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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25
- Thread starter Jessica Booker
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- vacation scheme
Thank you! I am a Gold member, however I am unsure about how to access the relevant resources and support (for Path 1), including upcoming live sessions and the Guide. If possible, could you please provide further guidance? (Or perhaps the programme has not quite started yet?) Many thanks!
Jessica Booker
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Graduate Recruitment
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- Aug 1, 2019
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Hi Jessica, do you mean which firm? The only details I have been provided with is that there will be an elevator pitch at the end of the day, so I was just querying the likely topics as I am feeling extremely nervous!
I haven’t done premium but I’ve done the commercial awareness course and would recommend it. It’s kept me consistent and also given me an indication of the level of detail I should know for topics. CA is one of those things you could just research forever but this course makes me feel like I know I’m on the right tracks.People who paid for TCLA premium this year or the TCLA academy / those sorts of paid resources offered, is it worth the money?
I am looking into paying for those sorts of things from august ish onwards to prep for the next application cycle as I couldn't get past ACs this year and want to know if its worth it. Thanks
What does everyone think about this article from Law. com
"Even before President Donald Trump ordered a probe into the DEI policies of about 15 "leading” law firms, law firms behind the scenes were already altering their DEI statements on the websites and adjusting their policies.
As of Friday afternoon, the Trump administration had not indicated which 15 law firms will be targeted in the investigations of firms' DEI policies, announced Thursday.
However, firms were not waiting for the names of those who would be investigated. The order pushed some law firms to carefully vet and adjust their websites, while others had already made changes. By Friday afternoon, several law firms appeared to change their diversity and DEI webpages to reflect new language that removed “diversity” from the focus.
One law firm leader said their firm has been examining its internal policies and reviewing its website since Trump came into office. The leader said many top firms also did this and will continue to do it, especially after the order announcing investigations into law firms' DEI policies.
Kirkland & Ellis now has a webpage titled “Welcoming Environment” (the firm’s diversity and inclusion fellowship webpage is also offline) and K&L Gates has a webpage titled “Opportunity & Inclusion,” describing the firm’s culture.
Squire Patton Boggs; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; and Sidley Austin also appear to have updated landing pages highlighting the firm’s "inclusion" or its culture. At Squire, what was formerly known as the “Global Office of DEI” appears to have been reframed as the “Global Workplace Culture and Development Leadership." A Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman webpage on diversity also appeared to be down Friday afternoon. None of the firms immediately responded to a request for comment.
A second firm leader said that although they didn't believe their firm would be targeted due to not litigating against Trump in the past, Thursday's executive order still prompted the firm to take notice and review its DEI policies once again. "Somebody might knock on your door, or they might not," the firm leader said.
Meanwhile, some lawyers considered the possibility of a band of firms coming together to challenge the investigations into firms’ DEI policies.
Rima Sirota, a professor at Georgetown Law School, said she “would not be surprised to see a coalition of large law firms take legal action against the administration” in response to the latest executive order.
“This [executive order] specifically puts other major firms in the cross hairs, and the EO demand—no vestige of ‘DEI’ practice—is probably impossible to comply with to the administration's satisfaction and will continue to hang over the law firms' heads should they ever represent a client whom the president dislikes,” Sirota said in an emailed comment.
While firms appear to be making changes behind the scenes, some firm leaders stressed their commitment to DEI initiatives, even though they couldn't broadcast it.
“While firms are re-examining their policies and websites to make sure they comply with the law, they are not abandoning their efforts to provide everyone an equal opportunity to succeed and to level the playing field,” a firm leader said.
Robert Hicks, chairman and managing partner of Taft, indicated that the firm “does not blow with the political winds,” adding that they “watch them, but it doesn’t dictate how we run our firms.”
"We are absolutely an inclusive law firm in all regards," Hicks said. "That's not just limited to racial or ethnic or gender or LGBTQ. We are a better law firm by including a broad set of demographics and viewpoints."
Diversity consultant of Paradigm Joelle Emerson said that many Big Law firms already adjusted their DEI programming in the wake of the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action and the series of lawsuits against firms that followed.
In the wake of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard—the Supreme Court decision that ruled race-based affirmative action in college admissions to be unlawful—SFFA litigant Edward Blum sent legal threats and filed lawsuits over law firm diversity fellowships that Blum believed to be discriminatory against straight white men. Blum ultimately dropped lawsuits against Perkins Coie, Winston & Strawn and Morrison & Foerster after the firms offered to open their diversity fellowships to all applicants.
“The idea that firms are engaging in widespread unlawful practices simply doesn’t align with what I’ve seen in the private sector,” Emerson said.
While it’s not surprising that firms are making further adjustments in the wake of the executive order against Perkins, Emerson said, she also cautioned firms against an overcorrection where they scale back initiatives that have been ensuring “fair, merit-based decision-making.”
Christine Simmons contributed to this report."
"Even before President Donald Trump ordered a probe into the DEI policies of about 15 "leading” law firms, law firms behind the scenes were already altering their DEI statements on the websites and adjusting their policies.
As of Friday afternoon, the Trump administration had not indicated which 15 law firms will be targeted in the investigations of firms' DEI policies, announced Thursday.
However, firms were not waiting for the names of those who would be investigated. The order pushed some law firms to carefully vet and adjust their websites, while others had already made changes. By Friday afternoon, several law firms appeared to change their diversity and DEI webpages to reflect new language that removed “diversity” from the focus.
One law firm leader said their firm has been examining its internal policies and reviewing its website since Trump came into office. The leader said many top firms also did this and will continue to do it, especially after the order announcing investigations into law firms' DEI policies.
Kirkland & Ellis now has a webpage titled “Welcoming Environment” (the firm’s diversity and inclusion fellowship webpage is also offline) and K&L Gates has a webpage titled “Opportunity & Inclusion,” describing the firm’s culture.
Squire Patton Boggs; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; and Sidley Austin also appear to have updated landing pages highlighting the firm’s "inclusion" or its culture. At Squire, what was formerly known as the “Global Office of DEI” appears to have been reframed as the “Global Workplace Culture and Development Leadership." A Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman webpage on diversity also appeared to be down Friday afternoon. None of the firms immediately responded to a request for comment.
A second firm leader said that although they didn't believe their firm would be targeted due to not litigating against Trump in the past, Thursday's executive order still prompted the firm to take notice and review its DEI policies once again. "Somebody might knock on your door, or they might not," the firm leader said.
Meanwhile, some lawyers considered the possibility of a band of firms coming together to challenge the investigations into firms’ DEI policies.
Rima Sirota, a professor at Georgetown Law School, said she “would not be surprised to see a coalition of large law firms take legal action against the administration” in response to the latest executive order.
“This [executive order] specifically puts other major firms in the cross hairs, and the EO demand—no vestige of ‘DEI’ practice—is probably impossible to comply with to the administration's satisfaction and will continue to hang over the law firms' heads should they ever represent a client whom the president dislikes,” Sirota said in an emailed comment.
While firms appear to be making changes behind the scenes, some firm leaders stressed their commitment to DEI initiatives, even though they couldn't broadcast it.
“While firms are re-examining their policies and websites to make sure they comply with the law, they are not abandoning their efforts to provide everyone an equal opportunity to succeed and to level the playing field,” a firm leader said.
Robert Hicks, chairman and managing partner of Taft, indicated that the firm “does not blow with the political winds,” adding that they “watch them, but it doesn’t dictate how we run our firms.”
"We are absolutely an inclusive law firm in all regards," Hicks said. "That's not just limited to racial or ethnic or gender or LGBTQ. We are a better law firm by including a broad set of demographics and viewpoints."
Diversity consultant of Paradigm Joelle Emerson said that many Big Law firms already adjusted their DEI programming in the wake of the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action and the series of lawsuits against firms that followed.
In the wake of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard—the Supreme Court decision that ruled race-based affirmative action in college admissions to be unlawful—SFFA litigant Edward Blum sent legal threats and filed lawsuits over law firm diversity fellowships that Blum believed to be discriminatory against straight white men. Blum ultimately dropped lawsuits against Perkins Coie, Winston & Strawn and Morrison & Foerster after the firms offered to open their diversity fellowships to all applicants.
“The idea that firms are engaging in widespread unlawful practices simply doesn’t align with what I’ve seen in the private sector,” Emerson said.
While it’s not surprising that firms are making further adjustments in the wake of the executive order against Perkins, Emerson said, she also cautioned firms against an overcorrection where they scale back initiatives that have been ensuring “fair, merit-based decision-making.”
Christine Simmons contributed to this report."
I've been working my way through TCLA's training contract interview question bank and have come across - "Tell me about a time/situation that made you feel emotional"
Is this actually a typical question that interviewers ask??? This seems either super personal or just quite confusing.
Does anyone know the best, professional way to answer a question like this?
Is this actually a typical question that interviewers ask??? This seems either super personal or just quite confusing.
Does anyone know the best, professional way to answer a question like this?
@Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman Hey! I am working on an application which has a cover letter and 7 separate questions. Could you please help me out with how I can make the responses for these questions different? I am finding myself using the same experiences for them and there is a major overlap with the skills part too. I was just wondering what I can do differently to make sure I don't repeat myself in the answers. Thank you!
How do you fill your time outside of work and studying and why? (250)
What positions of responsibilities have you held and what skills have you developed as a result? (250)
What skills have you developed which are transferable to a career as a solicitor? (250)
How do you fill your time outside of work and studying and why? (250)
What positions of responsibilities have you held and what skills have you developed as a result? (250)
What skills have you developed which are transferable to a career as a solicitor? (250)
Ironic as well them asking about AI when they have banned their staff from using AI lmaoJust completed the hill Dickinson vi and test, cameras were on throughout test
I think I bombed it
Mid for both numerical and verbal
Vi was a bit hard for me as well because it was asking to cover too many sub parts for one broad question in two mins
Literally😂😂😂 I was just expecting a few easy competency ques tbh😭 how did yours go?
Hi! I’m not sure if this is Farrer, but I applied for their vac scheme which has similar / same questions and I got to AC. I sort of divided it into:
How do you fill your time outside of work and studying and why? - I spoke about my hobbies and interests (e.g. reading, instruments, sports, extra-curricular etc). I spoke about skills it taught me less here, as the question doesn’t really ask for it and I wanted to save that for the later questions.
What positions of responsibility have you held and what skills have you developed as a result? - things like if you have been on the committee for a society, extra-curricular projects done at uni, working part time jobs, volunteering
What skills have you developed which are transferable - sort of expanding on the above, but relate it to skills a trainee / solicitor needs. So, work experience (law and non-law), university work and maybe balancing priorities (i.e. if u work whilst studying).
There is definitely some overlap, but I just tried to talk about different skills in each. Sorry for jumping in randomly lol!
Lol, this is the type of app I get halfway through and say “no, eff that, I don’t actually wanna be a lawyer anyway.”
On the upside there’ll probably only be about 10 applicants that can be bothered to apply!
Good luck.
Hear me out; every response you give will get progressively more passive-aggressive as your frustration builds 🤣🤣
You don't know how many times I've wanted to answer "why law" (or any grad job at this point) with: I want money and im broke (mentally and financially 🤔)
Wouldn’t say typical- I’ve never been asked this but it’s similar to other questions I have been asked like tell me about a time you had to deal with disappointment or failure etc. I think the question is looking for how you ultimately handled the situation from a position of strength and emotional maturity. So this could be literally anything- death in the family, failing an exam, falling out with a friend etc. The main thing is to highlight how you managed your emotions- I paused, took a deep breath…..and what actions you took to deal with the underlying issue. For eg staying calm, assessing the situation from a dispassionate perspective, seeking input from someone older or more experienced, maybe researching what needed to be done.
On my GD first interview with GR I was asked how would you deal with harsh verbal feedback on work I had done. I said that ultimately we work in an extremely stressful profession with very high stakes and the reality is that sometimes people aren’t always going to be as polite as we would like them to be. The key I have found to deal with this is to roll with the punches, don’t take things personally, focus on the actual message rather than the delivery. If someone says something that really really bothers or offends me, I have a private conversation with them; we are all human and make mistakes. When I said that I could see both their faces instantly light up.
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