC anxiety. I have one more day before the VS/TC application deadline (31/1/2022) which I want to utilise to apply to at least one more firm to further my chances but I can't seem to focus on writing it. I went on a really long walk because that's all I could really do but I can't help analysing and replaying every wrong thing I did at the interview, and my heart seems to be in this constant nervousness just waiting for the outcome. Any advice would be v much appreciated

Hey- this happened to me the other day and I nearly messed up my chances of securing a really cool opportunity cause I was so caught up by a specific application. I'm guessing things like "it's done" "you can't change it", "worrying won't help in any way" aren't really helping you. What helps me, and hopefully can help you, is realising that not letting yourself finish that other application will only make a future rejection by the first firm even worse. At the moment, worst case scenario you don't get that one vac scheme offer. If you don't submit the second application you are risking two opportunities all because of one AC- knowing just how upset I'd be about this and how disappointed I'd be in myself are enough to get me to focus on what I can still control, and in your case that's the second application.

I hope things turn out well for you!

 

[AP2000]

✨✨✨✨✨manifesting✨✨✨✨✨ an AC from Taylor Wessing this week✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Yes please!

 

[AvniD]

I've got two ACs next week and I am starting to get overwhelmed with information. I had an interview last week with a different firm where I was unable to answer a competency question and I didn't answer two commercial questions how I would have liked 🥲, and it's stressing me out that maybe I don't know as much as I should. When do you know if you've done enough? I know you cannot prepare for every single thing, but the more time I have, the more I think I should be doing more competency examples, more firm research, etc 😕

@James Carrabino has given you a great answer for this and I am including some thoughts below to support you.

• Organise your research- these grids by Law with Farah were life-changing because they helped me cut through the swathes of information I'd collected over months and months and prioritise what really was important. Her use of colours and symbols help commit the research to memory and it becomes easier to pick examples to talk about in interviews.
• Follow at least 2-3 commercial news stories from start to end to build an instinct for commercial awareness- the way I'd do this is on a Google Doc by briefly summarising the news story ➡️ identifying the stakeholders ➡️ identifying the legal + commercial issues ➡️ providing possible legal solutions and analysing those that were applied already ➡️concluding by identifying the work + opportunities + challenges this presents for firms and their clients.
  • This will allow you to have a few news stories ready for discussion AND also give you a framework within which you can structure your answer on other commercial questions/stories that you may not have prepared for in this manner.
• Spend time reflecting on your life experiences and motivations- this is absolutely CRUCIAL to have answers that stand out because it helps you become a self-aware candidate. Dedicate some time towards this and jot down your most teachable life experiences and relate them to a skill/competency/situation so that you have examples ready to go in an interview.
  • I'd use this question bank by TCLA to prep for some key competency/motivation questions, even if it means just mentally going through some talking points.
• Your interviews will never go perfectly, and that's the whole point- I've said this elsewhere on the forum too, but the whole point of putting you in a high-stress, high-pressure environment is to evaluate how well you recover from unexpected occurrences and mistakes and if you're able to continue delivering your responses confidently despite them. You have rightly said you cannot prepare for everything, and you shouldn't either! Trust your instinct, trust your preparation, and take pauses if you feel overwhelmed. You've got this 😇

 

[ssolicitorz]

Does Withers recruit a significant amount of trainee from direct training contract applications?

 

[Asil Ahmad]

Is there a word count for Fieldfisher's questions?

I think it is 850 words.