TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Jessica Booker]

Hi all

I’m in the very fortunate position of having secured my first vacation scheme at a dream firm which I’m so excited about.

A bit of background to me, I’m a career changer having spent the last few years working at a UK finance company in a variety of roles.

Initially my plan was to take two weeks of annual leave for the vacation and not say anything to my employer, however I dug out my contract yesterday and I found that it says:

18. Other Employment

You may not during Your employment without Your line manager's prior written consent, be in any way directly or indirectly engaged or concerned with any other business or employment. Such consent will not be unreasonably refused.

Now I guess I’m faced with a dilemma. I’ve never mentioned anything to my current employer about me wanting to make a career change and transition to law so this would be very much out of the blue. I also don’t want them to question my loyalty to the company and burn any bridges as I need to plan for a worst case scenario of not being successful at the vacation scheme. I don’t want to be in a position where I’m suddenly sidelined and then I find myself (in a worst case scenario) out of a job one day.

This is why I was initially not going to say anything and just take annual leave. I’d love any advice on what the best thing to do here is. I’m afraid that if I don’t say anything and then my company finds out e.g. through a LinkedIn tag/photo or some other means. Is this realistic? Would they have any way of actually finding out?

A part of me is thinking is it worth the risk? Would the law firm look at me differently if they knew I had misled my company by withholding this information? I’m really stuck at the moment and I would appreciate any advice, especially if you’ve been in a similar position to me. @Jessica Booker

Thanks!

This is a pretty common/standard terms in any employment contract for full time roles, especially in regulated industries or the public sector.

Enough people breach their employment contract by undertaking various forms of employment on top of their job that stipulates this type of term.

How seriously your original employer will consider it a breach of contract is going to depend on how much it conflicts with or impacts your job. There can also be some issues of honesty and ethics if you have not been truthful about the situation.

However, many vacation scheme students manage to keep it quiet and no one finds out. When they do, they often have to think about what they say to various people - not just in their current job but also the people they will interact with during their vacation scheme.

Being tagged on LinkedIn or having your photo on a “welcome our vacation scheme students” post is a possibility - so you have to factor that risk in. How connected your job/employer is to your vacation scheme firm means that risk is going to be varied from person to person.

You’ll also have to factor in conflict checks too. It’s not impossible for a conflicts check to flag up something that would potentially need to be flagged back to your employer or that the firm would say you would need to flag to your employer. But again the chances of this highly depend on what your job is and who you are employed by.

But ultimately you are going to breach of your employment contract and you have to consider that doing so could lead to your job ending. You have to calculate your risks and your risk tolerance to work out what to do.

 

[anonymouscatboy]

Does anyone know the preferred percentage for the Watson Glaser test at Freshfields?

 

[Babablacksheep]

why is hogan lovells not responding after WG

 

[applicationzzzzz]

Has anyone heard anything from Travers Smith for Summer VS?

 

[Amma Usman]

Can someone provide a guide to private credit?

@Jaysen has made a post on this in the past which I’ve linked here - https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/ams/what-i-found-out-about-private-credit.500/

 

[User5678]

Not sure if anyone has applied but has anyone done the VWV video interview?

I have applied but not given the vi yet, will do it by tomorrow. On that note, if anyone has any tips or advise please please reply to the thread or pm me. Many thanks

 

[pepsicola96]

any updates from baker mckenzie? completed my VI on the 27th, and the email said to hear back within 2 weeks.

expecting a PFO but would still like confirmation lol

 

[elsx]

Hi,
I am planning to do the Fladgate VI tomorrow and was wondering if anyone would be willing to share (I would be very grateful!) which type of question it was (motivation/competency/commercial). It's only one question so it's a bit of a hit or miss and I don't usually have great results with VI...

 

[ria_s01]

Random but has anyone done a VI with VWV. Not sure if anyone in the thread has applied to them but I have no idea what the format will be

4 questions, you get 2 minutes to prepare for each and get 2 recording takes

 

[thelawstudent]

anyone know how many NRF advance through from VI's with grad rec to AC's?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Would it be ok to send a LinkedIn message to a trainee I've met for tips for their firm's VI?

Yes - definitely not an issue to do this, just don’t take it personally if they don’t respond or feel like they can’t help. Sometimes people may not have the time or energy to advise people, but there is absolutely not issue in asking just in case they can.

 

[OliverTwist]

Anyone found anything on the Morgan Lewis telephone interview? Currently spiralling trying to prep

I did it last cycle, feel free to drop me a line!

 

[cjwx]

What's a holding email?

An email saying they are still looking at applications and they are not getting back to the Direct TC applicants till later in the month. The holding email from CRS was for the direct TC applicants incase anyone was worried.

 

[desperateTCseeker1998]

I am going to ask possibly the stupidest question to ever be posted here: what pronouns should you use when talking about a law firm? It feels natural to me to say they/their (I guess because I think of a firm as a collection of people?) but articles always seem to say it/its - also does it even matter as long as I'm consistent?

 

[desperateTCseeker1998]

I did it last cycle, feel free to drop me a line!

You are a legend, have dropped you a message

 

[aa1]

Hi,
I am planning to do the Fladgate VI tomorrow and was wondering if anyone would be willing to share (I would be very grateful!) which type of question it was (motivation/competency/commercial). It's only one question so it's a bit of a hit or miss and I don't usually have great results with VI...

Planning to do it soon also so can't help re type of question but would prep a mix of comptency / what can you bring to the role type questions and why fladgate / area that we specialise in etc. Good luck!!!

 

[Broadwater]

Can someone provide a guide to private credit?

Legal Lingo: What is “Private Credit”? | Insights | Ropes & Gray LLP

www.ropesgray.com

 

[lawyeringitout]

Yes - definitely not an issue to do this, just don’t take it personally if they don’t respond or feel like they can’t help. Sometimes people may not have the time or energy to advise people, but there is absolutely not issue in asking just in case they can.

would it not come across as negative to ask for like content insights into the firm's application process ? they might refer it to grad rec for example?

 

[rajivmansigani]

Hi,
I am planning to do the Fladgate VI tomorrow and was wondering if anyone would be willing to share (I would be very grateful!) which type of question it was (motivation/competency/commercial). It's only one question so it's a bit of a hit or miss and I don't usually have great results with VI...

Hi @elsx, I won't be doing it until Wednesday and would be eternally grateful if you could share what the question is ahead of time. Thank you in advance!

 

[Miss Chocolate]

An email saying they are still looking at applications and they are not getting back to the Direct TC applicants till later in the month. The holding email from CRS was for the direct TC applicants incase anyone was worried.

thank you so much!! was getting a bit worried there because haven't heard back haha