TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[legal18]

I'm no expert but the third para sounds a bit surface level and can be said about many other firms. The last sentence of the second para is similarly underdeveloped as saying the monthly coaching sessions 'produces highly skilled lawyers' doesnt really draw it back to your point. Maybe specify how the monthly coaching in writing and public speaking could improve the service lawyers provide to their clients, attracting repeat mandates?

First para is clearly well researched but maybe specifying that Paul, Weiss' emphasis on lateral hires in the PE sector makes them a go-to advisor for PE houses, establishing a competitive advantage and setting them apart from other firms, would better link the response to the question!

(I really like your writing style!)

Thank you so much!!! And no, looking back at it I agree with you and how it could be applied to other firms

 

[legal18]

It's currently my 3rd cycle for TCs and I have read (literally) hundreds of apps for various firms both from online databases and my peers. I can honestly say that this answer alone is one of the best I've seen in an app (although I can't compare it to successful PW apps, obviously). So by logical deduction, the chances of your rejection based on this answer alone, or your grades/work experience, are slim to none - you mentioned attending the open day which rules out grades/work experience as possible causes.

So my guess is it might have something to do with your other two answers(?) If not, then maybe it really has something to do with your amberjack test scores (although it's actually pretty decent from what we've seen on this forum so far) or PW apps are really just that competitive lol 😂

Thank you, that means a lot!

 

[Chris Brown]

Hey, just going to post my answer to the first question in response to this. Would appreciate to hear people's thoughts on what went wrong, would be helpful for the next cycle

Paul, Weiss maintains its competitive advantage in three key ways.

Firstly, the firm attracts top-tier talent in practice areas crucial to successful private equity (PE) transactions, such as debt finance and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). High-profile lateral hires such as Neel Sachdev and William Aitken-Davies have been recognised by the IFLR1000, with Sachdev acknowledged as a ‘market leader’ and Aitken-Davies as a ‘notable practitioner.’ These ‘Galáctico’ hires led Paul, Weiss during KPS Capital’s €3.5 billion acquisition of Innomotics from Siemens. Moreover, this commitment to securing the best talent extends internationally; for example, the firm leveraged its ‘best friend’ relationship with Gleiss Lutz in this transaction.

Secondly, this talent is heavily invested in across all levels of seniority. The M&A team has established mentoring pods, comprising two partners and eight associates, providing a channel for guidance. This will extend to the inaugural cohort of ten trainees, with Christopher Sullivan emphasising that mentoring junior lawyers is crucial, as they represent the firm’s next generation and are essential to its organic growth. Notably, what sets Paul, Weiss apart is its holistic approach to development, which goes beyond legal skills. The firm offers monthly coaching sessions in writing and public speaking, with Neel Sachdev benefiting from the latter. Overall, such investment produces highly skilled lawyers, maintaining the firm’s competitive advantage.

Finally, Paul, Weiss offers an excellent client service. At the Paul, Weiss Open Day, Arun Sohan-Pall highlighted the firm’s lean, carefully curated teams that consistently deliver excellence. He contrasted this with his previous experience at a larger US firm, where the quality of service was less guaranteed. Paul, Weiss has a distinctive approach to lawyering, characterised by short, crisp, commercial advice from small, responsive teams.

I’m not an expert on applications at all as this is only my first cycle. What has crossed my mind however, is that these points seem more suited to address why someone would want a career at Paul, Weiss (training, mentoring, coaching, lean team structure, small trainee intake and greater responsibility, etc.) and doesn’t seem to address the specific question which asks ‘as a premier law firm, what enables Paul, Weiss to maintain its competitive advantage’.

There is no mention of Paul, Weiss being a premier law firm, or how it maintains its competitive advantage against other premier law firms (I don’t know if this is needed necessarily). For example, I have seen Milbank (a New York HQ firm like Paul, Weiss) refer to themselves as a premier law firm on LinkedIn and on their website/legal directories. Perhaps reference to Paul, Weiss’ other competitors would have been good here as well (e.g., Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Skadden, etc.).

Also, I think since Paul, Weiss is so new in London (it’s pretty much still in growth mode as they are building up a dispute resolution practice), it may have been good to highlight what gives Paul, Weiss a competitive advantage on an international scale or in the US. If it needed to be more UK focused, perhaps discussion of the London office being PE focused (most of Paul, Weiss’ clients in London are PE firms) would have been good. To expand on this, you could have added the points from the first paragraph:

By hiring top-tier, high-profile PE partners and being a full service firm across the breath of transactional practices, Paul, Weiss can offer the best service to its PE clients. This results in Paul, Weiss securing large-scale mandates like the KPS Capital deal (€3.5bn). This will allow Paul, Weiss to maintain its competitive advantage against other PE focused firms in the UK. Paul, Weiss’ strategic move to Soho means the firm is now closer to its PE clients. In the long term, this could allow Paul, Weiss to continue to maintain its competitive advantage against its closest competitors in London specifically.

I don’t know whether these points are right or wrong at all. They simply crossed my mind, so I might actually be fully waffling here. 😂😂​

 

[tosin4774]

This question doesn’t require reflecting your personality/achievements/motivations in the answer. There’s plenty of opportunity to do that in the remaining two questions. This question is a test of your commercial awareness, research skills and understanding of law firms as a business.

ooh okay. that would be helpful when apply next year

 

[MR10]

do firms take into account your application when reviewing your video interview or is it just the VI

 

[congrades]

have people heard back (good or bad news, anything) from Dechert for their summer scheme? or for Cleary summer - I believe I saw some WG invites recently?

 

[kuuks_]

do firms take into account your application when reviewing your video interview or is it just the VI

I assume your application was used to get you to the video interview stage so the next threshold is passing the video interview. Unless everyone who submits an application gets to do a video interview, i doubt it. someone else please correct if I’m wrong here

 

[Hana ♥]

I’m not an expert on applications at all as this is only my first cycle. What has crossed my mind is that these points seem more suited to address why someone would want a career at Paul, Weiss (training, mentoring, coaching, lean team structure, small trainee intake and greater responsibility) and doesn’t seem to address the specific question which asks ‘as a premier law firm, what enables Paul, Weiss to maintain its competitive advantage’. There is no mention of Paul, Weiss being a premier law firm, or how it maintains its competitive advantage against other premier law firms (I don’t know if this is needed necessarily).

Also, I think since Paul, Weiss is so new in London (it’s pretty much still in growth mode as they still need a dispute resolution practice), it may have been good to highlight what gives Paul, Weiss a competitive advantage on an international scale or in the US. If it needed to be more UK focused, perhaps discussion of the London office being PE focused (most of Paul, Weiss’ clients in London are PE firms) would have been good. To expand on this, you could have added the points from the first paragraph (hiring top PE talent and having a full service transactional focus to offer the best service to PE clients, which results in positive outcomes like the KPS Capital deal and how this will allow Paul, Weiss to maintain its competitive advantage against other PE focused firms in the UK). They also moved to Soho strategically to be closer to their PE clients.

I don’t know whether these points are right or wrong at all it’s just what crossed my mind, so please bear in mind I might actually be waffling here. 😂😂​

I completely agree, I would have read that question like that too - i.e., what are PW’s competitive advantages and strategic positioning vs. competitors. However, the answer focuses heavily on existing expertise (the only point I got was that the teams are high quality, and each paragraph gives a different angle of what that looks like) without fully addressing how PW can leverage this expertise strategically going forward.

The first paragraph outlines really well PW’s strengths but misses a chance to connect them to market trends. The second paragraph’s focus on mentoring and development is good too, but it feels like an extension of the ‘talent’ theme rather than a distinct advantage. Similarly the final paragraph reads as a little too underdeveloped.

The answer could have better focused on only two points and frame these as key strengths that PW could use to capture future growth (eg not just current expertise and how it's used - a little too descriptive).

I hope this is helpful @legal18 !

 

[tarty23]

have people heard back (good or bad news, anything) from Dechert for their summer scheme? or for Cleary summer - I believe I saw some WG invites recently?

I received written exercise today

 

[desperateTCseeker1998]

Has anyone done K&L Gates verbal analysis test? Can't find anything on it at all

When did you hear?

 

[desperateTCseeker1998]

Anyone else waiting for that Paul, Weiss rejection? My amberjack was not good

 

[congrades]

Anyone else waiting for that Paul, Weiss rejection? My amberjack was not good

me! I wish they'd just put me out of my misery! how did you do?

 

[Chris Brown]

Anyone else waiting for that Paul, Weiss rejection? My amberjack was not good

Yeah I’m still waiting for my Paul, Weiss PFO. I want it to be over and done with asap the anxiety is too much for me. That Amberjack test was horrid. 🥲🥲​

 

[kelisi88]

Guys, this cycle has been worse than terrible. Now I'm clueless as to what to do this summer! Does anyone have any ideas for non-commercial law or non-law work experience that could benefit next year's apps? I don't want to have nothing on my CV this year. @Jessica Booker any advice..?

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi, I have an AC coming up next week. I wanted to get some thoughts on how to prepare for a CV-blind and application-blind interview. In such a case, can I recycle my answers from my applications, or is it unwise to do that? Similarly, how much in-depth research should I do into the firm? It's my first AC, and I'm really keen to get the VS. @Andrei Radu @Amma Usman any tips would be appreciated!

I generally think there is nothing wrong with using answers you formulated in your applications as well, although for some reason it seems many people initially assume that this is the case. Of course you can and should polish and tailor the answers for the purposes of the interview, perhaps by adding deeper insights and changing the phrasing for a more suitable one. However, I do not think any interviewers have an expectation for your answers to differ much in substance from your answers in the application form. In fact, it would be more concerning if your answers were radically different, as it would show either dishonesty or an instability in your fundamental motivations.

Regarding on your question as to how to prepare, I think mostly the same as you would for a normal competency interview:

1. Build up the most extended and comprehensive question bank you can and find ideas to answer those question;
2. Practice by recording yourself and then reviewing your performance;
3. Do mock interview;
4. Deepen your research into the firm and brush up on your commercial awareness.

On the last point, I think your research should be as extensive as it can be and I would definitely take at least half a day for it. Among the aspects that you should know, I would list the following:

• Basic firm facts: number of offices, financial figures, firm history
• Practice area/sector strengths and the firm's market position compared to competitors
• Recent big deals cases
• Recent awards and other forms of market recognition
• A few core clients
• Firm's business strategy and any recent developments (new offices, lateral hires etc)
• Training philosophy and details of the offering

 

[NJS]

Paul, Weiss theory:

They may be looking for applicants who also have a good amount of legal experience too, kinda like a direct TC applicant would. Would you think considering its their first ever cohort, they would want students fresh out of uni with no experience? Just a thought I might be wrong

 

[jta227]

Paul, Weiss theory:

They may be looking for applicants who also have a good amount of legal experience too, kinda like a direct TC applicant would. Would you think considering its their first ever cohort, they would want students fresh out of uni with no experience? Just a thought I might be wrong

I feel like if this was the case they should've just said so instead of leading on hundreds (thousands?) of people at their Open Days as surely they would have known that was their strategy at that stage. Though we haven't seen the resumé of anyone who has progressed so I wouldn't assume this yet!

 

[sapphireoreos]

I generally think there is nothing wrong with using answers you formulated in your applications as well, although for some reason it seems many people initially assume that this is the case. Of course you can and should polish and tailor the answers for the purposes of the interview, perhaps by adding deeper insights and changing the phrasing for a more suitable one. However, I do not think any interviewers have an expectation for your answers to differ much in substance from your answers in the application form. In fact, it would be more concerning if your answers were radically different, as it would show either dishonesty or an instability in your fundamental motivations.

Regarding on your question as to how to prepare, I think mostly the same as you would for a normal competency interview:

1. Build up the most extended and comprehensive question bank you can and find ideas to answer those question;
2. Practice by recording yourself and then reviewing your performance;
3. Do mock interview;
4. Deepen your research into the firm and brush up on your commercial awareness.

On the last point, I think your research should be as extensive as it can be and I would definitely take at least half a day for it. Among the aspects that you should know, I would list the following:

• Basic firm facts: number of offices, financial figures, firm history
• Practice area/sector strengths and the firm's market position compared to competitors
• Recent big deals cases
• Recent awards and other forms of market recognition
• A few core clients
• Firm's business strategy and any recent developments (new offices, lateral hires etc)
• Training philosophy and details of the offering

Thank you so much, this is so helpful! I’m just wondering how I can prepare on the commercial awareness front, as I’ve completely slacked on that. Thanks again!

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Andrei Radu, how do you recommend preparing for an hour long analytical interview where I will be given an article to read for 30 minutes and after that two interviewers will ask me questions for an hour?
The article may be fictious and unrelated to current commercial issues and I will have to take business considerations into account and wider implications.

Interview is on Thursday so will be really grateful if you could share your thoughts at your earliest convenience.

Hi @pleasepleaseplease as I have never been assessed under this particular format I will not be able to speak from experience, but as I see it this exercise is set out to test mainly two things:

1. Firstly, your commercial awareness. More specifically, since you mention it could be unrelated to current issues, it will likely test you ability for commercial analysis. That is, can you identify the most relevant business considerations that arise from any particular issue? Can you explain how exactly they matter for a business' operation? Can you identify the different stakeholders and identify their positions? Can you then point out the possible courses of action and then make an argument in favour of one? For this, I think the best you can do is to read widely about commerce and to try to engage critically with the materials. However, in these last few days in the buildup to the AC, you could focus a bit more on materials giving an overviews about how businesses work - a great resource I recommend here is Investopedia.
2. Secondly, your ability maintain composure under pressure, to think on your feet, and to defend your views. For this, I think the best practice is to simply simulate the assessment condition. If you can, get a friend to select a longer business article and then have them question you on it. While the questions will likely differ from what you get in the actual interview, if properly set up this will give you useful experience with this type of assessment and should make you feel more at ease on the day.

Best of luck !

 

[Andrei Radu]

Thank you so much, this is so helpful! I’m just wondering how I can prepare on the commercial awareness front, as I’ve completely slacked on that. Thanks again!

To improve commercial awareness as much as you can over a short period, I advise you to do the following:

• Try to understand well the basics of how businesses and investments work. On the business side, look up how businesses generate revenue and grow, but also what are the main risks they face and costs they incur. Also, try to get a basic understanding of the differences between the main economic sectors. On the investment side, research the types of investments strategies, the key types of financial institutions in the market and their roles (investment banks, PE funds, hedge funds, asset managers etc), and the core concepts in capital markets (debt vs equity, bonds, IPOs etc). Investopedia has a number of great articles on these, but you can also just browse the internet and you will find many good resources.
• Learn the basics of the different practices areas in commercial law: what do they do, how does their work differ, why do the clients need those services? In particular, try to get a good grasp of M&A and PE, as those come up most often in interviews. Here, I would recommend the great courses offered by TCLA.
• Read a few recent articles on the most major current issues so that you have an idea about them if they come up. I would list, in no particular order: AI and the stock market rally, inflation and monetary policy, geopolitical tensions, the US elections and threats of tariffs, and changes in energy policy.
• Listen to as many episodes of commercial awareness podcasts as you can (and make use of moments like commuting to do that). In particular, I recommend: the FT News Briefing, BBC Business News, Watson's Daily, Goldman Sachs Exchanges, The Lawyer Podcast, Bloomberg Law, Bloomberg News.