TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[Andrei Radu]

White & Case interview day and I'm bricking it! Does anyone have any tips for calming nerves considering my interview only takes place later this afternoon?

Two things helped me a lot when trying to calm nerves before (and during)my interviews:

Firstly, instead of going in with a mindset that you need to showcase exceptional brilliance to succeed instead of other strong candidates, go in with the mindset that all you need to get through is to simply score well in all the assessment criteria. I think a lot of candidates put unnecessary pressure on themselves to prove some incredible ability or skill in one are or another, as they imagine this kind of thing is the only aspect that can pull them apart from an already incredibly skilled crowd. Nonetheless, what I observed in practice is that the people focusing on "knocking the ball out of the park" tended to stress themselves out too much and would end up tripping themselves up. Thus, they would not score well at all in one or more assessment criteria, and would be rejected for this reason. If you instead have an attitude that you should avoid making big mistakes and should simply focus on answering each question well and being an all-around good candidate, you will not as constantly be mentally criticising yourself for not having done better, which will allow you to relax more and focus on the next question.

Secondly, I would advise you to slow down when speaking and to use silence strategically: when in an interview, your nerves naturally cause your heartbeat to increase and thus you are put in a bit of a "fight or flight" mindset, which can make you react quickly (and hastily) to questions. This can:

1. Make you speak really fast, which reduces the clarity of your speech (as it simply requires more processing power and concentration from the other side to make out what you are saying) and makes you appear less articulate (when speaking quickly, you will more often find yourself stumbling mid sentence for loss of words and have to reformulate because you have not had enough time to find the right initial formulation).
2. Make you not consider the substance of your answer enough: In rushing to answer a question immediately, people often end up basing their discussion on the first thought that comes to mind, which can often not be the best one. Then, having started this way, it is difficult to retract and reformulate even if they realise they went wrong 20-30 seconds in.

To avoid these issues, my advice is to (i) consciously bring down the pace of your speech, (ii) take 2-3 second strategic breaks during your answer (particularly when in-between points) to consider how to structure and formulate the next part of your answer; and (iii) generally, take at least 5-10 seconds before you start answering a new question to make up a "mental plan" as to what you will say. If you take these steps, it should improve both the substance of your points and the form they are expressed in, and, more importantly, it will likely have a positive loop effect (if you slow down and take breaks, you will both appear more composed, but also cause yourself to actually become more composed and experience less "flight or fight" emotions, effects that will reinforce one another).

 

[user9809]

I got an interview for TC last week, and in the Cover Letter, I signed my name at the bottom. I hope that helps you.

When did you apply? I thought they were non rolling

 

[JBM]

Would it be worth reaching out to grad rec if no updates by today.

Im in the same boat. rejections have gone out so maybe they are comparing and waitlisting. Let me know what they say should you reach out

 

[lissa2006]

Any Clifford Chance open day updates?

 

[Chriss]

Any updates on Paul Weiss open day?

 

[Charles Leclerc]

I would appreciate any tips for the second stage of the Macfarlanes Assessment.
Also, has anyone heard of Gowling post Arctic Shores?

 

[Donuttime]

in applications, do I capitalise departments? Ie. 'I sat with the Dispute resolution team' or would it be dispute resolution?

 

[TCLAAAA]

Gibson Dunn summer vs pfo, happy Friday

 

[l789]

Does anyone have the link for the linklaters associate panel, would be super grateful if anyone could share for the virtual event at 1pm

 

[johnsmith]

Does the mishcon test have a VI or is it all typing based? Am trying to see if I can do it in the library

Yes one short one!

 

[Andrei Radu]

in applications, do I capitalise departments? Ie. 'I sat with the Dispute resolution team' or would it be dispute resolution?

Generally, when referring to departments in the sense of broad departments existing in most major firms (i.e. corporate, finance, disputes, tax, etc) you should not capitalise. However, iff you are referring to a department more particular to the firm which has a specific name (i.e. "Technology Transactions Group"), if the firm capitalises it on their website I would advise you to do the same.

 

[WeGotThis!]

Has Gibson Dunn sent out interview invites to anyone for Spring?

 

[LaDiva]

Hey, I worked at Venture Capital and Small Investment Banking before which handled hedge fund clients, startup, and family office.

For up-to-date sources, I am following venture capitalists on LinkedIn.

And for data sources like self made vs inheritance millionaire they cited from Voronoi: https://www.voronoiapp.com/money/Self-Made-vs-Inherited-Wealth-5655

Or the outflows and inflows of wealth https://www.voronoiapp.com/wealth/UK-Faces-92B-in-Millionaire-Wealth-Outflows-in-2025--6665

You can also check MSCI, WTO, World Bank for the emerging market trends. Post the due diligence last year, I made a diagram venn below:

Thank you so much!

 

[Dogecoin GC]

in applications, do I capitalise departments? Ie. 'I sat with the Dispute resolution team' or would it be dispute resolution?

Main thing is to be consistent.

 

[doodllaw29]

A no from Gibson Dunn vac scheme

 

[aspringlawyer25]

Has Gibson Dunn sent out interview invites to anyone for Spring?

I believe someone mentioned that they have received one.

 

[aspringlawyer25]

Damn, guess they already progressed candidates, PFO incoming.

 

[routetotrainingcontract]

I am currently stuck on this question and i would appreciate some help on how to go about answering it- What impact do you want to make at CMS?- I have a few years of paralegal experiences at magic circle firms but I dont have anything unique about me that is enough to make an impact per say, i'm just an average law student (albeit i am an international law student). please any insight on how to approach this will be much appreciated Reed Smith">@Abbie Reed Smith @andreachai @TCLA Community Assistant

 

[Dogecoin GC]

So last year did 40 apps.

This year only doing open days.

Then if they succeed, vac schemes.

Different to the controversial scattergun approach.

 

[AngelB]

A&O Shearman AC invite!!!!!!!!