TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[EA95]

So excited to say that I converted my vacation scheme to a training contract. Thank you to everyone for their advice, and encouragement!!

Congratulations, amazing achievement !

 

[Overthinker123!]

Does anyone have any insight on how to prep for group exercises and role play

With group exercises, I mainly have experience with case study ones where We need to advise a client or find a solution. For these, it was just keeping up with commercial awareness but also making sure I am confident in the firms practices and capabilities (for example explaining recommending to the client [role played by partner] a specific practice that could help with this issue).

On the day, it was just being friendly, getting into the character (e.g., associate in corporate), including quiet people, and also creating a time plan for the exercise (e.g., if we had 1 hour to discuss and create a presentation breaking down the time into discussions, voting, presentation plan, and practise).

 

[Ali2020]

Anyone heard back from Foot Anstey after completing the online test and VI?

 

[studentdelaw786]

I want to arrange a virtual coffee chat with a Partner at a US firm. Can anyone please tell me how I can propose this as I would love to get an understanding of the work that they are doing?

Please can someone assist me with this?

 

[lawyersum]

Apologies in advance for this long post. I hope this helps and gives you the motivation you are looking for @lawyersum. 😅

I completely empathise with how you feel right now honestly. I have a similar journey. I too had originally applied for a different course during sixth form. During the COVID pandemic, I had the realisation that I wanted to study law. I took a risk and decided that I would go down that path for my university course. Coming from a socially mobile background, I struggled so much with imposter syndrome at uni. I felt so out of place in first year. I had some MC during first year as well which made things harder. 🫤

I only properly settled into my course when I got to 2nd year. It wasn’t until my 3rd and final year that I started to think about the possibility of pursuing a career as a city lawyer. Prior to this, I was leaning more to the bar, in particular criminal or chancery. As a result, I too was so focused on academics and grades that I didn’t apply for insight schemes, open days, VS or TC during my time at university. I remember being concerned that I had left things too late and it would be impossible to get a VS or TC once I finished university. 🥲

I ultimately made the decision to focus on my final year grades, mainly to compensate for my grades in first year. I began applying to firms in this cycle. I had no idea where to start. My aim was to have some kind of clear strategy to try secure VS and TC, but it wasn’t clear how that would look. As a result, every single one of my WVS applications was rejected. At that point, I did start to lose faith honestly. I decided to take a pause on VS applications to focus on my strategy for Spring and Summer VS applications. 😃

I prioritised attending virtual events, such as application workshops, practice area sessions, commercial awareness masterclasses and also in-person open days. By doing so, I managed to get past a few application stages. Around Xmas time, a friend of mine who has also been applying this cycle, suggested TCLA. I didn’t know what it was at that point. He offered me his account that he wasn’t using. That is this account here. I honestly think it’s this platform that had the biggest impact on my overall success this cycle! 😅

Fast forward to now, I have received several VS offers from firms I would never have imagined would consider me when I first started working on my applications. This is despite the above circumstances I have mentioned. My point in this post is, you can and will make it! There is always light at the end of the tunnel. I started with constant rejections for WVS to now being someone with 5 VS offers (from 20 overall VS applications). It has been a difficult process in my experience this cycle. 🥲

It’s a tough journey. Securing a TC is very hard, with most city law firms having a 0.5 - 3% success rate. However, it is always possible to be in that top 3%. Best of luck with all of your applications my friend. 🙂​

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this and share your journey @Chris Brown. It brought a much-needed smile to my face this morning x
Didn't realise our journeys into law were that similar, and I feel better that it can work out for me like it has for you x🙂

 

[Jessica Booker]

Please can someone assist me with this?

Do you have a specific partner in mind or just any partner within a US firm?

 

[studentdelaw786]

Do you have a specific partner in mind or just any partner within a US firm?

Just any partner, thanks Jess

 

[Jessica Booker]

If an interview ends in 30 mins but was booked in for hour is that a bad sign? They said they had no more questions… not sure what to think lmao

This is not necessarily an issue. It is easier to book in more time than needed and for people to get time back than it is for the recruitment process to take longer than was allocated but for the interviewers to run out of time.

 

[tianna09]

Has anyone heard from weightmans or kingsley napley

 

[Jessica Booker]

Just any partner, thanks Jess

The first thing to do is work out who you are going to target and have a specific reason for approaching them as an individual. It is better to approach a very small number of people in each firm rather than approaching a range of partners - you'd be surprised how easily partners speak to one another and they aren't going to feel like its worthwhile giving their time if you are asking other people they know who could give their time instead.

Once you have identified a reason to contact that person specifically, send a brief and concise email or LinkedIn message with the request. This should not be very long - a very brief outline of who you are and a brief summary of why you have contacted them and what you would like to discuss if you did meet. This shouldn't be much longer than 250 words in total.

If you don't hear back, I wouldn't necessarily chase up and just assume it is a no.

 

[studentdelaw786]

The first thing to do is work out who you are going to target and have a specific reason for approaching them as an individual. It is better to approach a very small number of people in each firm rather than approaching a range of partners - you'd be surprised how easily partners speak to one another and they aren't going to feel like its worthwhile giving their time if you are asking other people they know who could give their time instead.

Once you have identified a reason to contact that person specifically, send a brief and concise email or LinkedIn message with the request. This should not be very long - a very brief outline of who you are and a brief summary of why you have contacted them and what you would like to discuss if you did meet. This shouldn't be much longer than 250 words in total.

If you don't hear back, I wouldn't necessarily chase up and just assume it is a no.

Thank you, Jess! This is very helpful

 

[tarastar]

Has anyone heard back re Winston interview?

 

[jnice]

guys can someone please give me some motivation. feeling like a sack of nothing right now. am so scarred from getting nothing this cycle that with every app I try to rewrite I keep second guessing it thinking nothing I write is decent. even if you do get onto ACs and VSs, it seems like the margins are so fine, you can rejected with unconstructive feedback that makes you feel like crap. don’t know if I’ll ever make it. I already had such a tough journey into law, made the last minute decision during clearing as I wasn’t happy with my original course choice during sixth form. Felt depressed for the 1st year of degree as I was at a non target uni. Only really got into law my 2nd year and was too focused on grades to apply anywhere. Now graduated and can’t block out the noise or pressure. How to feel
better idk. Sorry just needed to vent.

Hey, I can totally resonate with how you’re feeling! I graduated in 2017 with a degree in psychology and decided to pursue law instead a year later. I constantly applied for VS/TCs year after year for three years to no avail; never even getting past the application/testing stage. You can only imagine how demoralising getting rejection after rejection was. But I guess one thing this taught me was resilience.

The next year (2022/2023 cycle), I approached the cycle differently. I spent the summer really researching, trying to actually understand what I was looking for from a firm. I narrowed down the firms I wanted to apply to 8. From September-November, I made 3 applications, ended up with 2 VS offers and a training contract. You’ve got to bounce back. My mentality at the time was, ‘I’m eventually gonna get a TC, it’s just a matter of when. Just keep at it! It only takes one. You’ve got this💪🏾
Also, utilise all resources at your disposal: aspiring solicitors, STRIVE, rare, TCLA, the commercial law academy etc.

 

[billyonthespeeddial]

Has anyone heard back re Winston interview?

Do you mean outcome after the interview? If so then no

 

[AnonKn635]

how does one go about reneging on a TC offer? - do you have to give a specific justification @Jessica Booker

 

[tarastar]

Do you mean outcome after the interview? If so then no

How long after the WG did you receive an interview invite?

 

[Jessica Booker]

how does one go about reneging on a TC offer? - do you have to give a specific justification @Jessica Booker

You will need to send something in writing to formally withdraw your candidacy. If this is before you have taken any financial support or started the onboarding process for the GDL/SQE, then this will be fairly straight forward. Normally I would recommend speaking to the GR/HR team over the phone before sending something in writing, especially if you have had a lot of interaction with the firm (such as attending a vacation scheme), but a lot of people don't feel comfortable doing this and so they just send an email instead.

I would recommend being clear on why you are reneging. If you don't, the firm is likely to ask why you are reneging anyway, so probably worthwhile disclosing anyway. The firm is likely to ask which firm you will be joining instead if you are reneging for another offer.

 

[aspiringcitylawyer]

When you receive a call with a TC offer, how long after does the email/paperwork typically come through?

During the call, the partner mentioned 'within 24h' but I also think it is normal for there to be slight delays if grad rec is busy. I am inclined to wait a bit before following up - my question is how long should I wait?

The paperwork is quite relevant to me as I have other vacation scheme offers and I would be keen to start figuring out how to proceed depending on the terms of the TC offer (including how long I have to respond to it, whether I would be allowed to go ahead with my upcoming vac schemes etc).

Thanks in advance if anyone has any insights on this! particularly @Jessica Booker

 

[Kodak123]

Anyone have advice on how to convert VS to TC, I keep struggling starting to think I might never will?

 

[Jessica Booker]

When you receive a call with a TC offer, how long after does the email/paperwork typically come through?

During the call, the partner mentioned 'within 24h' but I also think it is normal for there to be slight delays if grad rec is busy. I am inclined to wait a bit before following up - my question is how long should I wait?

The paperwork is quite relevant to me as I have other vacation scheme offers and I would be keen to start figuring out how to proceed depending on the terms of the TC offer (including how long I have to respond to it, whether I would be allowed to go ahead with my upcoming vac schemes etc).

Thanks in advance if anyone has any insights on this! particularly @Jessica Booker

How long have you been waiting since the call?

24 hours can be a possibility but given its the Easter week, many people might be off on holiday this week so there could be a delay.