TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[TCLA Community Assistant]

I’m working on an application at the moment which asks for a cover letter (1000 words)

There are two other separate questions which ask for (1) extra curricular activities and leisure interests and (2) positions of responsibility and key achievements. Both questions have a word count of 500 words.

I’m struggling to think of things that I can add for the first question since almost everything I could mention will have already been covered in the work experience section, cover letter or the second question.

Does anyone have any advice or ideas? Any help would be appreciated

Don't put your extracurriculars in your work experience entries. These should be saved for the sections mentioned above.

Any cross over between these questions and the "why me" part of the cover letter - let the questions focus on your responsibilities and achievements and let your cover letter talk more about why you did those activities (e.g. motivations/what you enjoy being involved in) or the skills you gained from them. This should avoid most of the potential repetition.

 

[Chris Brown]

CL: Why commercial law (if you've done a vac scheme good place to include and how that may have influenced), why the firm- the work, the culture and pro bono or DEI (in that order). If u like a specific practice area(s) talk about deals and why that type of work is appealing to you based on your interests, experience or some other personal connection. I think inevitability, there will be some overlap between CL and what's in the other 2 questions but I don't think it will be detrimental if well written.

Thank you I appreciate this a lot! I’m not used to writing cover letters as normally there are specific questions for each thing e.g., why do you want to pursue a career in commercial law or why x firm.

Guess this makes things easier in that it is essentially the same thing. ​

 

[Bread]

idk if it's true that applicants who've previously applied to law firms unsuccessfully can be automatically screened out...

Does anyone know whether this is true/which firms do this?

 

[sibs23]

Hello, this is so so last minute but I am weighing up whether to apply for the Fieldfisher Diversity Access Scheme or the Direct TC and wondering if anyone could offer some advice? I am unsure whether the DAS is aimed at people with less legal experience. I fulfil the criteria required for the DAS but I do have significant legal work experience. Leaning towards going for the DAS and i suppose they could move me if they think i should move to direct?

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Thank you Jessica! I appreciate the help!

In my cover letter I am most likely going to use the structure why commercial law, why the firm and then why me.

In terms of the work experience section, I have focused on discussing my part time or full time jobs, internships and things like open days and insight events.

For the question on positions of responsibility and achievements, I have written about the societies I was part of at university and my academic and non academic achievements.

The question I am struggling with is the one for extra curricular activities and leisure activities.

The reason is because I don’t really have any examples of extra curricular activities or I am unsure of what counts as an extra curricular or leisure activity. I feel like any example I could use will have already been mentioned on one of the other application sections and I want to avoid that possible repetition.

What kind of things can be considered to be extra curricular or leisure activities?

Any interests that don't require you to make a commitment to others. For instance, it could be hobbies that are very much from a self-interest point or activities that are solo pursuits or where the output is really only for your benefit rather than other people's.

 

[jta227]

Hello, this is so so last minute but I am weighing up whether to apply for the Fieldfisher Diversity Access Scheme or the Direct TC and wondering if anyone could offer some advice? I am unsure whether the DAS is aimed at people with less legal experience. I fulfil the criteria required for the DAS but I do have significant legal work experience. Leaning towards going for the DAS and i suppose they could move me if they think i should move to direct?

Consider also that the DAS is rolling to the extent that they give some offers before the deadline but the TC is only that they progress to AC before the deadline, I believe. Direct TC might fare better (that being said I sent an application today and it was for the DAS, and I'm also second-guessing myself since you can only apply once a year and I like the firm)

 

[sibs23]

Consider also that the DAS is rolling to the extent that they give some offers before the deadline but the TC is only that they progress to AC before the deadline, I believe. Direct TC might fare better (that being said I sent an application today and it was for the DAS, and I'm also second-guessing myself since you can only apply once a year and I like the firm)

Thank you. I got caught out by the different date on the job page compared to the early careers page. The last half hour has been a mad rush copying everything over to the form! I hate rushing like that - I feel sick. I've decided to go for the DAS. Just going to hope for the best now

 

[pax]

Sorry to hear! If it makes you feel any better, most of us all got PFOs today, Pinsent and Mayer within 30 mins!

If you don't mind me asking, was HSF summer?

HSF Summer. No news is likely good news!

 

[pax]

I’m sorry to hear this was HSF summer VS?

HSF Summer. No news is likely good news!

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Thank you Jessica!

Would you say I should aim to hit the word count on this question or is it fine if I am a bit below it e.g., 350/400 out of 500?

It will be fine to be up to 20% below the word count - especially if other answers are substantial

 

[sapphireoreos]

@Jessica Booker I’m applying to Withers, and they have a 60 word question asking to give details of my current interests and activities including the nature of your involvement. I therefore have three questions. Firstly, does interests and activities in this context means extracurriculars (e.g. society executive roles) or hobbies (e.g. language learning)? The Form doesn’t have a separate question about positions of responsibilities and extracurriculars, so I’ve put them in my work experience section for now.

Secondly, what would the best approach be? Should I focus on one thing and expand on it, or bullet point multiple activities? Similarly, what is your advice on how to tackle 60 word questions, as I’m used to 200-350 word questions? Thank you!

 

[fairbourne]

Anyone completed the Weil VI? Can trade for the Dechert written exercise.

Yes, happy to give an insight!

 

[Ash4202]

Hi everyone, For W&C, has anyone that did their VI before the WVS and received the holding email heard any news since? Should we anticipate a PFO?
Wishing everyone a fantastic week and year ahead!

hey did the email basically say you’re still under consideration and that they’ll be in touch in the new year?

 

[Miss Chocolate]

May be a stupid question, but would you say it's important to make an impression on an Open Day? Am I OK to turn up with any questions I may have and ask them to people if I speak with them individually? Is there anything else I need to do, like make an effort with graduate recruitment or something 💀💀

any insights would be appreciated, thank you!! @Andrei Radu @Jessica Booker

 

[jta227]

May be a stupid question, but would you say it's important to make an impression on an Open Day? Am I OK to turn up with any questions I may have and ask them to people if I speak with them individually? Is there anything else I need to do, like make an effort with graduate recruitment or something 💀💀

any insights would be appreciated, thank you!! @Andrei Radu @Jessica Booker

Making a good impression is always a good thing, but it’s unlikely it will completely carry an application that is not up to the firm’s quality. They can only get to know so much of you in one day. What’s probably more important is getting good insights and info to tailor your application more so it’s better - which indeed may involve talking to a lot of people.

I think it’s important not to make a *bad* impression though by trying too hard to impress people - that’s not what an open day is for. Treat it as a two-way thing and just be normal IMO. Asking any questions you have will be fine. What made me cringe is when after a talk the speaker would ask for questions and people would shoehorn in some random deal or development they had looked up before and try and relate it to the talk.

 

[kokoprep]

hey did the email basically say you’re still under consideration and that they’ll be in touch in the new year?

Hey - did you do the VI and was said you will be considered for spring summer ?

 

[Miss Chocolate]

Making a good impression is always a good thing, but it’s unlikely it will completely carry an application that is not up to the firm’s quality. They can only get to know so much of you in one day. What’s probably more important is getting good insights and info to tailor your application more so it’s better - which indeed may involve talking to a lot of people.

I think it’s important not to make a *bad* impression though by trying too hard to impress people - that’s not what an open day is for. Treat it as a two-way thing and just be normal IMO. Asking any questions you have will be fine. What made me cringe is when after a talk the speaker would ask for questions and people would shoehorn in some random deal or development they had looked up before and try and relate it to the talk.

Thanks for this!! They aren't sharing information on who's speaking during the event so not sure i can go with specific questions but we shall see...maybe they will release that information the night before.

 

[CHLTC]

Hi @CHLTC I really empathize with your struggles, as case studies/written tasks were always the hardest part of ACs for me as well. I don't think there is a specific method you can prepare, since as you mentioned, they come in a wide variety of formats. In my view, the only way to prepare is by developing the underlying skills every case study will seek to test: time-management and work under pressure, clarity of writing and structure, commercial awareness and analysis, ability to digest large amounts of information, etc.

To do that, I think it is useful to both practice actual case studies and to read more widely about the commercial matters that might be relevant for them. A particularly helpful resource for me was the course offered by TCLA on the matter (which you can find here). It includes a number of mock PE and M&A case studies, recordings of two hour long sessions explaining how to think through written/interview style M&A case studies, and a number of questions that are analyzed in depth by the TCLA team. To link a few useful free resources on TCLA:

• An amazing guide for M&A case studies by @Jacob Miller, which includes both a mock case study and a model answer with detailed explanations of how you should think through the materials (which you can find here).
• A mock written case study offered by TCLA here.
• An excellent article written by @Jaysen Sutton, which explains the process, types, structures, and general terms of an M&A transaction (which you can find here).
• A glossary of M&A terms by @Amma Usman here.

Besides these, I have also found a few external resources you may want to take a look at:

• A great LSE article giving an overview of case studies and preparation methods for each element
• An article with tips from the Oxford Careers Service
• A Next City Lawyer case study available on a fee basis

Finally, I quoted bellow a recent post I wrote which I think you could find useful - it includes my top tips for any written task:

Hi Andrei, thank you so much for all of this. This is incredibly kind of you to write all this and give me all these useful links. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much, I will look through these in detail.

 

[James Wakefield]

Is the Withers Vacation Scheme freestanding? As in, do you have to separately apply for their TC after?

Hi all. Still not clear on this so any advice would be really helpful.

On the website there’s one small section which says “Learn about our one week vacation schemes that allow you to get to know the firm before you apply for a training contract.”

Just wondering if that means the VS is freestanding at Withers?

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

@Jessica Booker I’m applying to Withers, and they have a 60 word question asking to give details of my current interests and activities including the nature of your involvement. I therefore have three questions. Firstly, does interests and activities in this context means extracurriculars (e.g. society executive roles) or hobbies (e.g. language learning)? The Form doesn’t have a separate question about positions of responsibilities and extracurriculars, so I’ve put them in my work experience section for now.

Secondly, what would the best approach be? Should I focus on one thing and expand on it, or bullet point multiple activities? Similarly, what is your advice on how to tackle 60 word questions, as I’m used to 200-350 word questions? Thank you!

The question will cover extracurriculars and hobbies. I wouldn't use bullet points. I would try to highlight 2-3 key activities you think are most important/relevant to you or that you are not covering in the work experience section - you'll just need to be super concise. I would recommend focusing on the results/outcomes from your activities rather than detail on your actions.