TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Andrei Radu]

Describe the personal life experiences that have given you the unique perspective you would bring as a Trainee at Fieldfisher, and how this perspective will support your success. (800 characters)

This is one of the application questions in the fieldfisher training contract application. I was wondering with such less word count, how many experiences should we write about and how much detail should we mention for each?

I do not think there is any particular right or wrong number of experiences to write about. It all depends on (i) the nature of the experiences - how much detail and word count do you need to properly illustrate your points while being sufficiently specific?; and (ii) how do the experiences relate to each other - do they support the same line of reasoning or general narrative, or are they linked to completely independent points?

My advice is to just pick the two experiences that you think are most relevant and describe them as best as you can, trying to be both very specific and very concise. After that, depending on what word count you reach, you can decide if any how many other experiences you want to add.

 

[Lastseasonwonder]

I have applied to the following firms so far and only heard back from CMS (PFO):

- A&O Shearman
- Akin
- CC (ME)
- Paul, Weiss
- PM
- Weil
- W&C

Feels SO demotivating to continue writing apps, especially knowing I am not hearing back with progress. Every year, it feels more and more impossible to secure a TC fml.

 

[sammm10101]

'Many thanks for recently completing the online assessment as part of your application to Clyde & Co.

We are delighted to share your personalised feedback report, please follow this link to download your report:'

The use of 'delighted' here is absolutely crazy, emotional rollercoaster of an email opening, C&C trying to give me a heart attack

 

[yasmars]

Describe the personal life experiences that have given you the unique perspective you would bring as a Trainee at Fieldfisher, and how this perspective will support your success. (800 characters)

This is one of the application questions in the fieldfisher training contract application. I was wondering with such less word count, how many experiences should we write about and how much detail should we mention for each?

Because the word count is so short I mentioned one experience and spoke in detail about the skills/unique perspective I gained from it.

 

[_shims_]

Hi @_shims_ I would not be too worried about that. When the firm selected this question, it was exactly because they wanted to see what other careers you would be motivated to pursue. I believe this is for three reasons (i) they want to see if there is any overlap between your fundamental motivations for choosing a career in the legal field and your motivations for pursuing an alternative career path; (ii) they want candidates that have seriously considered other careers as well before deciding to commit to law; and (iii) they are interested in recruiting well-rounded individuals with interests and passions outside of law.

The only potential issue of concern regarding tensions with your decision to pursue becoming a commercial solicitor comes at point (i). To address that, I think you want to have as much commonality between the reasons for your interest in the alternative career path and plausible reasons for interest in the work of commercial lawyers. I have recently written a post discussing this, I have quoted it bellow.



Besides this, I have also thought it may be useful to quote a great post and discussion with @Ram Sabaratnam about this question, which provides you with slightly different perspective:

Hi @_shims_ I would not be too worried about that. When the firm selected this question, it was exactly because they wanted to see what other careers you would be motivated to pursue. I believe this is for three reasons (i) they want to see if there is any overlap between your fundamental motivations for choosing a career in the legal field and your motivations for pursuing an alternative career path; (ii) they want candidates that have seriously considered other careers as well before deciding to commit to law; and (iii) they are interested in recruiting well-rounded individuals with interests and passions outside of law.

The only potential issue of concern regarding tensions with your decision to pursue becoming a commercial solicitor comes at point (i). To address that, I think you want to have as much commonality between the reasons for your interest in the alternative career path and plausible reasons for interest in the work of commercial lawyers. I have recently written a post discussing this, I have quoted it bellow.



Besides this, I have also thought it may be useful to quote a great post and discussion with @Ram Sabaratnam about this question, which provides you with slightly different perspective:

Thank you @Andrei Radu for your detailed response - this is very helpful!

 

[Parsorandini]

When writing about 'why commercial law', my interest in law really was born when I was a child; my mother worked in a commercial law firm as a secretary and, as a single mum, she sometimes had to bring me into the office with her on weekends and I got to speak to the lawyers as a (approximately) 10 year old. Obviously this sounds really cliche and didn't exactly spark a deep commercial law interest in me - is it too cheesy to mention at the start of my answer (I wouldn't focus on it) even if it is 100% true?

 

[LawyerUpPal]

When writing about 'why commercial law', my interest in law really was born when I was a child; my mother worked in a commercial law firm as a secretary and, as a single mum, she sometimes had to bring me into the office with her on weekends and I got to speak to the lawyers as a (approximately) 10 year old. Obviously this sounds really cliche and didn't exactly spark a deep commercial law interest in me - is it too cheesy to mention at the start of my answer (I wouldn't focus on it) even if it is 100% true?

I wouldn't use this for this question in an application. The point of this question is to test whether you know what commercial law is and, more importantly, what a commercial lawyer does. This is, as you mention, a great opener for 'why law', but tangential for why commercial law which is more unique- a hybrid of business and law. I would dig deeper in your work/education experience. If you've done a vacation scheme, worked in any business plus your studies (if law) for eg. I have in the past, when asked at interview 'why law' given a wider answer. That is, I would say what attracted me to law generally especially if it is profound (like your example above) and then qualify my affinity for commercial law specifically.

 

[Jessica Booker]

When writing about 'why commercial law', my interest in law really was born when I was a child; my mother worked in a commercial law firm as a secretary and, as a single mum, she sometimes had to bring me into the office with her on weekends and I got to speak to the lawyers as a (approximately) 10 year old. Obviously this sounds really cliche and didn't exactly spark a deep commercial law interest in me - is it too cheesy to mention at the start of my answer (I wouldn't focus on it) even if it is 100% true?

If you do include this, it can just be a very brief reference to your initial interest stemming from your mum's work. I don't think it needs to be any more than that though, as you have to focus on why you are motivated to do the job now rather than why you would have been motivated back then.

 

[Parsorandini]

I wouldn't use this for this question in an application. The point of this question is to test whether you know what commercial law is and, more importantly, what a commercial lawyer does. This is, as you mention, a great opener for 'why law', but tangential for why commercial law which is more unique- a hybrid of business and law. I would dig deeper in your work/education experience. If you've done a vacation scheme, worked in any business plus your studies (if law) for eg. I have in the past, when asked at interview 'why law' given a wider answer. That is, I would say what attracted me to law generally especially if it is profound (like your example above) and then qualify my affinity for commercial law specifically.

That makes a lot of sense, thanks! Do you think it could work as an opener in a cover letter that the firm states should include 'why law' or should only be used as the answer for an interview question?

If you do include this, it can just be a very brief reference to your initial interest stemming from your mum's work. I don't think it needs to be any more than that though, as you have to focus on why you are motivated to do the job now rather than why you would have been motivated back then.

Thanks Jessica, that's exactly what I thought too. I would only ever use it as a neat beginning to my journey of becoming committed to the career.

 

[Jessica Booker]

That makes a lot of sense, thanks! Do you think it could work as an opener in a cover letter that the firm states should include 'why law' or should only be used as the answer for an interview question?

Thanks Jessica, that's exactly what I thought too. I would only ever use it as a neat beginning to my journey of becoming committed to the career.

It can work as an intro (I have seen it work) but I have also seen it not work very well at the same time. Sometimes it can come across as you are just following your parent into the profession rather than truly wanting the career - that will really depend on how you talk about your motivations for the career though.

 

[LawyerUpPal]

That makes a lot of sense, thanks! Do you think it could work as an opener in a cover letter that the firm states should include 'why law' or should only be used as the answer for an interview question?

Thanks Jessica, that's exactly what I thought too. I would only ever use it as a neat beginning to my journey of becoming committed to the career.

I would say use your intuition. The word count on most of these application questions/CLs is intentionally very low, so you have to immediately get to the point and only write relevant things. Always ask yourself, 'Does this convey to Grad Rec why, among other things, I'm sure I want to be a commercial lawyer and make me stand out from the hundreds of other applicants?'. I haven't personally applied to a single firm that asks that question, especially on the application; it's usually some variation of why commercial law, why you want to be a commercial lawyer, why you wish to work in the city, etc. I'm sure some firms might use why law on their app, in which case you can mention your very personal connection in the opening.

In a CL, if asked why law, you can, as Jessica said, mention it briefly (maybe in two sentences) and then move on to why commercial law. The only firm that asked that open question at interview was Stephenson Harwood. I took the risk and said something personal about my interest in law, generally, before adding why commercial law specifically. I could tell from her reactions that the interviewer loved it. Moreover, I got the VS, and in the feedback, I scored 19/20 points in that part of the interview.

 

[TCLAW]

Does anyone have an idea whether the following firms allow you to apply twice in 1 cycle I.e both Vac and TC

Gibson Dunn, Mayer Brown, Paul Hastings

I have looked everywhere however cannot find any information about this.

Other than Gibson Dunn stating in its FAQs “to secure a training signing contract you should first apply for our vacation scheme” - ‘first’ suggesting applying to a Tc subsequently is allowed, but this is not conclusive

Thanks

 

[thelawstudent2000]

Praying for good news this week !!

 

[elsx]

Hi @elsx

You're absolutely right that this question is a bit unusually phrased. Having answered this for the A&P application myself, I’d say the key is to demonstrate how you’ve worked with others in more of a leadership or coordinating role. You'll want to focus on where you took responsibility for their contributions and ensured the overall success of the situation or project.

You could draw on examples from either your professional or personal life, but what matters is that you highlight how you ensured others were supported, motivated, and successful in delivering what was needed for a task. For instance, did you have to influence, persuade, or guide others to contribute effectively to a task or project? Were you responsible for motivating or energising a team, or perhaps finding ways to incentivise them to achieve a shared goal?

The focus should be on your proactive efforts to lead, support, or encourage others and how your contributions ensured the success of the task at hand. Hope that helps, and best of luck with your application!

Hi thanks @Ram Sabaratnam
You definitely clarified this! However, I am now wondering how I could differentiate this question from the one specifically about teamwork...

 

[user9809]

Has anyone heard back from Gibson Dunn about the open day?

 

[hfbjsdhfbhf]

Passed the CC WG!!

 

[AS24]

I would prioritise presenting as much varied evidence first, showcasing the outcomes/success from these activities. If you explain what you did and show the success, 9 times out of 10, the skills will be obvious.

For instance, you don’t need to say you have developed your teamworking skills if you evidence working in teams, if you talk about balancing multiple commitments, you don’t need to claim time management skills.

Thank you @Jessica Booker

 

[AveragePoster]

Has anyone that did their Dechert written exercise on 15th Oct (or later) heard back in the past week or two?

 

[Tcvspfo]

For Gowling Q1 which is - Using the three pieces of work experience you have included above, please outline the skills these have enabled you to develop, that are transferable to the role of a Trainee Solicitor. (500 words). Want to know how did people approach this question as to whether it is okay to discuss 3 skills one skill from each experiences. Or is it better to and I should approach it as mentioning multiple skills and discussing like attention to detail from 2 experiences. Also how would you approach this question @Ram Sabaratnam @Andrei Radu @Amma Usman

 

[g.cl.2020344]

Has anyone that did their Dechert written exercise on 15th Oct (or later) heard back in the past week or two?

Nope! I did mine 15th oct. I emailed them last week and they said they were still marking assessments