TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[WeGotThis!]

Merry Christmas to everyone! 🎁⛄ 🎄 May Santa bring you all the VS and TC offers you want this year!🎉

 

[Afraz Akhtar]

Hello @Andrei Radu @Abbie Whitlock @Afraz Akhtar
I was wondering with regard for antitrust / competition law - what's the pure substantive things we should know about for ACs? I don't mean like connecting to broader trends, but rather like actual concepts / content?

Thank you

Hi @flower1 in terms of actual concepts for competition law, I would break this down as the following:

1. Competition law prohibits anti-competitive agreements

The most serious kinds of anti-competitive agreement are cartels, where two or more businesses agree not to compete with each other, for example by fixing prices, or sharing customers or markets.

2. Competition law prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position

Companies with large shares of a market may be regarded as "dominant". If they behave in ways which exploit customers or exclude their competitors, they may be abusing their market position.

3. Competition law regulates mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions may be prohibited or regulated if they are likely to substantially lessen competition in a market following completion e.g. they will have very high market share following the merger

Of course the subject itself is more intricate and complex than that, but this should be enough for any AC - as I don’t expect you to be tested heavily on legal concepts.

 

[Lord Sumption]

This might sound a bit silly, but how do people manage feelings of imposter syndrome during a vacation scheme? Some people are naturally very confident socially, and I sometimes feel out of place at London open days and insight events, especially with a northern accent. What are the best ways to overcome that? I think it's mostly psychological rather than actually being able to do anything about it.

Any insights? @Afraz Akhtar @Abbie Whitlock @Andrei Radu

 

[Harvey Specter - Presiding Partner]

This might sound a bit silly, but how do people manage feelings of imposter syndrome during a vacation scheme? Some people are naturally very confident socially, and I sometimes feel out of place at London open days and insight events, especially with a northern accent. What are the best ways to overcome that? I think it's mostly psychological rather than actually being able to do anything about it.

Any insights? @Afraz Akhtar @Abbie Whitlock @Andrei Radu

I relate to this personally as a fellow northerner hahaha. It’s difficult and the imposter syndrome is real. It’s mostly psychological but people have had awful experiences by being told to ‘change’ their accent if they want a successful legal career. It’s probably an indication of that firm’s culture if the lawyers there say stuff like that tbh. I think as of recent, accent bias training is becoming more prevalent and especially at firms that partner with rare recruitment, it should be less bad. As a result, I’ve found interacting with lawyers actually ends up being a positive, as it turns out many of them are also northern and/or socially mobile! To overcome it, just know you’re in those rooms cos you earned it and you belong there too!

When I went to the Weil Oct insight day, as I was leaving, I bumped into someone in the lift who obvs at the time I didn’t know who they were. We were both chatting away about my experience at the open day and my interest in Weil for about 10 mins. Then they dropped a major bomb: he was in fact an insolvency disputes and restructuring partner at the firm, and he was also northern! Genuinely it was that interaction that boosted my confidence knowing that I can and should be able to speak freely and not worry about potential accent biases cos I’m northern. He was acc so unfazed by me calling him lad and mate the entire conversation without realising he’s a partner lmfao. 😂😂

Sorry for the essay I’ve just written lad idfk how I’ve managed to write so much haha. Hopefully this helps and pls dw about being northern. Own it!​

 

[jojo23]

Merry Christmas everyone!
Make sure to go to bed early so the TC fairy (Jaysen) can grace your inbox ✨️


Freshfields notice me pls👉👈

 

[badmintonflyinginsect]

I relate to this personally as a fellow northerner hahaha. It’s difficult and the imposter syndrome is real. It’s mostly psychological but people have had awful experiences by being told to ‘change’ their accent if they want a successful legal career. It’s probably an indication of that firm’s culture if the lawyers there say stuff like that tbh. I think as of recent, accent bias training is becoming more prevalent and especially at firms that partner with rare recruitment, it should be less bad. As a result, I’ve found interacting with lawyers actually ends up being a positive, as it turns out many of them are also northern and/or socially mobile! To overcome it, just know you’re in those rooms cos you earned it and you belong there too!

When I went to the Weil Oct insight day, as I was leaving, I bumped into someone in the lift who obvs at the time I didn’t know who they were. We were both chatting away about my experience at the open day and my interest in Weil for about 10 mins. Then they dropped a major bomb: he was in fact an insolvency disputes and restructuring partner at the firm, and he was also northern! Genuinely it was that interaction that boosted my confidence knowing that I can and should be able to speak freely and not worry about potential accent biases cos I’m northern. He was acc so unfazed by me calling him lad and mate the entire conversation without realising he’s a partner lmfao. 😂😂

Sorry for the essay I’ve just written lad idfk how I’ve managed to write so much haha. Hopefully this helps and pls dw about being northern. Own it!​

what do brits think of an american accent

 

[wqueens8]

what do brits think of an american accent

a lot of brits don't like them generally, but in professional circles like law it's perfectly fine and quite common. If not actually american/canadian, we have a huge number of students from british international schools who tend to develop an american-ish accent. Also lots of international students generally, especially from countries like Hong Kong tend to have a similar accent too,

 

[badmintonflyinginsect]

a lot of brits don't like them generally, but in professional circles like law it's perfectly fine and quite common. If not actually american/canadian, we have a huge number of students from british international schools who tend to develop an american-ish accent. Also lots of international students generally, especially from countries like Hong Kong tend to have a similar accent too,

ok sweet perfect! good to know. also did notknow our accents werent liked more generally unfortunately i am the loud rowdy yeehaw american

 

[wrpark]

Hey guys, kind of a random question but building onto the query above; I'm not a native English speaker although I'm 100% fluent in the language (scored 8.5 in the IELTS, I literally study English Lit in uni lol) and I've grown up in a very international environment in Asia so I have a bit of a mix of accents (imagine an American accent with a hint of Canadian / Asian) and it's not definitively any one of them. Would firms care about this / impact me any way in interview processes / or believe this to be reflective of my English-speaking abilities? I know from legal events I've attended that accents of trainees & associates are indeed diverse but I've also found that the "diversity" is contained within native English-speaker accents like British/American/Australian and rarely ever anything else. Sometimes I'd see people from Hong Kong / Singapore but I'm not from those parts of Asia either so I do fear that my accent may sound a little foreign to firms.

 

[badmintonflyinginsect]

Gibson Dunn Zoom Interview.

I imagine this is the stage most people get. It's exciting though haha.

hi! can i know ur grades/academics + uni (not name) if that's OK?

 

[DavidJC]

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Disgruntled SQE Student]

Hey guys, kind of a random question but building onto the query above; I'm not a native English speaker although I'm 100% fluent in the language (scored 8.5 in the IELTS, I literally study English Lit in uni lol) and I've grown up in a very international environment in Asia so I have a bit of a mix of accents (imagine an American accent with a hint of Canadian / Asian) and it's not definitively any one of them. Would firms care about this / impact me any way in interview processes / or believe this to be reflective of my English-speaking abilities? I know from legal events I've attended that accents of trainees & associates are indeed diverse but I've also found that the "diversity" is contained within native English-speaker accents like British/American/Australian and rarely ever anything else. Sometimes I'd see people from Hong Kong / Singapore but I'm not from those parts of Asia either so I do fear that my accent may sound a little foreign to firms.

Assuming you are applying to London. Short answer. No. The city is built on multi-culturalism. You are clearly a native speaker. "Sounding foreign" isn't a thing, not outwardly anyway. You may need to navigate subconcious racism, but this is the exception and not the norm. The reason you may only see British/American/Australian accents are firm events is because these are the most commonly represented people at UK law firms. Either those who have made the relatively easy transition from common law jurisdictions, or those who have moved from the US to work for satellite firms in the UK. You will probably encounter many people who won't have grown up/aren't English/American/Australian, and a lot of firms will expect you to be open minded to working with their offices in other jurisdictions, where people can sound very different to one another. Multi-culturalism is a strength in the eyes of international law firms, not a representation of your ability.

 

[billyonthespeeddial]

Hey guys, kind of a random question but building onto the query above; I'm not a native English speaker although I'm 100% fluent in the language (scored 8.5 in the IELTS, I literally study English Lit in uni lol) and I've grown up in a very international environment in Asia so I have a bit of a mix of accents (imagine an American accent with a hint of Canadian / Asian) and it's not definitively any one of them. Would firms care about this / impact me any way in interview processes / or believe this to be reflective of my English-speaking abilities? I know from legal events I've attended that accents of trainees & associates are indeed diverse but I've also found that the "diversity" is contained within native English-speaker accents like British/American/Australian and rarely ever anything else. Sometimes I'd see people from Hong Kong / Singapore but I'm not from those parts of Asia either so I do fear that my accent may sound a little foreign to firms.

No, I know people with exactly the same background as you described who are trainees/future trainees at my firm and other firms too. Firms are very used to this these days and I don't imagine this will generally be an issue at all!

 

[FutureTraineeMaybe]

Merry Christmas everyone!!

 

[Afraz Akhtar]

This might sound a bit silly, but how do people manage feelings of imposter syndrome during a vacation scheme? Some people are naturally very confident socially, and I sometimes feel out of place at London open days and insight events, especially with a northern accent. What are the best ways to overcome that? I think it's mostly psychological rather than actually being able to do anything about it.

Any insights? @Afraz Akhtar @Abbie Whitlock @Andrei Radu

Hey guys, kind of a random question but building onto the query above; I'm not a native English speaker although I'm 100% fluent in the language (scored 8.5 in the IELTS, I literally study English Lit in uni lol) and I've grown up in a very international environment in Asia so I have a bit of a mix of accents (imagine an American accent with a hint of Canadian / Asian) and it's not definitively any one of them. Would firms care about this / impact me any way in interview processes / or believe this to be reflective of my English-speaking abilities? I know from legal events I've attended that accents of trainees & associates are indeed diverse but I've also found that the "diversity" is contained within native English-speaker accents like British/American/Australian and rarely ever anything else. Sometimes I'd see people from Hong Kong / Singapore but I'm not from those parts of Asia either so I do fear that my accent may sound a little foreign to firms.

Hey @Lord Sumption and @wrpark hope you're having a lovely Christmas, just thought I'd chime in with a response to this. Personally, I've never seen this to be an issue. Having worked in a few legal settings over the last 5 years (whether that be international firms, magic circle firms, and even in-house institutions), I have had the chance to work with people who sound nothing like me e.g. Vietnamese accent, French accent, Indian accents etc. During my time at these places, they were never written out of anything and took on managerial or senior positions. I too myself have a little bit of a Yorkshire accent.

Of course, I've been in spaces where I wanted to tone it down, but as you progress in the industry, you realise that you're in that room because you're meant to be. And the same will be the case for the both of you. Don't let these comparisons make you feel any less than, acknowledge the fact that you've accomplished and are capable of so much, and remind yourself that you earned your place there just like everyone else.

 

[zonnonomo]

love that we're talking about accents i would feel too silly to bring it up irl with anyone i know

during a group exercise at an ac someone (londoner, eton vibes) mimicked the way i spoke (thick thai accent) and i completely choked, didn't speak much at all and cherry on the cake my feedback was that I came across as rude... (silver circle firm)

simultaneously my best interviews were where i brought that sawadeekrap swag in so 🤷

 

[Maria56]

Talking about accents really hits a spot for me too.
I have a strong slavic accent as i went to public school in Eastern Europe and my biggest nightmare is people not being able to understand me at an AC

 

[michelle ma]

Could anyone share some insights about Goodwin’s video interview? I would be happy to exchange information on Simmons & Simmons’ AI internship in return.

 

[LehmanBrothersRiskManagementIntern]

Is Milbank's first stage automatic or post review of the app? For their spring vac scheme leveraged finance, is prior experience in lev finance (like an internship etc) essential?

 

[llblawstudent]

Could anyone share some insights about Goodwin’s video interview? I would be happy to exchange information on Simmons & Simmons’ AI internship in return.

Hey, have you heard back from Simmons for the AI internship after the test?