TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[Trophy]

This account used to belong to someone else on the forum, as you have identified. His username was Chris Brown. I started using this forum in September. He gave me this account to use for this cycle, as he was no longer using it. ​

Oh. same mannerisms and block use of text is why I thought you are the sane person. why not make your own account they’re free?

I’m not attacking before the woke members arrive and say I’m attacking you.

 

[CharlesT47]

Literally in the same boat with you. I’m kinda getting worried. Applied on the 10th of nov

Same here. I applied 9th Nov. I'm hoping the delay is because of the recent change in their head of graduate recruitment. Otherwise, it would suck to be on the waiting list.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Abbie Whitlock !!

How do you explain you want a career in commercial law if all your experience is IN commercial law, but abroad? In the sense that it is pretty obvious that I am committed to the career. Should I focus more on why London/UK, then?

Thanks!

Hi @yk1906 just to add my thoughts before @Abbie Whitlock can come back to you - in my view, you should still focus on the reasons why those experiences made you realise and later confirm that this is the ideal career for you to pursue. The fact that all your experiences are in commercial law certainly provides some evidence to the effect that you are interested in it, but it is also certainly not conclusive evidence. In theory, you could have had an initial interest in the career, and as such took on a couple of roles relating to it, only to then realise you do not enjoy it as much as you thought.

Furthermore, even if the mere experiences sufficed to prove your commitment to this career path, by themselves they still fail to answer the crucial question of why you are interested in it, which is what firms want to find out about candidates. Once again, in theory, you may simply be motivated by its prestige, high pay, by the fact that everyone around you seems to want it, or by reasons having to do with a misconception of what commercial solicitors actually do. All of those reasons to pursue commercial law would be red flags for a graduate recruiter, and, as such, even if they know you are committed to this career path, they want to see if your reasons for that are the right kind of reasons.

Finally, for the question about answering the "Why UK/London" question: since this is not something the firm asks you about or even suggests in a normal "Why commercial law" question, I would not be too focused on trying to answer it. Nonetheless, if a good opportunity presents itself to comment on the issue (eg your why London motivation is closely connected to a general why commercial law motivation), it would likely be fine to include it.

 

[yk1906]

Hi @yk1906 just to add my thoughts before @Abbie Whitlock can come back to you - in my view, you should still focus on the reasons why those experiences made you realise and later confirm that this is the ideal career for you to pursue. The fact that all your experiences are in commercial law certainly provides some evidence to the effect that you are interested in it, but it is also certainly not conclusive evidence. In theory, you could have had an initial interest in the career, and as such took on a couple of roles relating to it, only to then realise you do not enjoy it as much as you thought.

Furthermore, even if the mere experiences sufficed to prove your commitment to this career path, by themselves they still fail to answer the crucial question of why you are interested in it, which is what firms want to find out about candidates. Once again, in theory, you may simply be motivated by its prestige, high pay, by the fact that everyone around you seems to want it, or by reasons having to do with a misconception of what commercial solicitors actually do. All of those reasons to pursue commercial law would be red flags for a graduate recruiter, and, as such, even if they know you are committed to this career path, they want to see if your reasons for that are the right kind of reasons.

Finally, for the question about answering the "Why UK/London" question: since this is not something the firm asks you about or even suggests in a normal "Why commercial law" question, I would not be too focused on trying to answer it. Nonetheless, if a good opportunity presents itself to comment on the issue (eg your why London motivation is closely connected to a general why commercial law motivation), it would likely be fine to include it.

Thanks a lot!! This is very helpful

 

[Julia Dyminska]

hey, so from doing it last year, I believe it was just a SJT mainly - no VIs and I can't recall if there was verbal reasoning, but to my mind there wasn't anything but SJT exercises haha. Sorry if that's not so helpful! But genuinely I do remember it was one of the tests I enjoyed doing the most, so I think that says something!

Thank you! your insight is helpful, the email I received does not point to anything other than SJT and behavioural test, so i doubt there’s anything extra but these firms are sooo sneaky sometimes

 

[M123]

DLA TI invite🔥🔥

If anyone has done it or has experience with these kind of interviews would you mind reaching out to me please🥺

congrats!! which office may I ask?

 

[Andrei Radu]

Anybody know what I should expect with strength-based interviews for a law firm? Thanks!

I found this article on strengths-based interviews I thought I would link here. I have not completed this type of interview personally, but based on a variety of sources it seems to involve more of a focus on personal questions such as:

• How do you spend your free time?
• What subjects did you most enjoy in school/university and why?
• What are kinds of work you like/dislike?
• What are the things that motivate you the most?

People describe it as being less formal than competency interviews, and also say they are harder to prepare for because how wide the scope of the questions can be. I suspect that for this reason, it is difficult to prepare a lot for the substantive part of the interview. However, you should invest time in improving your ability to express your substantive points about past experiences and personality traits. Thus, I think you should concentrate on mock interviews and/or on recording yourself answering randomly selected strengths-based questions. Then, you should critically assess your answer to determine how you could have expressed yourself in a more articulate and structured manner.

 

[ttlaw12344]

DLA TI invite🔥🔥

If anyone has done it or has experience with these kind of interviews would you mind reaching out to me please🥺

CONGRATS, when did u do WG?

 

[BobThebIlly]

I received a CC email after being rejected yday -- turns out it was just application advice lmfao

 

[Andrei Radu]

This might be a silly question. I've just gotten my first AC ever coming up :' D but it's in a couple days, so I've only had like 3/4 days to prep, whereas some people got like weeks for the same date.

I know I can't just ask them to go easy on me haha, but is there something I can say or do to level my chances, cause I feel like there's so much to do, and I would've loved a few more days. Sorry about the question, I've never gotten to an AC before, so I have no idea if it's totally typical to just get a few days.

Thank you in advance; I really appreciate the help!! < 3

Hi @iklawapps while I do not think there is much you can do in terms of actual adjustments you can ask from the firm, I would not be too worried. In my view, generally 3-4 days dedicated entirely to AC preparation is more than enough to be able to do well in it - in fact, this is exactly the time I ended up taking to prepare for my first final VS interview, and I ended up converting it. Of course, you will hear about people taking one or two weeks to prepare, and you may think they will have a substantial advantage over you. Nonetheless, you should keep in mind that:

1. Many of the people that claim that they prepare for an AC for that extended of a period will not be the spending 10+ hours of focused work on it every day. Instead, they will often invest only a couple of hours everyday and will be using the rest of the available time on other things. As such, when calculating the total amount of time invested in preparation, the numbers may not end up looking very different from yours. If this is so, arguably, it is actually better to prepare more intensely in a shorter period, as all that you learn will be a lot fresher in your mind.
2. Even in the rare cases where candidates will take 7+ days to focus entirely on AC prep, there are diminishing returns in investing more and more time in preparation. In my opinion, after some point, just doing the same things again and again will not contribute much in terms of making you improve your skills and increasing your chances of success, but will just increase your anxiety and the risk of burnout before you even get to the AC.

 

[Kirsty Wilkins]

Same here. I applied 9th Nov. I'm hoping the delay is because of the recent change in their head of graduate recruitment. Otherwise, it would suck to be on the waiting list.

Hi @Harvey Specter , @Afuturetrainee @CharlesT47

Charles is right, the delay is due in part to our recent change in the Graduate Recruitment role, but also because we've added some additional checks and balances into the decision process, which unfortunately for candidates means the screening process takes more time than it used to. Only a few decisions have gone out so far, but we expect a large number (although still not all) to go out in the next two weeks.

Best wishes,

Kirsty

 

[AngelB]

still waiting on AOS...

im thinking rejection.................

 

[Dannie]

guys the wait is agonising im so tired of checking my email every 3 seconds

 

[yk1906]

guys the wait is agonising im so tired of checking my email every 3 seconds

Same, I'm trying to keep myself busy with perfecting my Willkies app in the meantime...

 

[p2bv]

has anyone not heard from CMS post WG? Did mine a month ago so not sure to assume PFO

 

[Apple]

Is the cover letter for NRF referring to the TC or the vacation scheme when it asks 'what excites you about our programme?'

 

[DavidJC]

Is the cover letter for NRF referring to the TC or the vacation scheme when it asks 'what excites you about our programme?'

Depends on what you're applying for, tailor it to that. I tailored mine to the VS when I applied to the WVS and got through to VI stage before rejection (caveat: idk if they read applications before VI or with/after it, though)

 

[Donuttime]

is the first Latham test a video interview?

 

[RSK]

is the first Latham test a video interview?

first test is sjt and mini wg

 

[tclauser77898]

On Sidley's market position and strengths:

• Sidley is a Top 10 global law firm by revenue (sitting around the $3.5bn mark), is more international than most US rivals (with 20+ offices), with a large both New York and London presence (currently the 17th by London-generated revenue, having surpassed the $225m mark).
• The firm is known for its high-value transactional work, and is therefore uncontroversially deemed to be part of the newly formed group of "global elite" law firms (a group of highly-profitable firms with strong offerings in both London and New York, who are expected to increased their hold over the transatlantic deal corridor over the coming years).
• While sitting just bellow the traditional "Vault 10" group of firms (a US publication ranking the biggest US firms by prestige based on associate reviews every year) in terms of historical reputation and also profitability (most V10 firms are sitting around the $7 million average PEP figure, while Sidley's PEP is approx $5 million), the firm could be compared with the likes of Milbank and Paul Hastings in terms of its embrace of private capital work and its huge recent growth to catch up with the historical New York elite.
• Speaking of an embrace of private capital, while Sidley had historically been very strong in traditional banking, securitisation, and financial regulatory work, but, as this type of work took a hit post 2008, the firm has shifted to servicing the booming PE industry.
• In London, this is reflected in their practice area strengths, as the firm has top tier teams for PE Funds work and PE buyouts, and more recently has hired one of the best leveraged finance teams in the market from Latham. This move was very talked about last year as it is thought to demonstrate (i) Sidley's growing ambition in London; and (ii) its increasing clout, having been able to hire rainmaking partners from Latham, a larger and more profitable firm, that has traditionally been seen as more dominant in the private capital space.
• Finally, in London Sidley is also known for its regulatory work, being particularly strong in financial services and life sciences - a feature that differentiates it from most of its US rivals. This is apparently also helping Sidley secure work on PE deals that come with particular regulatory complexity.

Thank you so much @Andrei Radu this is so helpful!!
Would you suggest I read up on any specific topic/developments as well?
Thanks again!