2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion

[Alisha S]

London

Oh wait, its only London isn't it? Getting my branches all muddled up 😅

 

[CMB]

Hi CMB! I believe that they fund them both and offer a maintenance grant.

Amaze, thank you!

 

[CF]

Well done everyone! Would anyone have advice for Willkie's analytical exercise pls?

Hi Viviane, as this year is Willkie's first cycle recruiting trainees, I don't think anyone will have any specific advice, apart from the information in the email. Hopefully we are given more instructions soon!

 

[Daniel Boden]

Out of interest, what stage of the application cycle do you think will be affected by this? Will firms proportionally increase the amount of applicants they invite to, say, VIs and ACs to reflect the number of applications, or do you think it will be harder to get through to these stages this year?

I'd imagine firms will keep the number of VIs and ACs the same because ultimately they're still going to be recruiting the same number of trainees so it won't make sense to interview any more people than they otherwise would so I if I was to guess, I'd say that unfortunately more people will be rejected at the application stage sadly

 

[Daniel Boden]

Yeah, it isn't a surprise. Just isn't what you want to hear when you're anxiously waiting to hear back...

No ofc and I really feel for all you guys - please try and keep your head up and please feel free to reach out if you want to vent/talk about anything. I'm very happy to listen and see if I can help in any way

 

[Daniel Boden]

Fantastic, well done!

Back in the day, in my Kirkland AC, the interviewer told me that she cried every night for the first few months at the firm. She then asked me how I'd cope 😀

It's probably changed now but we also had to pick a person/fictional character and justify why they were best equipped to run a company (to the rest of the group).

Can confirm that the fictional character part of it still exists... in my AC it was decided by majority that Kim Kardashian defeated MLK... not sure GradRec were thrilled with that choice but each to their own I guess 😂

 

[Owl Nights]

Thanks!! Did they let you know by email or phone?

That depends on the outcome of your AC. I got my outcome by phone as I got the vac scheme!

 

[MJ90]

Cant imagine it’s much worse than the other top firms.

You have no life but you get rewarded with a salary that puts you near the top 1% of earners in the UK.

On this topic, you may have said somewhere before, but @Jaysen why did you leave Weil once becoming a trainee? Was it the firm, or trainee life not meeting your expectations? I'm sure many are keen to know, but of course it depends if you feel comfortable disclosing this.

 

[SouffléSouffléSoufflé]

Hey guys, congrats on the test invite! What dates did you both apply if you don't mind me asking

Thank you! I applied the 4th November.

 

[Jaysen]

On this topic, you may have said somewhere before, but @Jaysen why did you leave Weil once becoming a trainee? Was it the firm, or trainee life not meeting your expectations? I'm sure many are keen to know, but of course it depends if you feel comfortable disclosing this.

While I was there, I actually thought Weil was a great firm. You do work really hard, but I think it suits people who find the environment to be exciting.

That said, I was quite unhappy. I think that's largely down to me pursuing a career that I knew deep down wasn't really what I wanted to. I didn't mind working until the early hours of the morning at the time, but it became a recurring theme that I wished I was putting those hours into something that was more personally fulfilling to me.

Looking back on it, I went into commercial law because I was primarily driven by money and prestige. I did find the actual work of a commercial lawyer to be quite interesting, but I don't think it was enough for me. When you're working so many hours, it's a huge part of your life, and so I really struggled with the idea that I'd be spending so much of my time doing something that didn't give me substantial satisfaction.

The sensible thing would have been to finish my training contract and that's generally what I'd advise others to do. For me though, once it crossed my mind that I could actually leave if I was unhappy, that's what I did.

More than happy to answer questions like these. It's really hard to make a decision on what you want to do for X years of your life at such an early age, so I think it's very important that we discuss the good stuff and the not-so-good stuff on here. I think my biggest issue going in was that I tried putting any doubts about a career in commercial law to one side, because I was so focused on being 'successful'.

 

[SouffléSouffléSoufflé]

Feeling like I’m either gonna get loads of rejection all at once and that’ll be the end of me or get positive news and won’t have enough time to prepare for all of them properly. Getting super anxious with the wait but just reminding myself no news is ok news, for now 🤕

Try and take some time out for yourself Honestly, this process can be really emotionally draining sometimes. Sending positive vibes your way!

 

[tk166]

While I was there, I actually thought Weil was a great firm. You do work really hard, but I think it suits people who find the environment to be exciting.

That said, I was quite unhappy. I think that's largely down to me pursuing a career that I knew deep down wasn't really what I wanted to. I didn't mind working until the early hours of the morning at the time, but it became a recurring theme that I wished I was putting those hours into something that was more personally fulfilling to me.

Looking back on it, I went into commercial law because I was primarily driven by money and prestige. I did find the actual work of a commercial lawyer to be quite interesting, but I don't think it was enough for me. When you're working so many hours, it's a huge part of your life, and so I really struggled with the idea that I'd be spending so much of my time doing something that didn't give me substantial satisfaction.

The sensible thing would have been to finish my training contract and that's generally what I'd advise others to do. For me though, once it crossed my mind that I could actually leave if I was unhappy, that's what I did.

More than happy to answer questions like these. It's really hard to make a decision on what you want to do for X years of your life at such an early age, so I think it's very important that we discuss the good stuff and the not-so-good stuff on here. I think my biggest issue going in was that I tried putting any doubts about a career in commercial law to one side, because I was so focused on being 'successful'.

If you don’t mind me asking, what is the process of leaving a training contract? Do you have to pay back GDL/LPC fees?

 

[Jaysen]

If you don’t mind me asking, what is the process of leaving a training contract? Do you have to pay back GDL/LPC fees?

Apologies, I can't really go into detail on this one, but I think it's very firm-dependent. In my case, being unhappy (because of the reasons mentioned above) in a career that I'd worked so hard towards took quite a big toll on my mental health. I think the firm went above and beyond to make the process as painless as possible and I didn't have to pay back the fees.

 

[Holly]

While I was there, I actually thought Weil was a great firm. You do work really hard, but I think it suits people who find the environment to be exciting.

That said, I was quite unhappy. I think that's largely down to me pursuing a career that I knew deep down wasn't really what I wanted to. I didn't mind working until the early hours of the morning at the time, but it became a recurring theme that I wished I was putting those hours into something that was more personally fulfilling to me.

Looking back on it, I went into commercial law because I was primarily driven by money and prestige. I did find the actual work of a commercial lawyer to be quite interesting, but I don't think it was enough for me. When you're working so many hours, it's a huge part of your life, and so I really struggled with the idea that I'd be spending so much of my time doing something that didn't give me substantial satisfaction.

The sensible thing would have been to finish my training contract and that's generally what I'd advise others to do. For me though, once it crossed my mind that I could actually leave if I was unhappy, that's what I did.

More than happy to answer questions like these. It's really hard to make a decision on what you want to do for X years of your life at such an early age, so I think it's very important that we discuss the good stuff and the not-so-good stuff on here. I think my biggest issue going in was that I tried putting any doubts about a career in commercial law to one side, because I was so focused on being 'successful'.

Thank you for being so open and transparent about this!!

 

[SouffléSouffléSoufflé]

Do people think there is any point applying to Forsters for their VS this year? I applied for direct TC last year, and they've still got recruitment on hold, but in their last email they said we're welcome to apply for the VS this year anyway. The application form is identical to the one I did last time so not sure if there's really any point...

I applied for a TC with Forsters for the last cycle but have reapplied for a vacation scheme this year. I wrote up a new application form, of course some bits were a bit similar, but I didn't want to have any regrets about not applying for the vacation scheme. Its a personal choice though

 

[ddlt]

Does anyone know how much notice Reed Smith would give us if we got through to AC? Is it at least 2 weeks? 1 week?

 

[axd]

Has anyone actually been rejected from PM yet or have people only heard about getting through to the test?

 

[H48]

The Pinsents GMA test was honestly the worst I've ever done, I'm devastated and crossing the AC date out of my calendar now because there's no way I've met the threshold😭

I feel the exact same, don't worry. The only hope I have is that everyone else I know who has a Pinsents traineeship also found the quiz horrific and guessed most of it yet somehow passed it. I think it's all about lucky guessing! (Which is very unfair imo but what can you do)

 

[Els]

Does anyone know how much notice Reed Smith would give us if we got through to AC? Is it at least 2 weeks? 1 week?

So for the spring VS - we were told that if we were successful, the vacation scheme interviews would take place w/c 15th Feb & 22nd Feb... so I think that’s prelim notice but they could email confirming your AC a week or few days before?

 

[J32]

Can confirm that the fictional character part of it still exists... in my AC it was decided by majority that Kim Kardashian defeated MLK... not sure GradRec were thrilled with that choice but each to their own I guess 😂

Great to see so many Kirkland ACs!! Best of luck to everyone Safe to say sanity prevailed in my AC, the only unique character was Henry VIII