TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Harvey Specter]

Ignoring other factors like diversity and business etc, i'm really debating over this for my next cycle.

I'm from near the peak district and could easily work in Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds. If it's 40k vs 100k then it's London no brainer. But for the higher paying firms like DLA piper, I'm not sure which to apply to. I'm keen to experience London, but if I can live at home and commute to Sheffield, earning 75k NQ (mind, DLA is an outlier), I would be RAKING IT IN. Could be putting 40k a year into savings/investments/house deposit. Vs earning 110k in London, and just about being comfortable.

Salaries are not £40k in the North West if a firm is paying £100k in London.

For instance, DLA is £110k in London and £75k outside of London for an NQ role

CMS is £110k in London and £62k in the North West

Eversheds is £100k in London and £65,500 outside of London

I also live a lot closer to the north than London, so I was initially considering cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds as opposed to London. I went to open days for a few of these firms e.g., DLA Piper and Squire Patton Boggs. The trainees and associates there mainly came from regional backgrounds and said they chose to stay there instead of considering a career in London. They said that these firms operate as a single entity in the UK, meaning the work is the same across all offices. I guess if people are interested in working on international matters (cross-border, multi-jurisdictional deals and disputes), there shouldn’t be a concern that all the work is London based. At these firms, I think it is spread across all of their UK offices. 🙂

In addition to the above firms, there are also others which offer similar salaries in both the regions and London:

Hogan Lovells: £85,000 in Birmingham and £135,000 in London.

Squire Patton Boggs: £70,000 in the regions and £110,000 in London.

BCLP: £68,000 in Manchester and £105,000 in London.

Addleshaw Goddard: £65,000 in the regions and £100,000 in London.

Shoosmiths: £63,000 in the regions and £97,000 in London.

Pinsent Masons: £62,000 in the regions and £97,000 in London.

I think if someone is interested in these kind of firms, it is certainly worthwhile to consider their regional offices as well as London (factoring in the insane cost of living in London at the moment), but if someone is interested in the Magic Circle or US firms, which pay £150,000 - £180,000, then perhaps London is more attractive. I don’t know how expensive London is, but I imagine if someone wants a comfortable lifestyle, they would need at least £100,000 after tax. That might be an over estimation though. 🥲​

 

[A worried paralegal]

Right, and e.g. Simmons is £66k take-home in Bristol, £76k in London. The Bristol package is clearly better.

Bristol tends to pay more than the North and Birmingham but is more expensive yet the gap is enough to beat London overall

66k in Bristol is equal to 93in London for example

 

[floral.tcla]

Ignoring other factors like diversity and business etc, i'm really debating over this for my next cycle.

I'm from near the peak district and could easily work in Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds. If it's 40k vs 100k then it's London no brainer. But for the higher paying firms like DLA piper, I'm not sure which to apply to. I'm keen to experience London, but if I can live at home and commute to Sheffield, earning 75k NQ (mind, DLA is an outlier), I would be RAKING IT IN. Could be putting 40k a year into savings/investments/house deposit. Vs earning 110k in London, and just about being comfortable.

hmm that makes sense for your circumstances - no wonder you're debating it!

 

[A worried paralegal]

Bristol tends to pay more than the North and Birmingham but is more expensive yet the gap is enough to beat London overall

66k in Bristol is equal to 93in London for example

And to add, Scotland and especially NI tend to pay disproportinately worse.

I have seen a few firms that pay close to 40 in London and close to the minimum in Belfast.

Dubai tends to have salaries between Bristol and London

 

[BillSikes]

Im preparing for interview questions in my Assessment Centre next week. What are your go to questions to prep for? I have:

1. Why do you want to be a lawyer
2. What are your strengths and weaknesses
3. Which of our sectors interest you the most
4. How would you pitch our firm to a client (struggling with this if anyone has any advice for structure)
5. What other firms have you applied to and why
6. How do your interests align with our work

I just want to focus on key questions as I have only got a few days to prepare. Any insight will be appreciated!

Teamwork/problem solving/organisation/deadlines competency Qs are most popular

I did Gateley VI and they asked about a legal development which I had no idea what to say. Hard question that could come up which you'd be unable to answer without any prep.

 

[Boating]

I also live a lot closer to the north than London, so I was initially considering cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds as opposed to London. I went to open days for a few of these firms e.g., DLA Piper and Squire Patton Boggs. The trainees and associates there mainly came from regional backgrounds and said they chose to stay there instead of considering a career in London. They said that these firms operate as a single entity in the UK, meaning the work is the same across all offices. I guess if people are interested in working on international matters (cross-border, multi-jurisdictional deals and disputes), there shouldn’t be a concern that all the work is London based. At these firms, I think it is spread across all of their UK offices. 🙂

In addition to the above firms, there are also others which offer similar salaries in both the regions and London:

Hogan Lovells: £85,000 in Birmingham and £135,000 in London.

Squire Patton Boggs: £70,000 in the regions and £110,000 in London.

BCLP: £68,000 in Manchester and £105,000 in London.

Addleshaw Goddard: £65,000 in the regions and £100,000 in London.

Shoosmiths: £63,000 in the regions and £97,000 in London.

Pinsent Masons: £62,000 in the regions and £97,000 in London.

I think if someone is interested in these kind of firms, it is certainly worthwhile to consider their regional offices as well as London (factoring in the insane cost of living in London at the moment), but if someone is interested in the Magic Circle or US firms, which pay £150,000 - £180,000, then perhaps London is more attractive. I don’t know how expensive London is, but I imagine if someone wants a comfortable lifestyle, they would need at least £100,000 after tax. That might be an over estimation though. 🥲​

if a firm has a regional office, its almost always better working there consdidering the pay, London is expensive, REALLY expensive, everyone is getting priced out you can 100% see why everyone wants a US firm...

 

[BillSikes]

if a firm has a regional office, its almost always better working there consdidering the pay, London is expensive, REALLY expensive, everyone is getting priced out you can 100% see why everyone wants a US firm...

Why is everyone so fixated on London then? It seems to be London or nothing for most people.

I applied regional app previous years - but am thinking of London now purely cos that's where my mates will be.

 

[Itsmelawgirl]

Hi, has anyone heard back from Sidley Austin or K&L Gates about their summer vac schemes? Heard nothing since applying. Also anyone heard anything from Hogan Lovells since completing the WG for direct TC?

Nothing from Hogan Lovells

 

[trainee4u]

if a firm has a regional office, its almost always better working there consdidering the pay, London is expensive, REALLY expensive, everyone is getting priced out you can 100% see why everyone wants a US firm...

FWIW, London is not expensive at all (I live in Zone 2) in that public transport is cheap, there are lots of cheap supermarkets etc, you can go on holiday to Europe (etc) for small sums of money, Universal Credit is actually still available for single people paying higher rate tax (£50k+): so long as you are renting and single it's going to be government-subsidised; however, in the long-term the property market is deeply broken and it's millions of pounds to buy the sort of housing that the income percentile that city lawyers should be able to buy. At some point when you have equity, city law, etc. then clearly London makes sense, and if you are willing to occupy a very small amount of real estate, typically renting, it does give high take-home pay, but ultimately government failures mean that London is realistically a mirage for most people.

 

[Itsmelawgirl]

has anyone heard from womble bond dickinson following their high potential assessment

Nothing yet

 

[S7321]

Does anyone know whether Orrick pay for the course fees for the GDL or SQE?

 

[Boating]

Why is everyone so fixated on London then? It seems to be London or nothing for most people.

I applied regional app previous years - but am thinking of London now purely cos that's where my mates will be.

one of the biggest commercial hubs in the world, we are quite lucky that we have it tbh, lots of opportunity if you want to take it i guess

 

[Tintin06]

Why is everyone so fixated on London then? It seems to be London or nothing for most people.

I applied regional app previous years - but am thinking of London now purely cos that's where my mates will be.

More jobs is part of why. Most firms are based in London. Some only have London offices here. Most US firms if not all. Obviously the London-centric economy we've got. Some want to earn lots there. Then they'll move out and commute. Buy more property outside of London. Plus hybrid working then (for some). I wouldn't want to commute though. Still, each to their own ultimately. Remote/hybrid working isn't always possible either. Much emphasis on returning to offices. Rightly or wrongly, that's the trend. Best of luck with your apps.

 

[A worried paralegal]

Why is everyone so fixated on London then? It seems to be London or nothing for most people.

I applied regional app previous years - but am thinking of London now purely cos that's where my mates will be.

It’s that the largest firms are based there , highest salaries and usually first dibs on work as well as having foreign clients usually flow through there.

 

[A worried paralegal]

More jobs is part of why. Most firms are based in London. Some only have London offices here. Most US firms if not all. Obviously the London-centric economy we've got. Some want to earn lots there. Then they'll move out and commute. Buy more property outside of London. Plus hybrid working then (for some). I wouldn't want to commute though. Still, each to their own ultimately. Remote/hybrid working isn't always possible either. Much emphasis on returning to offices. Rightly or wrongly, that's the trend. Best of luck with your apps.

You have mentioned something very true there

Going up the ranks tends to move people away rather than towards living near London.

One of the perks of being allowed hybrid is that these partners don’t have to commute as much.

 

[Harvey Specter]

Does anyone know whether Orrick pay for the course fees for the GDL or SQE?

I think in their graduate recruitment brochure thing (2024/25) it mentions they pay full course fees for the SQE and provide £1,000 per month as a maintenance grant. I imagine this is £10,000 - £12,000 as a grant. I don’t know whether Orrick pays for the GDL. I have put the link to the brochure thing below:

https://media.orrick.com/Media%20Library/public/files/careers/london-recruitment-brochure-2024-2025.pdf

 

[lina.b]

When answering 'why this firm' in an AC, how different should your answer be from your application form? I was planning to use the same points and expand upon these further, but I was wondering whether it would be more advisable to have new points ready?

 

[theone132213]

Hey all -

I received a VS offer and am being asked whether I would prefer the summer or spring scheme. As I think is the norm, spring is only one week, whilst summer is two. I am very unsure as to what choice could be better and would really appreciate any advice.

Whilst two weeks could be more beneficial in showing off abilities and also gives more time to prep, spring would be over quicker and requires less holiday days off from work. I did also consider that the spring cohort might be tougher, with there being more individuals who are currently working rather than recent graduates/ at uni.

Has anyone dealt with a similar dilemma and/or has any advice on how to choose?

 

[A worried paralegal]

When answering 'why this firm' in an AC, how different should your answer be from your application form? I was planning to use the same points and expand upon these further, but I was wondering whether it would be more advisable to have new points ready?

I’d maybe try to expand in a way that the word count limits such as going into a particular deal or case or a past open day etc.

 

[A worried paralegal]

Hey all -

I received a VS offer and am being asked whether I would prefer the summer or spring scheme. As I think is the norm, spring is only one week, whilst summer is two. I am very unsure as to what choice could be better and would really appreciate any advice.

Whilst two weeks could be more beneficial in showing off abilities and also gives more time to prep, spring would be over quicker and requires less holiday days off from work. I did also consider that the spring cohort might be tougher, with there being more individuals who are currently working rather than recent graduates/ at uni.

Has anyone dealt with a similar dilemma and/or has any advice on how to choose?

Maybe see if firms offer TCs after the spring vs is done as if so, there might be less spaces in the summer.