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Willkie Live: How to Write a Successful Vacation Scheme Application

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andrei Radu" data-source="post: 218208" data-attributes="member: 36777">Hi [USER=4361]@DavidJC[/USER] I think what you should do in general for an Open Day application is to:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Identify a Unique Selling Point of the firm (USP) you are interested in</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Explain why you are interested in the firm's USP, making reference and describing any relevant experiences and achievements</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Analyse the USP more in depth based on your research and then express a desire to learn more about said USP at the open day</li> </ol>For instance, say you express an interest in the firm's leading M&A practice. Firstly, you would want to explain why you are interested in this type of work by picking out which features of it attract you more than the features of other practices. At this stage, you should also describe (using a STAR structure) any relevant experience (and relevant need not mean solely an M&A-related role; it could be a negotiations competition, a prior firm event, a Forage Experience etc.). Then, you should go on and explain the firm's USP in more detail based on your research. You could thus firstly discuss Davis Polk's global M&A practice, which consistently ranks in the top 10 firms by total M&A deal value it advises on and which has one of the highest average deal values in the world, suggesting the firm has a high deal value-lower deal volume model; you could then express an interest in learning more about how this model functions. Then, you could analyse Davis Polk's London practice in more detail, focusing on how it has a small headcount compared to similarly ranked rivals (it has a Chambers 4 ranking, similar to White & Case, a firm with a headcount roughly 6 times higher), suggesting it punches significantly above its weight in terms of high-end M&A work - and then, on this point you could look at some of the notable mandates the firm recently worked on. Next, you could mention how the firm is particularly active in the TMT and life sciences sectors and how its client base tends to be formed of institutional relationships rather than individual partner relationships. Further, you could go on to look at how efficient the firm's corporate practice is, as it has consistently boasted of some of the highest revenue per corporate partner and revenue per corporate lawyer figures in London, and then explore how this ties into the firm's general sky-high profitability (Davis Polk has the third highest PEP in London, only behind Kirkland and Quinn Emanuel). All of these are just features that I think you can mention and elaborate on in your analysis to make it more persuasive and to also fill the word count - but none needs to necessarily be featured; this is simply something you should choose depending on how your answer shapes up. You should think about exploring similarly very specific features and sub features of the firm's other USPs, be they related to strategy and growth, other practices, or trainee programme. To get the relevant information, I would highly recommend you read the firm's <a href="https://classes.thecorporatelawacademy.com/courses/1759818/lectures/56022911" target="_blank">TCLA Law Firm Profile here</a>, which I have recently updated for the 2025/2026 application cycle.</blockquote>

Verification: Our company is called, "The Corporate ___ Academy". What is the missing word here?

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