a confused law student's TC journey :)

[confusedlawstudent]

I am a final year law student who has, perhaps rather surprisingly, only just decided they want to be a commercial solicitor. Because of that, I am trying to do as much as I can to secure a TC for when I graduate.

In the past month:

• I have applied for the Taylor Wessing Summer Vacation Scheme and the Bristows IP Workshop.
• I have written 2 articles for my university's student newspaper about commercial topics.
• I have signed up for a Slaughter & May Commercial Awareness Workshop, and the Herbert Smith Freehills Digital Law Forage.

Apart from this, I am praying every night for a TC lol.

My goals for the rest of the year are:

• Apply for at least three more VSs
• Learn about a new commercial news story every two weeks, and, if I find it particularly interesting, to write an article about it for my student newspaper
• Do the TCLA M&A course

I started this thread to track my progress and hold myself accountable!

 

[confusedlawstudent]

Got an interview for the Bristows IP Workshop!

 

[Mohamed Ashour]

That's awesome, glad to see a fellow aspiring solicitor making progress!
I'm actually applying to Taylor Wessing this weekend got any advice for me?

Hope your prayers are answered!

 

[confusedlawstudent]

That's awesome, glad to see a fellow aspiring solicitor making progress!
I'm actually applying to Taylor Wessing this weekend got any advice for me?

Hope your prayers are answered!

Oh good luck with your TW application! I don't really have any advice since that was literally my first application ever so it is probably not any good haha

Wishing you the best in your journey!

 

[Jaysen]

I am a final year law student who has, perhaps rather surprisingly, only just decided they want to be a commercial solicitor. Because of that, I am trying to do as much as I can to secure a TC for when I graduate.

In the past month:

• I have applied for the Taylor Wessing Summer Vacation Scheme and the Bristows IP Workshop.
• I have written 2 articles for my university's student newspaper about commercial topics.
• I have signed up for a Slaughter & May Commercial Awareness Workshop, and the Herbert Smith Freehills Digital Law Forage.

Apart from this, I am praying every night for a TC lol.

My goals for the rest of the year are:

• Apply for at least three more VSs
• Learn about a new commercial news story every two weeks, and, if I find it particularly interesting, to write an article about it for my student newspaper
• Do the TCLA M&A bootcamp

I started this thread to track my progress and hold myself accountable!

Hey @confusedlawstudent,

I also decided in my final year, so you are not too late! This plan sounds sensible. Please do let us know how you get on and congratulations on the interview.

 

[confusedlawstudent]

Having just attended a commercial awareness workshop, I realise I need to up my game a bit 🙃

So now my plan is:
- Listen to a commercial awareness podcast every morning
- Write my own weekly round up of a few stories I found interesting
- Discuss them with friends and family (or my cats if no one else will listen)

 

[AvniD]

Having just attended a commercial awareness workshop, I realise I need to up my game a bit 🙃

So now my plan is:
- Listen to a commercial awareness podcast every morning
- Write my own weekly round up of a few stories I found interesting
- Discuss them with friends and family (or my cats if no one else will listen)

Sounds like a great plan! Please feel free to discuss your news stories here as well- we'd love to see how you've chosen to analyse business news as part of your commercial awareness!

My top tip for building commercial awareness is to work at it consistently, even if it is only for 15 minutes a day, and ensure that you focus on what the business news is about + what the impact of the news on the relevant industry is/will be + what the impact of the news on law firms is/will be. Even if you do this only for one news story a day, it will help you commercial awareness better than spending hours listening to/reading the news as you will have taught yourself how to think like a lawyer rather than simply absorbing news daily without any of your analysis being applied to it.

 

[confusedlawstudent]

Sounds like a great plan! Please feel free to discuss your news stories here as well- we'd love to see how you've chosen to analyse business news as part of your commercial awareness!

My top tip for building commercial awareness is to work at it consistently, even if it is only for 15 minutes a day, and ensure that you focus on what the business news is about + what the impact of the news on the relevant industry is/will be + what the impact of the news on law firms is/will be. Even if you do this only for one news story a day, it will help you commercial awareness better than spending hours listening to/reading the news as you will have taught yourself how to think like a lawyer rather than simply absorbing news daily without any of your analysis being applied to it.

That's such helpful advice, thank you so much!

 

[RANDOTRON]

That's such helpful advice, thank you so much!

Hi there! I'm happy to discuss commercial topics and your thoughts with you if you pop them in here and mention me.

 

[confusedlawstudent]

Accepted to the Bristows IP workshop

 

[NatashaS98]

Accepted to the Bristows IP workshop

Congratulations! 🎉

 

[Jaysen]

Accepted to the Bristows IP workshop

This is belated - but well done! Great to see this hard work paying off.

How are the rest of your applications going?

 

[confusedlawstudent]

This is belated - but well done! Great to see this hard work paying off.

How are the rest of your applications going?

Thank you! I've applied for the HSF and Allen & Overy Vacation Schemes. Failed the SJT for HSF so that was really annoying About to start the online assessment for the A&O application, but guarantee I will fail it. I am really bad at these sorts of things :/

 

[AvniD]

Thank you! I've applied for the HSF and Allen & Overy Vacation Schemes. Failed the SJT for HSF so that was really annoying About to start the online assessment for the A&O application, but guarantee I will fail it. I am really bad at these sorts of things :/

Hi @confusedlawstudent- I'm sorry you struggle with SJTs but am hoping you'll find them easier to grapple with once you check out some of these links I'm including below-

1. Avni's best tips for the WG
2. Links to SJT practice material
3. Prep tips by Alice
4. Grad rec perspective on acing SJTs

I struggled with SJTs a lot as well, and truly, the trick lies in lots of practice, understanding what exactly the test is examining and knowing what lawyers do on a day-to-day basis so you can answer from their perspective. I really hope this helps!

 

[confusedlawstudent]

Hi @confusedlawstudent- I'm sorry you struggle with SJTs but am hoping you'll find them easier to grapple with once you check out some of these links I'm including below-

1. Avni's best tips for the WG
2. Links to SJT practice material
3. Prep tips by Alice
4. Grad rec perspective on acing SJTs

I struggled with SJTs a lot as well, and truly, the trick lies in lots of practice, understanding what exactly the test is examining and knowing what lawyers do on a day-to-day basis so you can answer from their perspective. I really hope this helps!

Thank you! I will definitely check these out before I do the A&O assessment.

 

[confusedlawstudent]

Got through to the next stage of the Taylor Wessing application! It is a “Games Based Assessment” whatever that means 😂😬

 

[Maria d'Orey]

Hi @confusedlawstudent ,

Congratulations on your Bristows IP workshop offer and for passing through to the next stage of TW's application process! So happy to see that your hard work has been paying off! ⭐

I thought that it might be helpful to flag that "Games Based Assessments" are, in general, a different type of psychometric test. They're built to look like games but still test your intellectual abilities and, in some cases, your personality to see if you'd be a good fit for the firm.

I have never applied to TW so I wouldn't know how their assessment is, but I had to complete something similar when applying for my future firm, so I thought I'd share a few tips to prepare for them:

1. There is a "goal" for each one of these games - make sure to use the trial rounds (you are likely to be given the opportunity to complete a trial round before starting each game) to understand what this is. The goals of these games can be, for example, to see how good you are at recognising patterns, numerical reasoning, spatial awareness, etc.

2. These games are often timed and can be slightly stressful as they usually get harder as you progress. However, the most important thing is to keep going. Take a second to breathe if you need to, but it is really key to not stop halfway. Don't go into it thinking that you must get every single answer right - I personally think that playing until the end is a better strategy.

3. As some of these assessments also include games aimed at understanding if you'd fit in at the firm, make sure to note down the firm's values and reflect on what these entail before starting the test. This will allow you to consider what kind of behaviour the firm is looking for when completing your answers.

4. If you wish to practice, I would recommend checking out an app called "Peak". I used to use this app before my own assessment, as I personally find these games quite fun, but playing this a few minutes a day before my actual test really made me feel more comfortable during the real thing.

I hope these are helpful! Best of luck! 😊

 

[confusedlawstudent]

Hi @confusedlawstudent ,

Congratulations on your Bristows IP workshop offer and for passing through to the next stage of TW's application process! So happy to see that your hard work has been paying off! ⭐

I thought that it might be helpful to flag that "Games Based Assessments" are, in general, a different type of psychometric test. They're built to look like games but still test your intellectual abilities and, in some cases, your personality to see if you'd be a good fit for the firm.

I have never applied to TW so I wouldn't know how their assessment is, but I had to complete something similar when applying for my future firm, so I thought I'd share a few tips to prepare for them:

1. There is a "goal" for each one of these games - make sure to use the trial rounds (you are likely to be given the opportunity to complete a trial round before starting each game) to understand what this is. The goals of these games can be, for example, to see how good you are at recognising patterns, numerical reasoning, spatial awareness, etc.

2. These games are often timed and can be slightly stressful as they usually get harder as you progress. However, the most important thing is to keep going. Take a second to breathe if you need to, but it is really key to not stop halfway. Don't go into it thinking that you must get every single answer right - I personally think that playing until the end is a better strategy.

3. As some of these assessments also include games aimed at understanding if you'd fit in at the firm, make sure to note down the firm's values and reflect on what these entail before starting the test. This will allow you to consider what kind of behaviour the firm is looking for when completing your answers.

4. If you wish to practice, I would recommend checking out an app called "Peak". I used to use this app before my own assessment, as I personally find these games quite fun, but playing this a few minutes a day before my actual test really made me feel more comfortable during the real thing.

I hope these are helpful! Best of luck! 😊

Thank you so so much Maria! Such helpful advice! Feeling a lot better about the assessment now 🙏

 

[confusedlawstudent]

Hi @confusedlawstudent ,

Congratulations on your Bristows IP workshop offer and for passing through to the next stage of TW's application process! So happy to see that your hard work has been paying off! ⭐

I thought that it might be helpful to flag that "Games Based Assessments" are, in general, a different type of psychometric test. They're built to look like games but still test your intellectual abilities and, in some cases, your personality to see if you'd be a good fit for the firm.

I have never applied to TW so I wouldn't know how their assessment is, but I had to complete something similar when applying for my future firm, so I thought I'd share a few tips to prepare for them:

1. There is a "goal" for each one of these games - make sure to use the trial rounds (you are likely to be given the opportunity to complete a trial round before starting each game) to understand what this is. The goals of these games can be, for example, to see how good you are at recognising patterns, numerical reasoning, spatial awareness, etc.

2. These games are often timed and can be slightly stressful as they usually get harder as you progress. However, the most important thing is to keep going. Take a second to breathe if you need to, but it is really key to not stop halfway. Don't go into it thinking that you must get every single answer right - I personally think that playing until the end is a better strategy.

3. As some of these assessments also include games aimed at understanding if you'd fit in at the firm, make sure to note down the firm's values and reflect on what these entail before starting the test. This will allow you to consider what kind of behaviour the firm is looking for when completing your answers.

4. If you wish to practice, I would recommend checking out an app called "Peak". I used to use this app before my own assessment, as I personally find these games quite fun, but playing this a few minutes a day before my actual test really made me feel more comfortable during the real thing.

I hope these are helpful! Best of luck! 😊

Thanks again Maria for this advice! Was just wondering if you think I should do the TW assessment on a phone or laptop? Which is better?

 

[Maria d'Orey]

Hi @confusedlawstudent ! I'm really not sure as to how TW's assessment is, so I cannot say with 100% certainty. However, if they do not give you any recommendations (e.g. via email when you received the invitation to complete the test), I would say a laptop as I imagine that it is easier to focus and has a bigger screen!