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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

Thanks a lot for the advice, I'm just wondering if emailing won't come across as a bit weird, especially given it's been a month lol I think I'd rather email, especially since I referred to this internship when answering one of the questions as something I 'pursued after graduation', but I also don't want to come across as overly anxious if from their pov it's quite trivial?
@abc124 I don’t think it comes across as overly anxious, and even then, even if it did, I don’t think it’s anything to fault a candidate on. Of course, inbox management is a pain point - however, application amendments are fairly normal queries to send. So, trivial or not, if it’s important to you then you should do it.
 
hey guys! when it comes to answering q's about key opportunities or challenges for law firms what kind of things are good to have a look at? (bar AI) any pointers would be appreciated :)
I’m an ESG lover, so I usually go for the regulators becoming more strict line of approach and the implications this has.

UK = The CMA now has the power to fine companies up to 10% of their global annual turnover for breaches of consumer protection law, which includes greenwashing.

Italy = Investigated Shein for greenwashing and fined them €1 million (Shein also struggled to launch their IPO in London because of similar concerns).

France = Ruled that TotalEnergies had misled consumers by greenwashing via an advert, and they were ordered to remove them or face fines.

This tells me in Europe at least that ESG has shifted from something which was good for PR/optics to now being legally enforceable for companies. Which then also means, law firms particularly “full-service” ones with many offices have an opportunity to advise companies across jurisdictions on these ESG regulations.
 
@abc124 I don’t think it comes across as overly anxious, and even then, even if it did, I don’t think it’s anything to fault a candidate on. Of course, inbox management is a pain point - however, application amendments are fairly normal queries to send. So, trivial or not, if it’s important to you then you should do it.
I have had similar experiences and amended it retrospectively. Do you think it comes across as poor attention to detail?
 
I’m an ESG lover, so I usually go for the regulators becoming more strict line of approach and the implications this has.

UK = The CMA now has the power to fine companies up to 10% of their global annual turnover for breaches of consumer protection law, which includes greenwashing.

Italy = Investigated Shein for greenwashing and fined them €1 million (Shein also struggled to launch their IPO in London because of similar concerns).

France = Ruled that TotalEnergies had misled consumers by greenwashing via an advert, and they were ordered to remove them or face fines.

This tells me in Europe at least that ESG has shifted from something which was good for PR/optics to now being legally enforceable for companies. Which then also means, law firms particularly “full-service” ones with many offices have an opportunity to advise companies across jurisdictions on these ESG regulations.
Speaking of sector knowledge and keeping up with the word on the street.

Those of you who love the Financial Services side of things, how do you do it? I understand Competition, ESG, TMT, Energy, and Infrastructure. But see the financial services side of things… I really struggle with it LOOL
 
tiffany pollard GIF
 
Speaking of sector knowledge and keeping up with the word on the street.

Those of you who love the Financial Services side of things, how do you do it? I understand Competition, ESG, TMT, Energy, and Infrastructure. But see the financial services side of things… I really struggle with it LOOL
This is where studying banking law at university comes in clutch for me cos we acc learned about financial services regulation, the laws governing financial services, tortious liabilities of financial services firms and then stuff about crypto assets and cryptocurrencies. So whenever I get stuck on financial services, I dig deep into the trenches to find the articles and books I used for banking law (I got 75 in that module too)! I used it to help me with the Covington app more recently lmao.

Shoveling Snow Day GIF by Green Climber North America
 
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There was one test (I can't remember which, but one of the ones I did (maybe M&R, but I could be mistaken - I took the test a couple weeks back, so it could have been multiple ones), my answers were slightly off - a rounding error, either in the working or in the final answer. It was untimed, so I did them multiple times, getting the same answer (I got good maths grades at GCSE, A-level and Uni modules). In the end, I realised it was a small mistake in the answers (most people would have just clicked through, for some reason, I was stubborn, trying to get the exact answer). But it definitely was a mistake on their end, which I find ironic for a law firm.
I've spotted some mistakes as well in the questions

Alanis Morissette Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
Not sure if you use LawCareers.Net and Chambers Student. Some are on there and they are actually more helpful than Legal Cheek imo (e.g., perks are good to know but it never impacted how I write or perform at each assessment stage lol). Would also recommend emailing the early talent teams for more info.
I did the Howes Percival Summer Vacation Scheme last summer, happy to share insights!
 
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