TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

[AvniD]

Hey guys (sorry for posting so often about this), CC asked me to notify them once I had taken my WG. I took it on the 14th and on the 15th they said I should hear back the same day (15th) or the day after. I still haven't heard anything - how long should I leave it before I chase?

I'd wait a week from your test and then email letting them know that you were told to expect to hear back about your results on the same day/day after you took the WG and are checking in about the same. Like @George Maxwell said, the wait can be agonising, which is why I'd wait the week out of respect for the volume of applications they must be dealing with, and then follow-up.

 

[James Carrabino]

Received an A&O TC offer this afternoon!!! Still can't believe it. I seriously couldn't have done it without the support of the TCLA community (or the TCLA mock interview practice!!) 🥰

Hi @ELaw2021, this is such excellent news!! We are all so proud of you and the TCLA community is so glad that you found the resources on offer useful Go enjoy your holiday now 😊

 

[hopefullawyer123]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I hope you are having a good weekend.

I am currently drafting my Freshfields 850 word personal statement. How much of the word count should be used to discuss why law and why Freshfields? They also want us to discuss work experience, achievements and hobbies.

I usually mention a minimum of 3 reasons for why the firm but the word count is limited here. How do you suggest I approach it? I am having the same issue with why law. I have 3 main reasons for why law but I don't think that much detail would be appropriate here.

Also - there is a whole section on the application to provide details of our work experience so wouldn't mentioning work experience in the PS ( as they have requested) be repetitive? How do I distinguish between the two?

Thanks in advance

 

[horsesforlawcourses]

Hi @Jessica Booker - hope you don’t mind me asking a quick question! I was offered a TC over the phone on 3 December, they said they would follow up with further details about studying, dates and all the paperwork etc and while my online portal has said I’ve moved to the offer stage, I’ve had nothing from the firm itself. Should I email them? Wait until the new year? I’m conscious it’s Christmas/the grad team has probably been so busy with the Winter vac scheme but I’m worried by the radio silence. I didn’t explicitly accept the offer over the phone but I don’t think I would be expected to without seeing the contract, but I’m worried they might give my place to someone else!

 

[horsesforlawcourses]

PS thank you in advance!

 

[IRO]

Hi @Jessica Booker - hope you don’t mind me asking a quick question! I was offered a TC over the phone on 3 December, they said they would follow up with further details about studying, dates and all the paperwork etc and while my online portal has said I’ve moved to the offer stage, I’ve had nothing from the firm itself. Should I email them? Wait until the new year? I’m conscious it’s Christmas/the grad team has probably been so busy with the Winter vac scheme but I’m worried by the radio silence. I didn’t explicitly accept the offer over the phone but I don’t think I would be expected to without seeing the contract, but I’m worried they might give my place to someone else!

Don’t worry! They won’t offer your place to someone else, and they wouldn’t expect you to accept the TC before receiving all the documents. The paperwork can just take a little while to sort out so I would be patient, especially if the firm has run a VS since offering you the TC. Maybe you could follow up and ask when to expect the paperwork, or double check it hasn’t ended up in the wrong inbox/spam folder.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker - hope you don’t mind me asking a quick question! I was offered a TC over the phone on 3 December, they said they would follow up with further details about studying, dates and all the paperwork etc and while my online portal has said I’ve moved to the offer stage, I’ve had nothing from the firm itself. Should I email them? Wait until the new year? I’m conscious it’s Christmas/the grad team has probably been so busy with the Winter vac scheme but I’m worried by the radio silence. I didn’t explicitly accept the offer over the phone but I don’t think I would be expected to without seeing the contract, but I’m worried they might give my place to someone else!

You really don’t have to worry - they aren’t going to give your place to someone else.

Drop them a brief but polite email asking when you may receive the paperwork for the offer.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I hope you are having a good weekend.

I am currently drafting my Freshfields 850 word personal statement. How much of the word count should be used to discuss why law and why Freshfields? They also want us to discuss work experience, achievements and hobbies.

I usually mention a minimum of 3 reasons for why the firm but the word count is limited here. How do you suggest I approach it? I am having the same issue with why law. I have 3 main reasons for why law but I don't think that much detail would be appropriate here.

Also - there is a whole section on the application to provide details of our work experience so wouldn't mentioning work experience in the PS ( as they have requested) be repetitive? How do I distinguish between the two?

Thanks in advance

There won’t be a set amount for each element - for one person it could be quite evenly split, while with the next person they may not cover one element at all - it really depends on the individual’s profile and the evidence elsewhere in their application.

It is quite normal for a 850 word statement to include multiple reasons for why the firm and why commercial law, and still manage to get a good amount of you across.

I suspect that you might be able to cut some phrasing and say things in a more concise manner to allow you to get these multiple factors across.

You don’t need to repeat detail from your work experience, but you may want to leverage the experiences to show your motivations, which won’t necessarily be evident from your work experience description.

 

[horsesforlawcourses]

@IRO @Jessica Booker thank you very much for getting back to me. I’ll drop them a quick email tomorrow.

 

[VS513]

Hi guys! I am filling in the DLA form but I'm quite confused about my location preferences. I am an international candidate so I am location agnostic.

Any recommendations apart from London? I have an interest in tech/IP and transactional work, in general. I have heard of DLA's 'one UK approach' but want to avoid the embarrassment of applying to an office which heavily focuses on RE or disputes (for example)

Thanks for the help!

 

[GS0W]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if there is any kind of list of firms that heavily recruit through their direct TC route

 

[James Carrabino]

Hi guys! I am filling in the DLA form but I'm quite confused about my location preferences. I am an international candidate so I am location agnostic.

Any recommendations apart from London? I have an interest in tech/IP and transactional work, in general. I have heard of DLA's 'one UK approach' but want to avoid the embarrassment of applying to an office which heavily focuses on RE or disputes (for example)

Thanks for the help!

Hi @VS513,

I am not quite sure about the nuances of each office's work, but I would encourage you to think about where you would most adequately be able to convey your motivations for applying. This may be a simplistic way of looking at things, but it would seem to me that if you are an international candidate, you would more easily be able to present a compelling motivation for working in London due to the more international nature of the work that the capital attracts. You may have compelling motivations to work in other offices that I know nothing about, however.

As far as other recommendations go, it would really be a matter of doing in-depth research into which offices specialise in which practice areas and then relating that back to your own interests and career goals. After you do your research, feel free to let me, @AvniD or @George Maxwell know if you would like any help relating this to your own goals! Hope that helps

 

[James Carrabino]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if there is any kind of list of firms that heavily recruit through their direct TC route

This is from last year but I think it's still useful 😊

Where Firms Recruit From (Direct TC/VS)

Please take this with a pinch of salt. Most of it is accurate, especially in the last section where firms are clear on their websites that they only recruit vac schemers, but things get more ambiguous in the first two sections. My main sources have been legal articles, but I've also combed...

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

 

[AvniD]

Hi guys! I am filling in the DLA form but I'm quite confused about my location preferences. I am an international candidate so I am location agnostic.

Any recommendations apart from London? I have an interest in tech/IP and transactional work, in general. I have heard of DLA's 'one UK approach' but want to avoid the embarrassment of applying to an office which heavily focuses on RE or disputes (for example)

Thanks for the help!

You can sometimes be seconded to another office within the firm to do a seat during your TC and regional offices generally work closely together so location doesn't really have to dictate your practice area preferences and interests in your application form, especially if you're applying to a firm with a 'one UK' policy. You should, however, have reasons prepared for why you ranked one location higher than the other or why you chose these locations (think of opportunities in, characteristics of the cities that you're particularly drawn to). Being an international candidate, you're probably more likely to be asked these questions so you can demonstrate why you're interested in practising in the UK.

 

[George Maxwell]

Hi guys! I am filling in the DLA form but I'm quite confused about my location preferences. I am an international candidate so I am location agnostic.

Any recommendations apart from London? I have an interest in tech/IP and transactional work, in general. I have heard of DLA's 'one UK approach' but want to avoid the embarrassment of applying to an office which heavily focuses on RE or disputes (for example)

Thanks for the help!

Hey @VS513,

I agree with @James Carrabino and @AvniD about this. I think it is also fair enough to consider and mention (even as an aside) where you actually would like to live. I am unsure where DLA have offices in the UK exactly, but Bristol and Manchester are fantastic cities to live in (just knowing friends who live there).

Definitely research, using Chambers & Partners, the various practice area strengths of DLA's regional offices (if possible) and where their ranked Partners are located too (especially in the areas that you are interested in).

Personally, although the firm may well espouse a 'one UK approach', I think there is something to be said about where your base is and the quality/type of work you will do and the experience you will have. So I do think that this is important!

 

[VS513]

You can sometimes be seconded to another office within the firm to do a seat during your TC and regional offices generally work closely together so location doesn't really have to dictate your practice area preferences and interests in your application form, especially if you're applying to a firm with a 'one UK' policy. You should, however, have reasons prepared for why you ranked one location higher than the other or why you chose these locations (think of opportunities in, characteristics of the cities that you're particularly drawn to). Being an international candidate, you're probably more likely to be asked these questions so you can demonstrate why you're interested in practising in the UK.

This is super helpful, thank you @George Maxwell @AvniD and @James Carrabino! Will look into stronger motivations.

 

[nkji500]

Hi @nkji500,

I completely understand you wanting ideas on what to do here. It is agonising waiting on a firm to get back to you.

Just to clarify, did you notify them after you had taken the test? And are you waiting to know whether or not you have passed the WG or are you just waiting to hear back about your results?

If this would be to find out whether you have been progressed as part of their vacation scheme application process, I would really try as best you can to wait at least until mid to late next week. The firm will get back to you, they just get a ridiculous number of applications as you know.

Very happy to answer questions on other applications you might be sending in the meantime to take your mind of CC 🙋‍♂️

Hi! I passed the WG! They said they’ll let me know next steps but I think the assessment centre is either the 17th or 24th of January - need to start preparing!

 

[George Maxwell]

Hi! I passed the WG! They said they’ll let me know next steps but I think the assessment centre is either the 17th or 24th of January - need to start preparing!

As always very happy to help if you would like any thoughts if you hear back with good news!

Fingers crossed for you 🤞🤞

 

[jess12]

Hi all - do you know if firms are still recruiting for their 2023 TC intake? I could only see one or two!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi all - do you know if firms are still recruiting for their 2023 TC intake? I could only see one or two!

You can filter by intake on LCN - Training contract deadlines | Law training contracts (lawcareers.net)

The link above should show just the 2023 intakes.