Hey, thanks a lot! My email included a link to confirm the assessment day which is on 25/03. It also included FAQs. Hope that helps! And good luck
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26
- Thread starter Ram Sabaratnam
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Hi @Abbie Whitlock and others,
I was wondering how you would answer the "what is your weakness question" without really going into anything that feels like a reflag for a career in commercial law but also isn't a straw man answer. Something I related to was struggling a bit with turning professional connections into personal relations (I'm very comfortable in structured professional settings, meetings, networking events where there's an agenda, one-on-ones where the purpose is clear. But I've noticed that I sometimes default to keeping things transactional when the better long-term move is to invest in the relationship itself, finding the common ground beyond the work) and I took some steps to work on that and consciously paid more effort into it. However, I am worried that unless I frame this very specifically it may come across as an issue for US firms that generally have lean team.
I was wondering what some reasonable alternatives could be ?
I thought of these options, but not sure if it feels genuine enough or if its a bit of a redflag to talk about them:
"I have a tendency to want to feel completely across a topic before I put forward a view, which can be a strength, but I've noticed it can slow me down in situations where a provisional answer early is more useful than a perfect answer late. I've been working on learning to time-box research and give a working view with caveats, rather than waiting until I feel I've covered everything."
"I'm naturally someone who tries to work things out myself before asking for help, which is useful up to a point, but I've realised that in a team environment, there's a cost to spending too long on something independently when a five-minute conversation would have moved things forward. I've been more conscious about recognising that asking early isn't a sign of weakness ,it's actually more efficient for everyone."
What sort of answers have others gone with in interviews ?
I was wondering how you would answer the "what is your weakness question" without really going into anything that feels like a reflag for a career in commercial law but also isn't a straw man answer. Something I related to was struggling a bit with turning professional connections into personal relations (I'm very comfortable in structured professional settings, meetings, networking events where there's an agenda, one-on-ones where the purpose is clear. But I've noticed that I sometimes default to keeping things transactional when the better long-term move is to invest in the relationship itself, finding the common ground beyond the work) and I took some steps to work on that and consciously paid more effort into it. However, I am worried that unless I frame this very specifically it may come across as an issue for US firms that generally have lean team.
I was wondering what some reasonable alternatives could be ?
I thought of these options, but not sure if it feels genuine enough or if its a bit of a redflag to talk about them:
"I have a tendency to want to feel completely across a topic before I put forward a view, which can be a strength, but I've noticed it can slow me down in situations where a provisional answer early is more useful than a perfect answer late. I've been working on learning to time-box research and give a working view with caveats, rather than waiting until I feel I've covered everything."
"I'm naturally someone who tries to work things out myself before asking for help, which is useful up to a point, but I've realised that in a team environment, there's a cost to spending too long on something independently when a five-minute conversation would have moved things forward. I've been more conscious about recognising that asking early isn't a sign of weakness ,it's actually more efficient for everyone."
What sort of answers have others gone with in interviews ?
@Abbie Whitlock hi abbie!! whats the difference in the format of a memo and a report? how long in length should each be?
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