2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion

[Lawstudent1997]

You may have seen this already but the questions here may assist with preparation:

Training Contract Interview Questions | 175 Practice Questions (2018)

We've produced these training contract interview questions to help you practice for interviews and assessment centres at law firms. Why? Well, we've arranged many mock interviews over the years and we see a substantial difference in performance after students have practiced real interview questions.

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

Thank you that’s super helpful!

 

[Lawstudent1997]

That is lots of time to prepare really - remember i is only an hour and most of it is going to be talking things you have already thought of or things that are intrisicnly linked back to your existing thoughts/knowledge.

Here are some posts that might be useful:

Conflicting date

Hi all, Just wondering if someone who has been in a similar situation help me. I previously booked an assessment centre slot with Walker Morris. But only found out today that Travers Smith also wish to interview me. However, it is at the same date and time as my assessment centre. has anyone...

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

Ask 3 future trainees (Magic & Silver Circle, International Elite) ANYTHING! *New TCLA Team Members*

Hey, thanks for reaching out and glad you've enjoyed the articles! I've personally not had any experience with Macfarlanes, haven't applied to them before, so I don't know a phenomenal amount about them in terms of really specific information. Suffice to say, based on my knowledge, you're...

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

(2) Travers Smith Interview 2019 - 2020 | The Corporate Law Academy Forum
(2) Travers Smith Interview | The Corporate Law Academy Forum
(2) Travers Smith Interview Experience | The Corporate Law Academy Forum
(2) Travers Smith Interview | The Corporate Law Academy Forum

Yeah true its more because I have a seminar Monday so the thought of preparing for an interview on Tuesday too was a bit of a shock! But thank you for these I’ll check them out now🙂

 

[S87]

Thank you! I got an email but I emailed on Tuesday just to enquire about my application because I hadn’t got the standard email saying they were still reviewing and someone from grad recruitment replied to that email offering me an interview- I guess always worth emailing to ask about your application progress?

now the entire forum is going spam them

 

[Anon08]

I saw a comment earlier regarding a similar topic and was wondering if I could ask for a little guidance?

I have my first AC coming up however I’m struggling a bit in terms of how to prepare. I’ve got two very recent deals of the firm that I’m interested in, I’m just a bit unsure of what areas to read up on in regards for commercial awareness. How much does everyone prepare usually for an AC?

It's hard to quantify 'how much' people prepare for an AC, and I think candidates should prepare until they feel reasonably confident in what they say/being pushed further on what they will say.

Having said that, I answered a similar question here and here (providing a detailed list of commercial/technical knowledge) - take a look and feel free to ask any follow-ups!

 

[Poppyx12]

Finally a PFO from penningtons !! Probably a general email sent to a lot of people but it says to apply to the TC instead

 

[Sara Costa]

Finally a PFO from penningtons !! Probably a general email sent to a lot of people but it says to apply to the TC instead

i got it too

does anyone know if you apply for a TC after being rejected for a VS, can you use the same answers? or a variation of the same answers?

 

[Poppyx12]

i got it too

does anyone know if you apply for a TC after being rejected for a VS, can you use the same answers? or a variation of the same answers?

I started a new application with them just out of interest and it has pre filled the cover letter and the extra curricular questions. There are a new set of questions though.

 

[Dheepa]

@Naomi U what do you mean by three areas of commercial awareness - like 3 news stories (e.g Tesla purchasing $1.5B of bitcoin)

I have an NRF AC coming up which includes an interview with 2 partners and very unsure on how to prep for the commercial awarness questions. It's making me very anxious. Can you please advise me on this.

I saw a comment earlier regarding a similar topic and was wondering if I could ask for a little guidance?

I have my first AC coming up however I’m struggling a bit in terms of how to prepare. I’ve got two very recent deals of the firm that I’m interested in, I’m just a bit unsure of what areas to read up on in regards for commercial awareness. How much does everyone prepare usually for an AC?

Just echoing everything that's already been said on this, the best way to prepare for CA questions is to pick an area (i.e. an industry or two) that you're interested in and read about the key developments in those areas. Doing research into specific deals only helps if those deals form part of the context of the story/development you want to discuss. I'd also recommend preparing to answer questions around some of the more general "hot topics" that come up in the news (listening to weekly news podcasts really helps for this). I think for this cycle especially these probably are a) ESG investing and other issues b) SPACs.

 

[Lillith]

:

Travers interview!!😮 Over the moon but slightly nervous only have until Tuesday to prepare!
Does anyone have any advice they could give? Is an hour long partner interview with no specific tests/prep

Well done! I had mine last week so feel free to message me if you have any questions about it

 

[user254]

Just got an email from WBD that there has been a 75% increase in apps this year and they hope to get back to us by the end of march!

 

[Gracey94]

Just got an email from WBD that there has been a 75% increase in apps this year and they hope to get back to us by the end of march!

Same! 75%??!! What is going on?

 

[user254]

Same! 75%??!! What is going on?

All my hopes just flew out the window haha 😭

 

[Gracey94]

All my hopes just flew out the window haha 😭

I’m genuinely curious as to what is causing the spike in applicants

 

[dosblancos7]

Sometimes you get pushed and challenged more when you are doing well in assessments. The interviewers want to see how far your depth on thinking can go, and that can sometimes make it feel like you are not doing well enough, because you ultimately will more likely fumble or struggle to answer the trickier questions. I always say to people that if you feel you haven’t been pushed in an interview that is potentially a bad sign (although not always!).

Congrats on the offer! 🥳🥳🥳

Thank you very much! Special thanks to you too-your work and responses here has been super helpful and reassuring 😀😀

 

[ZaraB]

Also a PFO from Penningtons although it was a fairly nice PFO

 

[Legalmel_99]

I just received a VS offer for Mills & Reeve!

I actually cannot believe it - this time last year I was so dejected by the application process after failing to make it past the application stage of the vast majority of my applications. This year I'm sitting on three VS offers from my top three firms. I'm now in the (enviable) position of having to choose which to do and which to turn down...

This gives me hope ❤️ Massive congratulations!!! It’s amazing to see the turn around and the fact you now get to decide which firms to reject is a big decision

 

[Staples]

Finally a PFO from penningtons !! Probably a general email sent to a lot of people but it says to apply to the TC instead

Same!

 

[sam970]

I’m genuinely curious as to what is causing the spike in applicants

I think the introduction of remote working has meant people from all over the country are applying. That’s my guess anyway, I know at the firm I’m at they opened locational roles to the entire country with the provision the candidates could work remotely. Lockdown perks pretty much 😂

 

[Jaysen]

Hey everyone,

We're currently preparing for the last workshop of TCLA's M&A bootcamp and we're tailoring this one to the litigation issues surrounding an M&A deal.

We have a fair idea of how litigation has come up in the past, but we'd find it really useful to know more about how it may have come elsewhere in interviews (either in a case study or otherwise). This'll then help us to structure our session in the most useful way. Even if it's only slightly related to litigation, we'd still love to hear it!

If you can help, here's a quick Google Form which you can fill out: https://forms.gle/u6B9FW99V7FRzyw37. We'd really appreciate it.

Thank you!

Jaysen

 

[deckoking123]

(Random q) How realistic is it to do the GDL full time and while working full time?