TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[lawbear123]

is this for spring or summer?

summer!

 

[tarty23]

summer!

congrats! may i ask when you completed/heard back written exercise?

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Andrei Radu ,

I hope you're doing well.

I'm reaching out as I will soon be taking part in the partner interview at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which is the final stage of the Vacation Scheme application process. Shahana suggested I contact you since you've previously completed this interview.

With that in mind, I was hoping you might be able to offer some suggestions, tips, or guidance on how best to prepare and perform in the partner interview.

The email I received mentions "motivational questions (both personal and commercial)." I would greatly appreciate it if you could clarify what is meant by commercial motivational questions.

Thank you so much in advance. I look forward to hearing from you and would really value any advice you can share.

Best wishes,
Adrian

Hey Adrian and @Chris Brown and first of all congratulations on reaching the final stage! As for your query, you will appreciate that for reasons of fairness and confidentiality I will not be able to list the specific questions I was asked. I can however give you some general thought on what I think is meant by the phrase mentioned in the email and on how you could go about preparing.

By "commercial motivational questions" I think the firm simply means questions that test your (i) ability analyze commercial factors and (ii) to link them to your motivations. For instance, you may be asked about the firm's competitors - and say you then list some firms. However, you could then be further asked what were the specific criteria you chose to identify competitors by, and why did you consider those aspects of the firm to be more relevant than others. Then, you may be asked why would you prefer Willkie over its competitors or over other firms you have been applying for. You could once again list a number of aspects in which Willkie does better than the others. However, you could once more be asked why do those factors specifically matter more to you than other factors that would have favored those other firms.

To give an example, say you are comparing Willkie with Milbank. If asked why you applied for Milbank, you could mention its finance expertise, whereas for Willkie you could mention its PE practice. Now, Willkie has a premium high-end PE offering, whereas Milbank, having recently acquired Dickson Minto, has one of the best mid-market ones. However, Milbank also has one of the best high-end finance practices, whereas Willkie's is more mid-market. In explaining why you prefer Willkie to Milbank, a great answer would not just elaborate on why you prefer to work in a team with a focus on high-end rather than mid-market PE deals; but it would also explain why working at the top of the market in PE is more attractive to you than working at the top of the market in finance. This is an example of a situation where your response will involve a lot of commercial analysis, but where you would eventually return to a question of your interests and experiences.

As for the question about guidance, I am afraid I cannot say a lot more than I did in a previous post. I would try to research in depth the type of work the firm specializes in, to have a real understanding of what its different practice areas do and how they come together in a transaction/case. I would also try to make my answers to the main motivational questions as persuasive as possible, ensuring the analysis is nuanced and can withstand further questioning. Finally, I think you could benefit from practicing formulating your thought process out loud and making best guesses. You might be asked questions where there is no expectation for you to have known the answer prior to the interview but where you could get close to it by working from what you know and with the help and guidance of the interviewers.

 

[jojo23]

I think more city law firms should follow in the footsteps of Travers Smith, White & Case and BCLP. 2,000 words is light work idk why there aren’t more firms asking us to write that much in our applications. Surely we’d all be doing it for the thrill!! 😖🤣​

Travers smith, white & Case and bclp looking at firms with 300 word limits like:

 

[tomsmitg]

hi, has anyone done an ac at taylor wessing ?

 

[RS Sanjanaa]

everyone getting links PFO, is it for the summer scheme?

 

[Heartofglass]

Hi everyone, I just got a Linklaters PFO this morning.

Just a quick question, do you receive the same message saying: "However, this doesn't have to be the end of the road and we would encourage you to re-apply next year." I don't know if they sent it to all or only some people.

Thank you

 

[Boating]

Hi everyone, I just got a Linklaters PFO this morning.

Just a quick question, do you receive the same message saying: "However, this doesn't have to be the end of the road and we would encourage you to re-apply next year." I don't know if they sent it to all or only some people.

Thank you

I got it too, would be to everyone

 

[lucy_p]

Links PFO.. finally (in fact got it twice!)

 

[member7830]

gotten five separate rejection emails from links this year, really getting the point ahaha

 

[Chris Brown]

Linklaters are definitely doing a madness because why have I just received a PFO from them for the VS when I didn’t even apply for it at all wtf lmao. 😂😂​

 

[Chouette]

Linklaters are definitely doing a madness because why have I just received a PFO from them for the VS when I didn’t even apply for it at all wtf lmao. 😂😂​

Welcome to the club

 

[applicant457]

Anyone completed cc spark vi?

 

[jta227]

everyone getting links PFO, is it for the summer scheme?

Got one for Spring

 

[Apple]

Links PFO, thought I had it this year smh.

 

[James Wakefield]

Linklaters are definitely doing a madness because why have I just received a PFO from them for the VS when I didn’t even apply for it at all wtf lmao. 😂😂​

Sad to hear that!

I’ll keep my fingers crossed my non-application is still under consideration. 🤣

 

[Andrei Radu]

thank you so much for your response! I think it made me tear up a little lol. These are incredibly helpful and I will keep these in mind. You had also mentioned some commercial awareness podcasts. Which ones would you recommend? Also, besides open days, is there any other way I can show a link to the firm, like with the mentoring scheme, for example?

For the podcasts question, I will recommend a number of different podcasts for the different kinds of useful content I have found:

• Keeping up with current events: here I would firstly recommend listening to the FT News Briefing every day - there is no better concise statement of the most important business news. Next, you can take a look at BBC's World Business Report: it will cover many of the same topics as in the FT News Briefing, but in a lot more detail and with a lot more analysis. Finally, I used to also listen to Bloomberg's Daybreak Podcast from time to time, as I found it provided the best analysis of topics that impacted the world of financial services.
• Detailed commercial analysis of selected topics: here, my primary resource was Watson's Daily, where the two hosts would select two issues that they would discuss in depth over around 40 minutes. This was particularly useful to learn how to analyze a commercial topic from different lenses and debate it; a skill that is essential for succeeding in many ACs. A good second resource was Goldman Sachs Exchanges, which helped me immensely with my knowledge of financial jargon and more broadly with my understanding of the business models of the different types of law firms' clients.
• Legal press podcasts: these podcasts are amazing for learning how to compare firms and to identify their market positions. The Lawyer's podcast is amazing for looking at firms specifically from the perspective of their London operations, whereas Law, disrupted and Bloomberg Law are great for a more global (and sometimes US-focused) analysis.
• Law firms' insights: some of the best podcasts for analyzing the impact of current events on clients and practices areas are produces by firms themselves. I found the ones made by Latham, HSF, and White & Case to be among the best for this. This is also one way you can show engagement and interest in a specific firm.

For the second question, yes, I think any other opportunities such as mentoring schemes are great ways of demonstrating interest and distinguishing yourself from the crowd. Besides open days, I would also consider attending sign-up based events (you will find many advertised by your law society, the firm itself, or platforms like law careers.net or legal cheek), Forage Virtual Work Experiences, and even simply reaching out to trainees on LinkedIn to have an interaction to mention.

 

[Willgetthere]

@Amma Usman @Andrei Radu and anyone else - I was wondering if you could provide some insight into Gibson Dunn and what makes them different from other US firm other than their strong transactional vs contentious spilt and their broad internal presence. I am also interested in understand their clients from what I’ve understood the firm clientele is quite broad across various industries, but perhaps some insight on if certain practice groups have a specific market segment focus - this would be great. Thank you!

 

[saj2002]

Has anyone heard from Addleshaw Goddard at all? I am still waiting since submitting the app/test in early January.

 

[Someoneinlaw]

I normally used 'Hi [name of the addressee]' if there was implied familiarity from the details of the written exercise or if they were someone in the firm who was not very senior. If they were either a client or a partner/counsel and familiarity was not implied, I simply used 'Dear [name of the addressee]'. I never included a Mr/Mrs/Ms or sir/madam as I did not want to make any assumptions about gender or marital status. From my vacation scheme experiences, the emails I have seen associates send looked much the same in terms of address form, so I am quite sure this is an ok approach to follow.

Thank you so much 😊