TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Alessio1642]

sorry for everyone that got a Freshfields PFO Were they for the direct TC or the SVS?

PFO today were mostly from direct TC

 

[EVjuji]

I have an AC coming up. I was wondering what the best way is to answer a question about a news story that I have read and explain how it relates to the firm.
Also, how do people go about finding a suitable news story?

@Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman Do you have any advice on this?

 

[kuuks_]

This sounds like a stupid question but I just want to clarify - we have until midnight tomorrow to complete the Paul Weiss test if we received the email on Thursday, right?😅

 

[Joey green]

Hi everyone! This is my first cycle. Question for the not experienced applicants: I still have not heard back from lots of firms I applied to, what does that mean? Am I on the rejected pile or on a reserve list perhaps?

 

[Andrei Radu]

I have a 30 min virtual interview with Cooley next week. This is my first interview with a corporate law firm so any advice would be appreciated!

Hi @corporatelore and huge congrats on your interview, it is a big achievement! I will link bellow some useful posts and resources for interview preparation, I hope they help ! I will also tag @Ram Sabaratnam - he will likely be able to give you more pinpointed advice as he is a future trainee at the firm.

• First, take a look at this TCLA post summarizing another candidate's interview experience with Cooley - this will be useful to get an idea as to what to expect;
• See my recent Complete Competency Interviews Guide - it describes in detail my step-by-step interview preparation approach (which led to a VS offers 4/4 times I implemented it) and summarizes my top tips.
• See my recent post on how to manage nerves and anxiety during the actual interview:

My top tip would be to focus on doing well and not on being perfect. Many people go to ACs thinking they need to blow away the partners and the recruiters to succeed, but I think this is the wrong attitude to have. First of all, while your achievements and skills might be impressive for this stage, it is quite unlikely you will manage to overly impress anyone no matter how hard you try - you will know a lot less about any given commercial law subject than lawyer in the firm. Secondly, this attitude will make you feel even more stressed than you would normally be and will therefore likely impact your performance. If you will be assessed for a total time of a few hours, it is impossible to be perfect in every moment. When you notice an imperfection in an answer, the right reaction is to acknowledge it but then to move past it and make the best of the rest. Instead, the overly perfectionistic candidates tend to stress about it a lot more than they should, and in attempting to fix the initial mistake they do a lot more harm to their progression chances. People with this mindset thus often end up creating negative feedback loops for themselves: they make a small error, then they begin overthinking it, which decreases their self-confidence, which impacts their next answer, which in turn further intensifies their anxiety; a series of events which can end up completely derailing one's performance.

To avoid this, instead of aiming to excel everywhere, I would simply aim to perform well - to do a good job on every task and score well on every relevant assessment criterion. This boils down to using your preparation to make decent substantive points and communicate them in a clear and confident manner. If you manage to do this you will have performed better than the majority of candidates and in most cases should be enough to get you progressed - it did for me 4/4 times. If you reframe your task in this way, I think you should feel a lot less anxious about it: while perhaps it is difficult to convince yourself that you will pull of an extraordinary performance, you should feel a lot more confident in being able to respond sensibly to tasks and to cover all your bases well.

A final piece of advice I have for calming down on the day and to avoid blanking out is to take your time:

1. Firstly, taking your time before starting your answer. Instead of just jumping into a response the instance the interviewer stops speaking (which is a very natural temptation) take 3-4 seconds to think about and structure your answer. This will significantly decrease the number of times you find yourself blanking out mid-answer or having difficulty finding the right way to end a sentence.
2. Secondly, if you have difficulty with finding sensible points for a question, it is perfectly acceptable to request some thinking time - just say 'May I please take a minute to consider my answer?'. In the unlikely case you do not find anything after that, explain that you are unsure what to say; but also walk the interviewer through your thought process of your best guess.
3. Thirdly, aim to speak more slowly. When you are anxious, your hear rate goes up and you naturally start speaking at a higher pace, which is problematic in that this simply means taking less time to think as you answer. This naturally reduces how articulate and confident you seem, especially since speaking quickly more often leads you to losing your chain of thought or expressing yourself in unclear language. As such, try to slow down. Also, use strategic 2-3 second pauses in your speech to add emphasis to points and to get valuable thinking time as you are moving between the different parts of your answer.

Finally, know that just by getting to the AC you have proven yourself to be one of the very best candidates out of a huge pool, which means you have all it takes to succeed! Best of luck !

 

[Jessica Booker]

This may be a silly question but with spring/summer vac schemes, how does giving out TC offers work? Would a firm allocate 50% to each so as not to disadvantage the later scheme or would they make all their TC offers after the final summer scheme (even for those who had a spring scheme)? Thank you!

It wouldn’t be as stringent/rigid as 50% - there would be some flexibility, especially as not everyone will accept their offers and some candidates ask for deferred offers too.

They may also operate a hold list rather than having a straight reject/offer process too.

Some firms also choose not to offer spring candidates until the summer scheme has finished, so really depends on the firm’s approach.

Firms can also offer earlier or later intakes dates if needed too.

 

[Joey green]

Hi everyone! I’m new to the forum… I still haven’t heard back from the following firms:

Morgan Lewis
Paul Weiss
Latham & Watkins
Gibson
Millbank
Jones Day
Davis Polk
Dechert
Debevoise
Ropes and grey
Morrison Foerster
Case and white (after video interview)
Freshfields

Does anyone have an inkling if this is basically the end of the road for me? Surely Davis Polk, for example, is not going to advance me to the next round after all these months. I’d love any and all kind of input.

Thanks

 

[sdp1205]

would appreciate any insight on the baker ac — got an invite today

 

[Apple]

Hi everyone! I’m new to the forum… I still haven’t heard back from the following firms:

Morgan Lewis
Paul Weiss
Latham & Watkins
Gibson
Millbank
Jones Day
Davis Polk
Dechert
Debevoise
Ropes and grey
Morrison Foerster
Case and white (after video interview)
Freshfields

Does anyone have an inkling if this is basically the end of the road for me? Surely Davis Polk, for example, is not going to advance me to the next round after all these months. I’d love any and all kind of input.

Thanks

I hope you didn't refer to them as Case and White in the VI lol.

 

[jojo23]

I'm feeling nervous with people asking for CRS VI tips, but they didn't apply to the same location as me (the ones I saw all said Guildford office), so I suppose no news is... well... not GOOD news, exactly, but at this point in time, probably not BAD news either.

CRS is my top firm (joint with Michelmores) so I'll definitely post the moment I hear anything (PFO or otherwise!). Good luck to you

Did you apply for London too? Maybe London had more applications

 

[manifestingthetc]

Have Morgan Lewis sent out their invites already?

 

[lawgal1908]

If I've been told to complete my PW test within 5 days and I received it on Friday, would I be correct in thinking that I have until Wednesday morning to do it?

 

[elena11]

With regards your second question, I have quoted some posts to help.

Thank you so much this is all so useful!

 

[FutureTraineeMaybe]

Hi @Amma Usman @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam
Hope you're doing well!
Would you have any advice on questions to ask partners after the interview that don't seem too generic?

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi everyone! This is my first cycle. Question for the not experienced applicants: I still have not heard back from lots of firms I applied to, what does that mean? Am I on the rejected pile or on a reserve list perhaps?

Hi @Joey green there really is no way to tell - your application might be in the rejected pile, it might be on a waitlist, it might have been progressed though you were not informed yet (if the firm sends decisions in batches, which most do) or the firm might have not even looked at it yet. Quite possibly all of the above are true for at least one of your applications.

Some firms take a lot longer to respond than others for various reasons and you should not necessarily read a rejection into that. For instance, last year it took Slaughter and May two months to reply to me, but I ended up being progressed to an interview and then getting a VS offer. The traditional wisdom for applications is that no news is good news, so try not to worry too much !

 

[Jessica Booker]

If I've been told to complete my PW test within 5 days and I received it on Friday, would I be correct in thinking that I have until Wednesday morning to do it?

Apparently if you look on All Hires it gives you clarity of your deadline.

 

[Joey green]

Hi everyone! I’m new to the forum… I still haven’t heard back from the following firms:

Morgan Lewis
Paul Weiss
Latham & Watkins
Gibson
Millbank
Jones Day
Davis Polk
Dechert
Debevoise
Ropes and grey
Morrison Foerster
Case and white (after video interview)
Freshfields

Does anyone have an inkling if this is basically the end of the road for me? Surely Davis Polk, for example, is not going to advance me to the next round after all these months. I’d love any and all kind of input.

Thanks

Never mind; Watkins & Latham send me a PFO

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Amma Usman @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam
Hope you're doing well!
Would you have any advice on questions to ask partners after the interview that don't seem too generic?

Hi @FutureTraineeMaybe I hope you are doing great as well! My advice would be to have a list of pre-prepared questions to keep in mind, but to ideally find some interesting questions to ask connected to the discussion in the interview or specific profile of the partner. For this second category of questions, I have quoted a post bellow in which I analyzed the relevant considerations. For the first category, I will list bellow a few less generic questions I could think of:

• What is your firm's business strategy over the next few years, and how does the London office figure into that? Has this strategy changed in any way in the past few years?
• Which firms do you most often find yourself pitching against? Who do you consider to be your main competitors?
• What are the firm's selling points from a client's perspective?
• What factors are impacting the legal market the most at this time, and how is the firm planning to react to them?
• What is the firm's/London office's strategy for ... (partner's practice area/sector)?
• What is the deal/case/matter you have worked on that you have enjoyed the most and why was that?

I would say what is best to ask depends on (i) what your interests are; (ii) who is interviewing you; and (iii) what has previously been discussed in the interview:

1. Firstly, you want to ask something that you actually care about. Whoever is interviewing you likely has significant experience with the process and will therefore be able to see whether you are being genuine or just asking a question for the sake of it. Thus, when you think of a potential question, first ask yourself why do you think the answer might matter to you. In fact, I think it would be good if in the interview you mention the reason why you care about the question before you actually ask it - this will directly show the interview that you have put thought into it. An example of questions that you may choose to ask could be questions relating to your 'Why the firm' motivations. For instance, if a a strong reputation in one practice area, you may ask: how has the firm managed to build such a strong practice? what are plans for the future of the practice? are there any relevant challenges and opportunities in that practice's market, and how is the firm planning to respond to that? how can the firm's practice be differentiated from competitors with similar reputations? etc.
2. Secondly, you want to tailor your question to the audience as much as possible. Some questions may be more appropriate for an associate, some for a junior partner, and some for a senior partner. For instance, questions relating to junior culture and training experience are great for associates, questions around progression and the different tasks and responsibilities at different seniority levels in the firm would be great for a junior partner, while questions about the firm's strategy, client base, and market reputation when compared to competitors would be great for the more senior partners. Moreover, you may not want to ask a disputes partner about the firm's strategy to increase market share in PE, and you may want to avoid asking a transactional partner about details of the firm's newest competition litigation mandate. If possible, tailoring your questions around your interviewer's expertise is optimal.
3. Thirdly, you want for your questions to feel natural - you don't want to seem like you came in with a pre-prepared list which you were going to ask regardless of how the interview went. Of course, it is good to show that you have done your research and came prepared. However, you also want to make this section of the interview feel as conversational as possible, as for once you are playing the role of the person doing the asking. The more you can link your questions with what has been touched upon in the interview, the better. Some questions could just be follow-ups to the interviewer's answers to your pre-prepared questions. Some could be just about asking the interviewer to elaborate on some points they touched upon beforehand. However, take care to not be repetitive. Thus, only ask a question if you think it is likely there is a lot more that the interviewer could have to add to the previous discussion.

 

[Tintin06]

Holding myself accountable again (Latham rejection)

CC* ✅📝❌
HSF ✅📝❌
NRF ✅📝❌
Weil ✅❌
Akin ✅❌
Sidley ✅❌
Orrick ✅
Willkie ✅🎥❌
Cooley ✅❌
Latham ✅❌
Milbank ✅
Kirkland ✅
Dechert ✅❌
Skadden ✅❌
Goodwin ✅
Covington ✅❌
Linklaters* ✅📝❌
Paul, Weiss ✅
Slaughters* ✅❌
Freshfields* ✅📝❌
Fried Frank* ✅
Gibson Dunn ✅
Macfarlanes* ✅📝
White & Case ✅
Morgan Lewis ✅
Paul Hastings* ✅
Hogan Lovells* ✅
Cleary Gottlieb ✅❌
A&O Shearman ✅📝❌
Vinson & Elkins ✅
Arnold & Porter ✅
Baker McKenzie ✅📝❌
King & Spalding* ✅
Winston & Strawn ✅
Morrison Foerster ✅
Sullivan & Cromwell ✅❌

Key: ✅ = application submitted; 📝 = test received; 🎥 = video interview; ❌ = rejection.

*Training Contract applications

TC apps left to do: Stephenson Harwood; Sullivan & Cromwell, possibly White & Case.

Expecting only rejections at this point.

 

[lawyerletsgo]

anyone applied for shoosmiths discover programme? what is the test like and is it automatic?