TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[wqueens8]

Great point!! You’ve just reminded me of a Reddit post I saw which said:

View attachment 8007

Makes me wonder what the mindset truly is amongst senior associates & partners nowadays who were trained on this mentality. 🦭

I've always gotten the vibe that is is maybe less overt, and slightly more fair nowadays, but the above post is definitely still a huge part of legal recruitment. So much of the process is handled by HR and split between multiple components and exercises. But in partner interviews, rapport goes a long way

Vacation schemes are where it's most evident. Again, there are usually a couple of assessments happening throughout the scheme, but I've always been told feedback from your supervisor and other colleagues is the most important thing. You might be rocky in a group presentation, but if multiple lawyers will go to bat for you, saying "that one is the perfect future trainee!" it holds weight. Which, unfortunately, does advantage those from similar backgrounds to an extent.

 

[lividowl03]

I've always gotten the vibe that is is maybe less overt, and slightly more fair nowadays, but the above post is definitely still a huge part of legal recruitment. So much of the process is handled by HR and split between multiple components and exercises. But in partner interviews, rapport goes a long way

Vacation schemes are where it's most evident. Again, there are usually a couple of assessments happening throughout the scheme, but I've always been told feedback from your supervisor and other colleagues is the most important thing. You might be rocky in a group presentation, but if multiple lawyers will go to bat for you, saying "that one is the perfect future trainee!" it holds weight. Which, unfortunately, does advantage those from similar backgrounds to an extent.

reminds me of a scheme i did last summer. we had a whole vac scheme chat on whatsapp which was quite active (people sending lunch pics, office pics, pics from the socials and generally chatting, was quite nice). this one guy, in addition to the scheme socials, had gone for after work drinks with the guys in his team like 3 times in a two week scheme, and one time sent a picture at like 1am from some bar/club lol. he was also a pretty nice guy and really bright so he deffo deserved it regardless, but when I saw he got the TC i just remember thinking "that's how you get the TC!" 😂

 

[aspiringtrainee1]

reminds me of a scheme i did last summer. we had a whole vac scheme chat on whatsapp which was quite active (people sending lunch pics, office pics, pics from the socials and generally chatting, was quite nice). this one guy, in addition to the scheme socials, had gone for after work drinks with the guys in his team like 3 times in a two week scheme, and one time sent a picture at like 1am from some bar/club lol. he was also a pretty nice guy and really bright so he deffo deserved it regardless, but when I saw he got the TC i just remember thinking "that's how you get the TC!" 😂

I think we were on the same scheme lol but so true...

 

[FutureTraineeMaybe]

Did anybody receive two emails from Shoosmiths separately near/after the deadline - one telling us we would hear by 23rd February and the other saying we would only hear back by 23rd March?

 

[hmevey]

does anyone know if ashurst recruit mainly from vac scheme or if a dtc is a okay way to go? i need a win and dont want to keep doing dtc if i just get PFO'd

 

[Donuttime]

reminds me of a scheme i did last summer. we had a whole vac scheme chat on whatsapp which was quite active (people sending lunch pics, office pics, pics from the socials and generally chatting, was quite nice). this one guy, in addition to the scheme socials, had gone for after work drinks with the guys in his team like 3 times in a two week scheme, and one time sent a picture at like 1am from some bar/club lol. he was also a pretty nice guy and really bright so he deffo deserved it regardless, but when I saw he got the TC i just remember thinking "that's how you get the TC!" 😂

Once I was chatting to a partner at an AC, he clearly wasn’t engaged in the conversation but was being mildly polite. Another boy joins in on the conversation and the partner goes “aren’t you (insert partners son’s name)” the boy confirms he is indeed friends with the partners son and they start having a full blown conversation about how the two boys were in the same dormitory in boarding school growing up. I sat there twiddling my thumbs watching the full conversation go on. In the time me and the partner were talking I don’t think I heard him belly laugh as much as he did with the boy. Anyway it was just an interesting situation that always left an impression on me

 

[tc2026]

Once I was chatting to a partner at an AC, he clearly wasn’t engaged in the conversation but was being mildly polite. Another boy joins in on the conversation and the partner goes “aren’t you (insert partners son’s name)” the boy confirms he is indeed friends with the partners son and they start having a full blown conversation about how the two boys were in the same dormitory in boarding school growing up. I sat there twiddling my thumbs watching the full conversation go on. In the time me and the partner were talking I don’t think I heard him belly laugh as much as he did with the boy. Anyway it was just an interesting situation that always left an impression on me

lol had a very similar experience at a us firm, its quite common unfortunately

 

[tc2026]

For a firm that was once at the top of my list, Addleshaw Goddard has left a bad impression. This year was my first time applying to them - I completed the WG in October and didn’t even receive a simple confirmation email. We’re now in February and there’s still been absolutely nothing. Not even a holding email to acknowledge the application or offer some reassurance, which all firms I have applied to this cycle have had the courtesy to do.

What makes it worse is seeing people who applied much later progress to VIs, ACs and even offers, while there’s just been complete silence on my (any many other applicants) end - which leaves me to think there may be other (potentially discriminatory) factors at play.

It honestly feels disrespectful. Candidates put a huge amount of time, effort, and emotional energy into these applications, and the complete lack of communication shows a real lack of regard for that.

when did their apps close? just checked and ive not heard anything since December :/

 

[PFO_God]

Did anybody receive two emails from Shoosmiths separately near/after the deadline - one telling us we would hear by 23rd February and the other saying we would only hear back by 23rd March?

Yes - I emailed to check and was told 23 Feb is the correct date.

 

[whywhy88]

For a firm that was once at the top of my list, Addleshaw Goddard has left a bad impression. This year was my first time applying to them - I completed the WG in October and didn’t even receive a simple confirmation email. We’re now in February and there’s still been absolutely nothing. Not even a holding email to acknowledge the application or offer some reassurance, which all firms I have applied to this cycle have had the courtesy to do.

What makes it worse is seeing people who applied much later progress to VIs, ACs and even offers, while there’s just been complete silence on my (any many other applicants) end - which leaves me to think there may be other (potentially discriminatory) factors at play.

It honestly feels disrespectful. Candidates put a huge amount of time, effort, and emotional energy into these applications, and the complete lack of communication shows a real lack of regard for that.

Radio silence from firms is very frustrating and I definitely feel your pain, but I do think it is slightly unfair and uncharitable to jump straight to discrimination as a reason that your application hasn't been progressed as of yet. It isn't over 'til it's over, and although you may unfortunately be expecting a rejection, I think that it is important to acknowledge that grad rec teams are incredible stretched by these processes. I think the firms that update with holding emails and confirmations of tests certainly go about the cycle in a better way, but in my experience these firms are in the minority. At the end of the day, you may not have performed as well as you had hoped in the WG which is super frustrating (I can count on one hand the amount of times I've actually passed it!) but I would say its counterproductive to think too much about other factors such as discrimination. It's quite a serious accusation to make, and I think its worth remembering that behind each email from grad rec there are real people. I do hope they get back to you soon though!

 

[Harvey Specter - Presiding Partner]

For a firm that was once at the top of my list, Addleshaw Goddard has left a bad impression. This year was my first time applying to them - I completed the WG in October and didn’t even receive a simple confirmation email. We’re now in February and there’s still been absolutely nothing. Not even a holding email to acknowledge the application or offer some reassurance, which all firms I have applied to this cycle have had the courtesy to do.

What makes it worse is seeing people who applied much later progress to VIs, ACs and even offers, while there’s just been complete silence on my (any many other applicants) end - which leaves me to think there may be other (potentially discriminatory) factors at play.

It honestly feels disrespectful. Candidates put a huge amount of time, effort, and emotional energy into these applications, and the complete lack of communication shows a real lack of regard for that.

If it helps, I applied on the deadline and sat the WG test on the same day. I got PFOd 2 days later cos I must’ve done terribly on the WG lmao. AG were like this Harvey lad is a joke look at his trash WG score (probs 0/40) let’s PFO him asap hehehe…

So I guess no news is good news until it’s bad news cos I’ve seen some AG post WG PFOs.​

 

[kukubird]

Does anyone think Akin are going to give out any more ACs?

 

[TCLAuser2002]

Does anyone think Akin are going to give out any more ACs?

I did my TI on the 30th of December and still waiting. They gave some offers, hopefully they will have more ACs

 

[xyz444]

gibson dunn first stage interview?! rly unexpected as theyve already given out so many offers but so happyyy
any insights would be very appreciated, i can share white & case final interview, morgan lewis TI and more

congrats!!! could i ask when you completed their test?

 

[BeanaGoalGetter]

Radio silence from firms is very frustrating and I definitely feel your pain, but I do think it is slightly unfair and uncharitable to jump straight to discrimination as a reason that your application hasn't been progressed as of yet. It isn't over 'til it's over, and although you may unfortunately be expecting a rejection, I think that it is important to acknowledge that grad rec teams are incredible stretched by these processes. I think the firms that update with holding emails and confirmations of tests certainly go about the cycle in a better way, but in my experience these firms are in the minority. At the end of the day, you may not have performed as well as you had hoped in the WG which is super frustrating (I can count on one hand the amount of times I've actually passed it!) but I would say its counterproductive to think too much about other factors such as discrimination. It's quite a serious accusation to make, and I think its worth remembering that behind each email from grad rec there are real people. I do hope they get back to you soon though!

I imagine the stress grad rec is under.

I have no expectation nor do I feel I have an automatic right to progression.

I’m simply talking about communication. I didn’t even receive a confirmation email after the WG.

For how much firms expect from their future trainees, I believe I have a basic right to expect a multi million dollar company to at the very least have the resources to send an automatic confirmation email to candidates (which takes no effort)

But all good vibes! I’ve applied to several firms and written off AG atp

 

[whywhy88]

I imagine the stress grad rec is under.

I have no expectation nor do I feel I have an automatic right to progression.

I’m simply talking about communication. I didn’t even receive a confirmation email after the WG.

For how much firms expect from their future trainees, I believe I have a basic right to expect a multi million dollar company to at the very least have the resources to send an automatic confirmation email to candidates (which takes no effort)

But all good vibes! I’ve applied to several firms and written off AG atp

It’s defo frustrating when they don’t even send a confirmation. Try not to count yourself out yet, it’s not over till the outcome lands in your inbox!