My TC journey!

[yasmars]

Huge congratulations for progressing with Willkie, it is a huge achievement! Willkie's applications are incredibly competitive, and by reaching this stage it already means you were selected as likely having done better than 95% of other candidates. This should provide you with the confirmation that you have everything you need to succeed and with the confidence to give your best during the actual assessment. Keep at it, you are doing great !

Thank you @Andrei Radu, this is very encouraging! Do you have any tips for the written exercises in general?

 

[Andrei Radu]

Thank you @Andrei Radu, this is very encouraging! Do you have any tips for the written exercises in general?

While I think different strategies apply for different formats, there are a couple of pointers which I would say are generally applicable for all or almost all types of written exercises:

1. Time-management: You might have heard this so many times already, but I have to stress that most written exercises are incredibly time-pressured. I remember I was always told this, but it is very easy to forget during the actual assessment. In the first 20-30 minutes I have always to an extent or another allowed myself to be tempted by thoughts such as 'Oh it won't take me that long to read/write that part, I will just speed up a bit later' and I would thus justify being less efficient than I could have been in the first half of the exercise. As I would be entering the second half and nearing the end, I would invariably then find that it was very difficult to increase my working pace to make up for lost ground and my work product would suffer as a result. Thus, my advice is to be on your guard against that and to try to spread out your efforts evenly across the allocated time. Take one or two minutes in the beginning to make a plan and divide your workload, allocate portions of your time to completing the different parts, and try to make yourself to stick to those time limits.
2. Efficient reading: In a substantial number of written exercises you will be given a large number of documents containing overlapping information and also big sections of text containing technical details which are not of great importance to your task. Once again, there is a temptation to ignore the time constraints and to try to read everything closely to ensure you are not missing anything. However, in my experience the main task of the assessment very rarely or never hinges on easy to miss details. As such, my advice for you is to try to quickly read and skim through the documents, and only once you have a big picture go back and look at the relevant sections in more detail.
3. Analysis: Almost all written assessments have an analysis part, in which you are asked to weigh different considerations and make a judgement. I would advise you not to focus too much on trying to "blow away" the reader with the depth of your analysis or creativity of your arguments. Given the time constraints and nature of the tasks, there is rarely scope for that and if you focus to much on this kind of goal you might miss explaining much simpler points that should have been included in your analysis. As such, concentrate on considering the position of all relevant stakeholders (if you have issues doing this, drawing out diagrams can be very useful), having all the main pros and cons properly laid out, and weighing which set of considerations should you give priority to. If you can further support your opinion by making any links to current news stories or commercial trends, try to do so.
4. Clarity and structure: Finally, ensuring your answer is very easy to follow is a point whose importance I cannot overstate. A essential skill for a prospective trainee is an ability for clear communication, both verbally and in writing, and this type of assessment is how they test the later. As such, you should focus on having a simple writing style and structure as much as you focus on the substantive points you are trying to communicate.

 

[yasmars]

@Jessica Booker which written exercise would be best for Willkie?

 

[Jessica Booker]

@Jessica Booker which written exercise would be best for Willkie?

We would recommend either the legal and commercial exercise or the finance exercise.

Written Exercise (Legal & Commercial Analysis) | The Corporate Law Academy

Simply order below. 1. Select your preferred time slot the next working day in your order notes. 2. You will be sent the written exercise, together with the instructions, at the beginning of the time slot. 3. You will email your response in a Word document. 4. We will provide you with...

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

Written Exercise (Finance) | The Corporate Law Academy

Simply order below. 1. Select your preferred time slot the next working day in your order notes. 2. You will be sent the written exercise, together with the instructions, at the beginning of the time slot. 3. You will email your response in a Word document. 4. We will provide you with...

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

As the team’s last day is Friday, this would need to be booked and completed by Thursday 19 December for us to get the feedback back to you before the Christmas break.

 

[SoonToBeTrainee]

@Jessica Booker Does TCLA have a bank of written exercises per each category, or only one practice test?

As Willkie’s written exercise is end of Jan / Feb, I’d like to wait until the beginning of January to book a practice written test.

If you have multiple tests though, I’d probably book one now and then another in the beginning of Jan, to see my progress. If that makes sense?

 

[yasmars]

We would recommend either the legal and commercial exercise or the finance exercise.

Written Exercise (Legal & Commercial Analysis) | The Corporate Law Academy

Simply order below. 1. Select your preferred time slot the next working day in your order notes. 2. You will be sent the written exercise, together with the instructions, at the beginning of the time slot. 3. You will email your response in a Word document. 4. We will provide you with...

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

Written Exercise (Finance) | The Corporate Law Academy

Simply order below. 1. Select your preferred time slot the next working day in your order notes. 2. You will be sent the written exercise, together with the instructions, at the beginning of the time slot. 3. You will email your response in a Word document. 4. We will provide you with...

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

As the team’s last day is Friday, this would need to be booked and completed by Thursday 19 December for us to get the feedback back to you before the Christmas break.

Thanks for this @Jessica Booker! This is amazing! Do these tests also come with the Guide to Written Exercise, produced for 2024/25?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thanks for this @Jessica Booker! This is amazing! Do these tests also come with the Guide to Written Exercise, produced for 2024/25?

You will receive the 2024/25 guide to written exercise - please be aware the guide is the same for each assessment.

 

[julespere]

Hi @Jessica Booker which written exercise would be best for Skadden? (I have already completed the "Legal & Commercial" one). Thank you!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker which written exercise would be best for Skadden? (I have already completed the "Legal & Commercial" one). Thank you!

The M&A written exercise will be the most suitable exercise for Skadden.

Written Exercise (M&A) | The Corporate Law Academy​

Simply order below. 1. Select your preferred time slot the next working day in your order notes. 2. You will be sent the written exercise, together with the instructions, at the beginning of the time slot. 3. You will email your response in a Word document. 4. We will provide you with...

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

Please be aware we would recommend booking this ASAP as the team are not working after the 20th December through to 2 January., so no written exercise feedback will be provided during those dates.

 

[julespere]

The M&A written exercise will be the most suitable exercise for Skadden.

Written Exercise (M&A) | The Corporate Law Academy​

Simply order below. 1. Select your preferred time slot the next working day in your order notes. 2. You will be sent the written exercise, together with the instructions, at the beginning of the time slot. 3. You will email your response in a Word document. 4. We will provide you with...

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

Please be aware we would recommend booking this ASAP as the team are not working after the 20th December through to 2 January., so no written exercise feedback will be provided during those dates.

Thank you Jessica!

 

[yasmars]

Update ✨

Happy New Year everyone!! 2024 has really flown by. I did not submit as many applications as I had hoped over the winter period. I also struggled writing my Milbank app so decided not to apply. I just don’t think I was that passionate about the firm and that reflected in my answers.

Detailed breakdown of this cycle:


Rejections:

Travers Smith post app
Slaughter and May post app
Fieldfisher post test
Taylor Wessing - didnt meet benchmark
Linklaters open day
HSF - didnt meet benchmark
Pinsent Masons - didnt meet benchmark
CC - didnt meet benchmark
CMS - didn’t meet benchmark
Simmons & Simmons - at capacity

Are we seeing a common theme here 😅 I just don’t preform well in tests. Therefore, I’m being slightly more selective in where I apply going forward.

Successes:

Goodwin VI invite!! To say I am shocked would be an understatement. I never thought my background would ever be good enough for a firm like this. So to be progressed is incredibly exciting! I only have 5 days to submit the VI which is a super tight timeframe but I can do this!!!!

Willkie written exercise.

Next steps

I am hoping to submit my Reed Smith application today. I may do a really last-minute application to Macfarlanes. I’ll most likely start drafting W&C and Mishcon next. I have 13 more apps to write.

 

[justkeepswimming]

@yasmars I had similar thoughts when trying to write the white & case application, I couldn't strongly reflect my interest and it was becoming impossible to find the motivation to write, so I gave it up and focused on another app.

Congrats for the Goodwin VI!! so happy for you

and honestly I find SJTs so hard but I have slightly improved on the watson glasers through practise. I did have to buy both assessmentdays and job test prep but I used all free resources first, including youtube videos, to build up my skills!

 

[yasmars]

Mini update ✨

Rejection from AG post app/test.

But received an invite to Reed Smith’s VI! I actually find that I perform much better in Legal High Potential tests so I am hoping for a positive outcome. Overall this cycle has been very positive with lots of post app and VI progressions!

 

[yasmars]

Another update:

I submitted my Covington app last night. That was a mammoth of an application considering I had to invent a product. Hoping for a positive outcome.

I have about 11 applications left to submit (with some deadlines in the summer): Hogan Lovells, King & Spalding, Orrick, Ropes, Winston, Freshfields, Stephenson, Shoosmiths, Ashurst, White & Case and Macfarlanes.

 

[The-PFO-Collector]

Another update:

I submitted my Covington app last night. That was a mammoth of an application considering I had to invent a product. Hoping for a positive outcome.

I have about 11 applications left to submit (with some deadlines in the summer): Hogan Lovells, King & Spalding, Orrick, Ropes, Winston, Freshfields, Stephenson, Shoosmiths, Ashurst, White & Case and Macfarlanes.

I did the Ashurst, HL and Shoosmiths AC last cycle. If you get through, happy to give some general advice and tips...

 

[The-PFO-Collector]

I've collated my Covington notes for you