Selling Applications

[HarveySpecter]

Hi everyone,
I've been lucky enough to secure a TC this cycle after a lot of hard work on my applications. But I am now stressing about being able to afford to live over the next few years whilst I'm studying. I hope this post isn't at odds with TCLA and the amazing work that they do, but I was wondering what people think about selling my successful applications privately? It wouldn't be for a lot of money, and it would obviously allow me to use all of the hours I had put into it. I would just worry that it would be seen as dodgy by the firm, and I obviously wouldn't want anything to jeopardise my TC, I was just hoping to hear people's opinions?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi everyone,
I've been lucky enough to secure a TC this cycle after a lot of hard work on my applications. But I am now stressing about being able to afford to live over the next few years whilst I'm studying. I hope this post isn't at odds with TCLA and the amazing work that they do, but I was wondering what people think about selling my successful applications privately? It wouldn't be for a lot of money, and it would obviously allow me to use all of the hours I had put into it. I would just worry that it would be seen as dodgy by the firm, and I obviously wouldn't want anything to jeopardise my TC, I was just hoping to hear people's opinions?

The firm could see this as problematic. I had to deal with this situation once which resulted in some pretty tough conversations with the individual involved:

The Freshfields trainee selling insider training contract interview tips for £150 a pop - Legal Cheek

Exclusive: NailThatTrainingContract.co.uk appeared online a few days ago. It offers “inside tips from a current...

www.legalcheek.com

You are also going to be in a pretty competitive market. Alongside TCLA, there are a wealth of other services that people can access that provides a much more tailored service to that individual rather than just getting a copy of your application.

I don’t think there is much value in just providing your application too - that might be worth a few pounds a pop (looking at people who sell similar things on sites like Fiverr as a benchmark) but I think you’d need to heavily market it to then make money out of selling it lots of times (which in turn could then result in more publicity and the firm being made aware/investigating it). So I think you’d have to offer more than just selling your application to really make any money out of it and for that to warrant taking the risk associated with it.

However, plenty of people are selling things in a similar way. I just suspect they aren’t really making a good income from doing so.

 

[futuretraineesolicitor]

Hey @Jessica Booker , I just read the article that you've linked above. I had a question regarding one thing.

“Interview questions (compiled over the years from real interviews and HR documents).”

“Appraisal criteria (HR document) showing you what the interviewers are looking for.”

“A ‘commercial awareness’ cheat-sheet (one-page summary of multiple current issues that you can discuss to display commercial awareness).”

According to the article, these are the three things that the individual was selling. My question is,aren't these openly available on TCLA?

Secondly, I have a Zoom call scheduled with a Linklaters future trainee this weekend where I am going to ask the person about his interviews, is that unethical by any means?

 

[Jaysen]

Hi everyone,
I've been lucky enough to secure a TC this cycle after a lot of hard work on my applications. But I am now stressing about being able to afford to live over the next few years whilst I'm studying. I hope this post isn't at odds with TCLA and the amazing work that they do, but I was wondering what people think about selling my successful applications privately? It wouldn't be for a lot of money, and it would obviously allow me to use all of the hours I had put into it. I would just worry that it would be seen as dodgy by the firm, and I obviously wouldn't want anything to jeopardise my TC, I was just hoping to hear people's opinions?

I think it is something that people would buy, but yes the big concern is the legal press (i.e. Legal Cheek or RoF) finding the story and the law firm finding out. When I was going through the process, I remember the one Jess mentioned and we had something similar at my firm.

I would say I have noticed firms are becoming more receptive to future trainees and trainees having their own ventures (or perhaps it's because the legal press aren't picking these stories up). I have seen a few future trainees and heard about trainees charging individual candidates. The best thing in all cases would be to clear this with the law firm first, although I think you'll have a trickier time doing this when directly selling applications versus something more related to advice.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hey @Jessica Booker , I just read the article that you've linked above. I had a question regarding one thing.

“Interview questions (compiled over the years from real interviews and HR documents).”

“Appraisal criteria (HR document) showing you what the interviewers are looking for.”

“A ‘commercial awareness’ cheat-sheet (one-page summary of multiple current issues that you can discuss to display commercial awareness).”

According to the article, these are the three things that the individual was selling. My question is,aren't these openly available on TCLA?

Secondly, I have a Zoom call scheduled with a Linklaters future trainee this weekend where I am going to ask the person about his interviews, is that unethical by any means?

No - we don’t have access to HR documents on TCLA and it would go against our mission statement and rules to share such information where it is the firm’s property.

No - it’s not unethical to ask people to talk about their interviews. The issue with this example is someone trying to profit from it - many firms will not appreciate that someone is trying to profit from their own success. The individual you are talking to wont be profiting from it (unless you are paying to have that conversation with them).

 

[Jessica Booker]

Remember you could also apply for a PG loan if you top up your GDL or LPC to a masters level course.