TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[Shiv Lawy]

What counts as a high 2:1? Would it be 65+ or 68+

Just chiming in I progressed to selective stage 2 of Cleary despite a very low 2:1 and not meeting the minimum A-levels....so some firms do operate holistically, no point agonising over what's a good 2:1

 

[danthelawyerman]

Anyone heard back after written exercise for Taylor Wessing Spring VS?

 

[Madison Pinewall]

is anybody else like so bad at video interviews. I literally freak and start crumbling under pressure. I've mooted in front of a Lord Justice, I do theatre!! But ask me a question and have me monologue for 2 mins ... no fanks

 

[Gottagetthroughthis101]

is anybody else like so bad at video interviews. I literally freak and start crumbling under pressure. I've mooted in front of a Lord Justice, I do theatre!! But ask me a question and have me monologue for 2 mins ... no fanks

Literally me

 

[silonthesofa]

Anyone heard back after written exercise for Taylor Wessing Spring VS?

A handful of people got AC invites yesterday afternoon. I didn't, so I'm going to assume PFO. For the WE invites at least, they did it all in one wave. Don't know if ACs are the same.

 

[legal18]

CRS submitted - goodnight and good luck people!!!!

 

[sagekensuke]

Do the Osborne Clarke tests have to be done before the deadline tomorrow, or within 5 days of submitting?

 

[yasmars]

Do the Osborne Clarke tests have to be done before the deadline tomorrow, or within 5 days of submitting?

I believe it’s within 5 days of receiving the test. 🤞

 

[kukubird]

Just chiming in I progressed to selective stage 2 of Cleary despite a very low 2:1 and not meeting the minimum A-levels....so some firms do operate holistically, no point agonising over what's a good 2:1

Congrats! Was this WG?

 

[helenaskelton]

is anybody else like so bad at video interviews. I literally freak and start crumbling under pressure. I've mooted in front of a Lord Justice, I do theatre!! But ask me a question and have me monologue for 2 mins ... no fanks

I crashed out at Clyde & Co. Can’t even submit it because I just stopped mid way through and laughed. It was effectively SJT interview but framed within a broader case study so I got confused and thought I had to use information from the case study (when I think basic stuff is actually all you need)! So yeah I just stopped and laughed because I found it so hard. And then there was 30 seconds of silence. lol

 

[HopefulTC]

Hi guys,
Got my AC ever on the 29th!! It's at Freshfields which unfortunately is a firm where i havent had an open day at. To be honest I am so nervous and am unsure with everything. Ik my commercial awareness is good and I can usually interview well but am so nervous nonetheless. If anyone has any advice its really welcome!!

 

[YFG]

Hi guys,
Got my AC ever on the 29th!! It's at Freshfields which unfortunately is a firm where i havent had an open day at. To be honest I am so nervous and am unsure with everything. Ik my commercial awareness is good and I can usually interview well but am so nervous nonetheless. If anyone has any advice its really welcome!!

Congratulations!! Any tips for commercial awareness?

 

[HopefulTC]

Congratulations!! Any tips for commercial awareness?

Thank you! I would say for economic news the FT and economist as daily or every other day reads. For general political news BBC and Sky. For foreign policy the FT, Sky, and journos on X (Formally Twitter).

 

[fbtrainee]

Hi guys,
Got my AC ever on the 29th!! It's at Freshfields which unfortunately is a firm where i havent had an open day at. To be honest I am so nervous and am unsure with everything. Ik my commercial awareness is good and I can usually interview well but am so nervous nonetheless. If anyone has any advice its really welcome!!

congrats!! I think for freshfields find out what the AC format is and start finding maybe practice case studies or FT articles to analyse. You can also try using chatgpt to come up with similar case studies to what you are likely to come across at the real thing. Also is this for the dtc or vs?

 

[HopefulTC]

congrats!! I think for freshfields find out what the AC format is and start finding maybe practice case studies or FT articles to analyse. You can also try using chatgpt to come up with similar case studies to what you are likely to come across at the real thing. Also is this for the dtc or vs?

This is for VS. Yeah the format is Written, group task, and partner interview. They havent said if the partner interview is divided into an analytical task or not. Great advice though!

 

[Shaky_Pete]

You can ask the AI to make the answer sound less AI. So meta.

It's unlikely that firms will use automated AI detection tools, because they don't work.

IME using AI it creates horrid prose with certain patterns like

• lots of unnecessary adverbs like "genuinely multispecialist"
• "matches how I work best"
• "intersection of X and Y"
• "combines X with Y"

I am sure if you are in recruitment and you come across these kind of patterns you just click "reject", without going to check an AI detector (which doesn't work).

OTOH if you use AI and edit out the repetitive AI quirks, they are not going to notice.