TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[Rads]

Hello, has anyone met Kirkland at their fairs? What is their criteria (like Slaughter looks for high grades)? Do they look for something specific? Checking if it’s worth making the application

 

[elle woods]

Hello, has anyone met Kirkland at their fairs? What is their criteria (like Slaughter looks for high grades)? Do they look for something specific? Checking if it’s worth making the application

💀 oops I applied to Slaughters with my awful grades HAHA - I am expecting a PFO tho so lolll

Hmm, I have met them at my fair but I never asked about grades unfortunately. So I can't help you with concrete information. But I do know that they don't mind if you don't have a first from Oxbridge or whatever. I know some current trainees who only got a 2:1 and are now thriving, so I guess it might be worth a shot?

 

[Rads]

💀 oops I applied to Slaughters with my awful grades HAHA - I am expecting a PFO tho so lolll

Hmm, I have met them at my fair but I never asked about grades unfortunately. So I can't help you with concrete information. But I do know that they don't mind if you don't have a first from Oxbridge or whatever. I know some current trainees who only got a 2:1 and are now thriving, so I guess it might be worth a shot?

Thank you!

 

[studysquirrel]

Hi could anyone give insights on CMS VI? Happy to giev advice on Freshfields, Linklaters, HSF and a few others. I can also give advice for Travers including final interview.

 

[BT0901]

Hello people, I have a written exercise coming up (never done one before) and I am a bit confused about how long a client email should be? Is it ok to write an executive summary (apx 250 words) and then say sth like, "should you need deeper insights, I expand briefly on each of the above points below" and provide a more in-depth analysis?

 

[anon78365222111]

Just wanted to ask again are there any firms you can apply to twice I know people mentioned Sidley, Macfarlanes, NRF & Covington. Might help other people too!

 

[Amgrad]

Just wanted to ask again are there any firms you can apply to twice I know people mentioned Sidley, Macfarlanes, NRF & Covington. Might help other people too!

Hi, just found this while researching it on the forum https://www.thecorporatelawacademy....ple-times-in-the-same-recruitment-cycle.5113/. Seems like similar for this cycle, but you should clarify again to them

 

[panda1989]

Hi @panda1989 unfortunately I cannot give you very specific advice as to how to structure a written exercise, simply because the type of structure that works will depend a lot on the details of the exercise itself and the information you have to cover. Looking back at my written exercises, the only common features in terms of structure that I tended to observe were the following:

1. An introductory executive summary heading with a short paragraph following it, which explains the scope of my analysis, the core point of each section, and the main conclusion.
2. Having different big headings for different parts of the task (ie if an email I had to respond to asked me three different questions, I would separate my writing in three different sections)
3. Having headings/subheadings for core assessment criteria: as you are reading the relevant information, ask yourself what are the core cost/benefit factors you need to consider; sometimes, this provides you an easy way to present information and structure your analysis.
4. Sometimes, separating section by subheading such as "Brief Summary" and "Analysis" can make sense, such as to clearly convey both what is uncontroversial factual information and what is your own viewpoint.

As for impact of news stories, when reading about a story I think you should always be asking yourself "how could this impact businesses?" and then "how does this impact change what they want from their lawyers?". Some stories have very easy and direct answers to both: eg a lowering of interest rates reduces borrowing costs, which makes deal financing cheaper and reduces valuation gaps between buyers and sellers, thus boosting demand for transactional practice areas such as M&A, PE, and banking & finance. Other stories (arguably, such as the new Budget) will not have this kind of straightforward analysis easily available, and, as such, should you choose to discuss them, you will need to conduct more in-depth research.

Thank you so much - this is super helpful!

 

[panda1989]

Hi @Andrei Radu @Abbie Whitlock! I have a more general question about approaching answering 'where else have you applied?' in interviews - is it appropriate to mention the stages you've reached or potential offers for vac schemes? I just wanted some insight in how firms could potentially view this and whether it is desirable or not to mention offers etc. Thanks!

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hello people, I have a written exercise coming up (never done one before) and I am a bit confused about how long a client email should be? Is it ok to write an executive summary (apx 250 words) and then say sth like, "should you need deeper insights, I expand briefly on each of the above points below" and provide a more in-depth analysis?

There is no strict rule as to how long a client email should be, as this will heavily depend on the details of the task and the amount of information you have to read and comment one, but also on the amount of time available - as this will determine how strict you have to be with yourself concerning what you can include in your answer without losing valuable time which would be better spent in another part of the answer. In practice, I think my written exercise ended up being anywhere from 1000 to 2000ish words; but I also know people who have been successful and had very different ranges.

As for the executive summary - I definitely think including one is a good idea, particularly if you have a longer answer following it; and in my view 250ish words would be an appropriate word count to dedicate to it assuming the rest of the written piece is at least around 1000ish words. Nonetheless, and while this is a bit of a pedantic point, I would likely not phrase the ending sentence in the specific way you mentioned (ie "should you need deeper insights") as this can somewhat suggest that the rest of the written piece is incidental to the executive summary and provides unnecessary detail - while in fact it contains the core of your analysis of the matter.

 

[Momo_233]

Just finished latham stage 2, I struggled to find that, so want to post this to help ppl.

1. Video questions: difficult in terms of form not content. Just stay calm, use the given time wisely, (tho a unique form, they are still questions that you can prepare in advance I would say.) and you should believe that you can answer them well. But I didn't really prepare for it so I was chopping all the time and not smoothly enough i guess.

2. WG: extremely simple, you cannot believe it... for some reason.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Andrei Radu @Abbie Whitlock! I have a more general question about approaching answering 'where else have you applied?' in interviews - is it appropriate to mention the stages you've reached or potential offers for vac schemes? I just wanted some insight in how firms could potentially view this and whether it is desirable or not to mention offers etc. Thanks!

I think it is definitely both appropriate and desirable to mention any advanced stages you have reached and/or any VS/TC offers, as this shows a number of valuable traits such as:

1. The fact you have been serious with your application writing efforts and that therefore your interest in commercial law is a strong and genuine one.
2. The fact that you have been identified by competent recruiters at rival firms as an incredibly strong candidate, which will likely make any firm consider your application more seriously.
3. The fact that you may undergo VSs soon and thus undertake valuable work experience.

 

[bh.sa]

Sidley I believe, I'm not sure about others tho

Do you mean you can apply to Sidley in the same cycle, or that you can re-apply but in the next cycle?

 

[lawstudent2]

Just flunked my first ever artic shores with 3,3,3,2, no more nrf for me haha

 

[FutureAntitrustLawyer]

Are there any video interview questions in Baker McKenzie's Amberjack assessment? Thanks!

Hi, just out curiosity, what was your total score for the amberjack test?

 

[lawyersum]

hi everyone. does anyone have any experience with realising that you’ve forgotten to include a module grade on your application form? how do i go about fixing this, deadline passed a week ago…will it look bad if I contact grad rec to let them know about my stupidity

 

[FutureTraineeMaybe]

Royally screwed up my NRF testt😂

 

[elle woods]

Just flunked my first ever artic shores with 3,3,3,2, no more nrf for me haha

That’s really not that bad … my scores were worse HAHA

 

[elle woods]

Do you mean you can apply to Sidley in the same cycle, or that you can re-apply but in the next cycle?

Pretty sure same cycle - I wrote in my insight day notes that you can apply again that year so I’m assuming it’s the same cycle but someone correct me if I’m wrong

 

[fc.c92]

Is Simmons' online assessment monitored? Will my camera be on throughout? I wanted to do part of it now and part of it later but not if my camera is going to be on the whole time.