TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[Novaa]

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.

@Afraz Akhtar @Abbie Whitlock I just wanted to confirm for a question on commercial trends. Are firms expecting multiple trends or just one? Because I feel like I can do this ESG one in the allocated time (Introduce the trend > Explain 2/3 real-life examples > Briefly explain how firms can advise on this).

But I really dislike VIs because without that human interaction, I struggle to gauge how much is actually being expected from my response.

 

[Afraz Akhtar]

@Afraz Akhtar @Abbie Whitlock I just wanted to confirm for a question on commercial trends. Are firms expecting multiple trends or just one? Because I feel like I can do this ESG one in the allocated time (Introduce the trend > Explain 2/3 real-life examples > Briefly explain how firms can advise on this).

But I really dislike VIs because without that human interaction, I struggle to gauge how much is actually being expected from my response.

@Novaa I suppose it heavily depends on the way the question is asked. If it's asked in the plural sense, such as identifying key trends then firms are looking for at least two. Given that, you can afford to keep it very high level, so you don't need to stretch out what is going e.g. providing 2-3 examples of it but more so introduce it, briefly highlight what this means, and explain how law firms are impacted by it. The focus here should be on the explanation of the latter (given the limited time).

If however, they focus on the singular, then thats where your plan above comes in (which, I think is a great approach).