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Aspiring Lawyers - Applications & General Advice
Applications Discussion
TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26
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<blockquote data-quote="Andrei Radu" data-source="post: 224942" data-attributes="member: 36777"><p>Hi [USER=30998]@flower1[/USER] I would recommend the following resources here:</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Chambers practice descriptions/practitioner rankings</strong>: while the general Chambers ranking will not tell you anything about its subareas of particular expertise, if you click on the firm's practice profile, sometimes that provides you with really valuable information. Furthermore, you should look to see if the firm has ranked practitioners, as those will generally be the leaders of the firm's practice and some of the best practitioners in the field; if it does, they will have an individual profile and description, where their specialties will be described; you can then infer a firm's strengths in various subareas from the reputation of their leading partners.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Legal 500 rankings and description:</strong> while perhaps not quite and reputable as Chambers, one big advantage of Legal 500 is their more granular approach to dividing practices and sectors, which can give you a lot more information in regards to subareas of particular strength. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Firm's website and LinkedIn:</strong> Here, you should have a look at the firm's listed expertise in terms of big mandates they worked on recently, and see if there are any discernible recurring common features (such as deals in a particular sector, or of a particular geographic spread, etc). You can then infer strength in that subarea. You can also discern who the firm's biggest clients may be in this way. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>TCLA's Law Firm Profiles</strong>: in most of our profiles, these are exactly the distinguishing features we aim to identify, so have a look of our analysis of the firm's practice (as even if a given sub-speciality is not advertised in the big USP title in the profile, it may still be explained in the main text). </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>The broader legal press (The Global Legal Post, The Lawyer, Law.com, etc):</strong> to the extent you can use these resources (the first I recommended is free, the others require individual/organisational subscriptions), look up the firm you are interested in using their search bar and skim through the articles you find. At times, you will find great articles analysing a firm's practice and contrasting it to the practices of its rivals. </li> </ol><p>To give a more concrete example, and also address your question about Clifford Chance: the firm has one of the best generalist M&A practices in the country, arguably only rivalled by the rest of the MC firms. To individualise it compared to the rest of the MC, you might mention how <strong>CC arguably has the best expertise in corporate M&A in the banking & financial services sector </strong>(owing to its banking & finance focused roots and its core clientele in this area) and how it also <strong>arguably has the leading London PE practice of a UK-based law firm</strong>, owing again partly to its banking roots (as the firm can offer market leading leveraged finance and DCM expertise for a seamless service) and its lateral hiring policy (having recently hired some of the best partners in the field, including the ex head of M&A at Freshfields).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Andrei Radu, post: 224942, member: 36777"] Hi [USER=30998]@flower1[/USER] I would recommend the following resources here: [LIST=1] [*][B]Chambers practice descriptions/practitioner rankings[/B]: while the general Chambers ranking will not tell you anything about its subareas of particular expertise, if you click on the firm's practice profile, sometimes that provides you with really valuable information. Furthermore, you should look to see if the firm has ranked practitioners, as those will generally be the leaders of the firm's practice and some of the best practitioners in the field; if it does, they will have an individual profile and description, where their specialties will be described; you can then infer a firm's strengths in various subareas from the reputation of their leading partners. [*][B]Legal 500 rankings and description:[/B] while perhaps not quite and reputable as Chambers, one big advantage of Legal 500 is their more granular approach to dividing practices and sectors, which can give you a lot more information in regards to subareas of particular strength. [*][B]Firm's website and LinkedIn:[/B] Here, you should have a look at the firm's listed expertise in terms of big mandates they worked on recently, and see if there are any discernible recurring common features (such as deals in a particular sector, or of a particular geographic spread, etc). You can then infer strength in that subarea. You can also discern who the firm's biggest clients may be in this way. [*][B]TCLA's Law Firm Profiles[/B]: in most of our profiles, these are exactly the distinguishing features we aim to identify, so have a look of our analysis of the firm's practice (as even if a given sub-speciality is not advertised in the big USP title in the profile, it may still be explained in the main text). [*][B]The broader legal press (The Global Legal Post, The Lawyer, Law.com, etc):[/B] to the extent you can use these resources (the first I recommended is free, the others require individual/organisational subscriptions), look up the firm you are interested in using their search bar and skim through the articles you find. At times, you will find great articles analysing a firm's practice and contrasting it to the practices of its rivals. [/LIST] To give a more concrete example, and also address your question about Clifford Chance: the firm has one of the best generalist M&A practices in the country, arguably only rivalled by the rest of the MC firms. To individualise it compared to the rest of the MC, you might mention how [B]CC arguably has the best expertise in corporate M&A in the banking & financial services sector [/B](owing to its banking & finance focused roots and its core clientele in this area) and how it also [B]arguably has the leading London PE practice of a UK-based law firm[/B], owing again partly to its banking roots (as the firm can offer market leading leveraged finance and DCM expertise for a seamless service) and its lateral hiring policy (having recently hired some of the best partners in the field, including the ex head of M&A at Freshfields). [/QUOTE]
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26
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