TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[Bread]

Could anyone please tell me what type of test Osborne Clarke uses🙏🙏

 

[BealMcAlly]

Ah thank you, I've seen loads of people get on to stage 2 so I was getting worried!

No worries. also if it provides any relief, I completed my chat based interview November 17th and I didn't hear back about stage 2 just over a month later.

You will hear back 🤞🏻

 

[TheSlapDotCom]

Just want to contribute to the ongoing disagreement. Mitigating circumstances can often be real evidence as to a candidates overall potential, and can evidence that they are capable of more than they achieved. Academics are an incredibly poor metric of success in the legal world. Law firms use academic results as a filter because it can broadly be representative, increasingly those that have stricter academic requirements use it because they need to find a way to cope with the number of applicants. 2:1 across the board is harsh yes, but GR are very aware that a single 2:2 in your first year is very different to graduating with a high 2:1.

To say that low(er) paying firms attract a different standard of candidate would be categorically untrue. The legal industry generally is very competitive, and high quality candidates can be found everywhere thanks to everyones very different aspirations. Furthermore, a fellow applicant telling you whether your application is competitive or not comes with a hefty grain of salt. No one, aside from GR and those experienced in legal recruiting, can actually tell you if you truly are a competitive applicant or not because it is weighed against the pool of other applicants. Not meeting a strict grade requirement (stricter than is industry standard) categorically does not extinguish you from success at other firms.

Owing someones lack of success to their "lack of DEI or mitigating circumstances" is a great way to pigeon hole yourself into hating the system and not focusing on how you can improve your own standing as an applicant. Especially if your advice is "don't apply because you don't have XYZ". It reduces fellow applicants down to try and make yourself feel better. If you yourself don't feel confident in your application because you have a conceited and "world is against me" mentality does not mean you should push that onto other people. We have no idea the circumstances, challenges and adversity faced by anyone else and pushing a negative mentality doesn't help anyone.

preach

 

[Jessica Pearson]

Could anyone please tell me what type of test Osborne Clarke uses🙏🙏

SHL

 

[zonnonomo]

hsfk spring pfo at last!

 

[radssss]

Kennedys Video Interview invite!

I would be very grateful for any tips/what to expect from someone who has progressed w them earlier

 

[badmintonflyinginsect]

ikr it took me like an hour & 45

ONLY AN HR AND 45....

 

[TCLAuser2002]

Probably very late but is baker mckenzie rolling?

not rolling, I applied on the day of the deadline for the spring vac scheme, and now received a Video interview

 

[badmintonflyinginsect]

i was shirtless by mistake during an amberjack (during the sjt portion but webcam on & full frontal) 😭 do i skip the whole test & vi or perhaps will it not flag... i can't believe i'm asking this

did it ask to access ur camera..

 

[Aspiringcommercialsolicitor1]

Kennedys Video Interview invite!

I would be very grateful for any tips/what to expect from someone who has progressed w them earlier

Congrats!!! When did you complete the test?

 

[radssss]

Congrats!!! When did you complete the test?

Thank you! Thursday!

 

[futuretraineeihope]

Can you look stuff up during the unlimited prep time for Reed Smith VI?

 

[TheSlapDotCom]

i was shirtless by mistake during an amberjack (during the sjt portion but webcam on & full frontal) 😭 do i skip the whole test & vi or perhaps will it not flag... i can't believe i'm asking this

im sry this is so funny😭

 

[TCLAuser2002]

Has anyone heard back from Freshfields? It’s been around a month since completing the video interview.

 

[TheSlapDotCom]

Omg bye if they actually watch us when we're doing the tests I actually will cry. I talk to myself the whole time they probably think I'm crazy

LMAOO during mishcons chat interview i was literally listening to christmas music AND singing along for 3 hrs💀hope they dont mind😝

 

[applicant457]

Have all HSFK PFOs come for spring, or also summer? does anyone know?

 

[Kakaboo]

It’s interesting if you consider the influence on M&A activity

Ooh now u do have a point here

 

[Kakaboo]

Honestly it depends on the firm you're interested in and their strengths. I've talked about patent cliffs and tariffs on pharma re life sciences, interest rates re M&A, capital requirements/private credit re PE (specifically if private credit is part of the firm's offering, they're really just non-bank loans), and sluggish London market re capital markets, amongst other things. Your interests also matter, and it's about linking something you find interesting back to the firm and whatever it is about the firm that draws you, the main caveat also being that it must link back specifically to the office you're applying to (London/Birmingham/Leeds or wherever it may be in the UK).

Like the Employment Rights Bill just received RA and most of it will be in force by April so you can also talk about how that affects employers (clients) esp if the firm has an employment practice. It may seem like it's a legal issue in a vacuum but we're not in a vacuum and it's really a commercial issue in terms of how employers respond to new rules, whether they need to change their practices (*stares at P&O Cruises, the shameless bastards*), can they afford employees on fixed hours contracts (keeping in mind NI changes earlier this year) since zero hours contracts will basically be dead.

Just generally speaking you can look up sector trends for something a firm does and you'll find something out. This can be shipping, insurance, real estate (esp commercial property has some interesting developments recently), construction, ESG, energy, mining, tech, and honestly something like consumer behaviour due to the cost of living crisis can be spun in many different ways to be relevant to several different sectors/practice areas. I think I can think of a different commercial issue in each of these area without relying on the ones I've already discussed before like interest rates, London market etc

Hope that helps, but it's up to you to find the spice in these things and convey that spice!

Worlds biggest legend

 

[ABC234]

Hi! does anyone have insight as to Kennedys’ video interview - would really appreciate it

 

[Leader of the Night Watch of the Contractless]

lord commander with all due respect if they EVER ask me "why were your nips out" no one's hearing from me again

As Lord Commander, I must say this -- should the Grad Rec ever question why your armour was… absent, you have my full permission to flee beyond the Wall. No hiring manager, no raven, no follow‑up email shall find you. The Night’s Watch will simply record that you faced the assessment bare‑chested and with courage, which is more than most candidates can claim. With COURAGE soldier.