TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[TCLA Community Assistant]

@Jessica Booker @Amma Usman
Is the TCLA academy a separate subscription to TCLA premium?

Thanks!

Hi @KBanana - the academy programme gives you access to our premium content for the period of the programme, so our scholars have access to the same content as our premium subscribers.

 

[Chris Brown]

I think Clyde & Co only look at applications from penultimate year law students and final year non-law students for their VS (which is the only way to get a TC). I heard that they don't consider applications from grads, which is pretty questionable imo ...​

Seems like obvious indirect age discrimination.

I think the majority of their TC’s go to people on the VS but I think they also offer TC’s internally to people who are paralegals. Clyde & Co recently introduced their paralegal academy so i imagine if you are a law finalist or graduate then that’s an alternative route. I definitely agree it’s kind of obvious indirect age discrimination though regarding the VS. 🥲

Training Contracts

Eligibility: Most of our trainees are people who have impressed us on our vacation schemes or through internal recruitment from our paralegal population. We recruit exclusively through these channels for our London and Manchester training contracts.

careers.clydeco.com

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Had a Weil interview today. Got asked no technical, instead pushed literally only on motivations. Confused. Also, saw interviewers writing things down and saw my score(%) on the bottom of one of their sheets. Not a very good score. @Jessica Booker or anyone else do you know how firms mark you? What is usually good enough?

I would be cautious to make any assumptions as to what you may or may not have seen. My notes for interviews mean something to me but not necessarily any indication of scores/performance.

But unfortunately there is no answer to this. There could be a whole range of scores and methods of which they are then calculated. For instance your low percentage could easily be more of a risk calculation rather than a performance calculation.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

any1 else feel like hearing back from firms has slowed down this week? feel like I was so busy hearing back 3 weeks ago and then this week is so slow lol

It’s half term - you’d be surprised how quiet things get when it’s the school holidays because a lot of people are off and also because there tends to be more solicitor apprenticeship events/recruitment during half term week.

 

[zoobla20]

I've had a quick look through the search but couldn't find anything. If you're starting from absolutely 0 knowledge on M&A and need to understand it to a basic/intermediate level, what resources are useful? I've got an AC coming up and I've heard one of the tasks could be heavily centred around M&A

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

I see, thank you. What do you mean by risk calculation? Also by low I meant 72.5 so I hope I am not so amazingly risky😢😅

Whatever it is, 72.5 is not a low score.

 

[studentdelaw786]

hey all,

i wanted to get your thoughts on using a news story in a TC application. the question is “tell me about a news story and why it interests you?”

the story i want to pick doesn’t link to the firm because it doesn’t have an office there, but it does link to US investment banks due to potential geopolitical concerns.

what are your general thoughts?

thanks in advance

 

[legallady123]

I think the majority of their TC’s go to people on the VS but I think they also offer TC’s internally to people who are paralegals. Clyde & Co recently introduced their paralegal academy so i imagine if you are a law finalist or graduate then that’s an alternative route. I definitely agree it’s kind of obvious indirect age discrimination though regarding the VS. 🥲

Training Contracts

Eligibility: Most of our trainees are people who have impressed us on our vacation schemes or through internal recruitment from our paralegal population. We recruit exclusively through these channels for our London and Manchester training contracts.

careers.clydeco.com

I completed a VS at Clydes 3 years ago and there was one graduate / career changer who was a fair bit older, the rest were current students. Not sure if it has changed since then! The graduate was one of the few who did receive a tc though

 

[yk1906]

How did you find BCLP's SJT?

 

[trainee4u]

I completed a VS at Clydes 3 years ago and there was one graduate / career changer who was a fair bit older, the rest were current students. Not sure if it has changed since then! The graduate was one of the few who did receive a tc though

I applied last year for VS and was progressed to VI.

This year I applied without noticing the policy and got a fairly swift "you are not eligible" PFO.

So i think it's a brand new policy for this year.

 

[BBsharkk]

I was on LinkedIn before and I came across a link to a TCLA YouTube video with Jaysen (TCLA) and Gemma (Willkie). In this application cycle, they received just under 1,400 applications (1,396), which is crazy for only 20 VS places and 6-7 TC offers. 😦

I imagine if 25% were moved to the VI stage, that would be roughly 350 people. If 25% were moved to WE, that would mean between 80-90 of us have done the WE (out of 1400). That is actually mad when put into perspective! These numbers are scary. 🥲​

Funnily enough it's actually less scarier than what I expected - I believe there's a Chambers Student chart that shows Willkie had around 2000 applications in the past (not sure if that's accurate)
But yes, 0.5% TC rate is probably on the top end of competitiveness in the market.

 

[ravioli]

hey has anyone who did a Latham AC last week heard back yet either way?

 

[Chris Brown]

Funnily enough it's actually less scarier than what I expected - I believe there's a Chambers Student chart that shows Willkie had around 2000 applications in the past (not sure if that's accurate)
But yes, 0.5% TC rate is probably on the top end of competitiveness in the market.

I have seen a Chambers Student Guide chart that said they received just under 1,000 but I’m not sure for which application cycle. It might be the numbers have increased gradually over each recruitment cycle. I have copied the link below:

Application and selection criteria - Chambers Student Guide

The student’s guide to careers in the law. Gives the truth about law firms and the Bar. Based on thousands of interviews with trainees, pupils and market sources, this site offers the full package of careers advice to anyone entering the legal profession.

www.chambersstudent.co.uk

Either way, to have even made it to the WE stage is insane, based on the numbers. That’s like top 5% of applicants or something! 0.5% TC rate is crazy ngl. 😮

Best of luck to everyone who did the Willkie WE and hopefully we get good news soon. 🙂​

 

[g.cl.2020344]

ML TI PFO (

 

[billyonthespeeddial]

Who's still waiting for NRF post-VI?

 

[BuddyingLawyer744]

does anyone know how many people got the ML phone interview? just been rejected.

 

[tcla02]

Who's still waiting for NRF post-VI?

did the VI on the 5th

 

[g.cl.2020344]

does anyone know how many people got the ML phone interview? just been rejected.

tbh it felt like quite a few people on the forum got the TI but idk the number

 

[AveragePoster]

I completed a VS at Clydes 3 years ago and there was one graduate / career changer who was a fair bit older, the rest were current students. Not sure if it has changed since then! The graduate was one of the few who did receive a tc though

Hi! I was just wondering, if you remember, how many were on the Clydes VS when you did it, and how many converted? Thanks!

 

[BobThebIlly]

How am I supposed to ramble on for 600 words for each question brooo (Stephenson Hardwood VS...)