TCLA General Discussion Thread #2 (2021)

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poppyia

Well-Known Member
  • Apr 25, 2021
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    I completed my VI for Dechert on 3rd April and still haven't heard anything back. I'm guessing that means its a PFO but has anyone got any suggestions of what to do (should I email?) or is anyone in the same situation? Thanks!
     

    FM302989

    Legendary Member
    Junior Lawyer
  • Oct 16, 2020
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    1,162
    Do Partners, Directors, senior management ever intervene if the HR/recruitment process is not up to standard or generally provides a very inadequate experience for candidates?

    Just thought this could be an interesting question for the general thread. Especially as there was an article recently in the Law Gazette discussing how many extra stages legal recruitment requires candidates to go through
     

    Jacob Miller

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
    Forum Team
  • Feb 15, 2020
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    2,394
    I completed my VI for Dechert on 3rd April and still haven't heard anything back. I'm guessing that means its a PFO but has anyone got any suggestions of what to do (should I email?) or is anyone in the same situation? Thanks!
    It's not a PFO until it's a PFO.

    If they gave you a timeliness for when you could expect to hear back, and it's more than a week or so past that, I would follow up. Similarly, if they didn't give you a deadline, I think enough time has gone past that emailing them would be reasonable.
     
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    Matt_96

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
  • Dec 15, 2018
    455
    1,196
    What seats should I do for my vac scheme fellas? I'm quite interested in Dispute Resolution so I'd like to do that, but I have to put down two more choices as well. I'm not 100% clear on what the options are but I know they include Corporate, Real Estate and Employment. What would you do?
     

    Jacob Miller

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
    Forum Team
  • Feb 15, 2020
    896
    2,394
    Do Partners, Directors, senior management ever intervene if the HR/recruitment process is not up to standard or generally provides a very inadequate experience for candidates?

    Just thought this could be an interesting question for the general thread. Especially as there was an article recently in the Law Gazette discussing how many extra stages legal recruitment requires candidates to go through
    It's never something I have massively thought about, but my feeling is that most senior fee earners will stay out of that side of things unless they're also recruitment partners.

    I dare say if a significant portion of the partnership board shared significant concerns about it, they coukd choose to raise the issue, but I think in practice this is unlikely.

    My perception is that, notwithstanding carrying out interviews, fee earners are quite isolated against the application process to try and minimise instances of exploiting networks to get friends and family jobs etc (much like what happened with the regional firm whose name i forget a few weeks ago!)
     
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    Jacob Miller

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
    Forum Team
  • Feb 15, 2020
    896
    2,394
    What seats should I do for my vac scheme fellas? I'm quite interested in Dispute Resolution so I'd like to do that, but I have to put down two more choices as well. I'm not 100% clear on what the options are but I know they include Corporate, Real Estate and Employment. What would you do?
    Try and give yourself a wide variety of experiences. If that were me, I would probably take DR, Corp and Employment as you've got a litigious seat, a transactional seat and a more advisory seat.
     
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    LawGrad2019

    Distinguished Member
    Feb 19, 2021
    74
    257
    Do Partners, Directors, senior management ever intervene if the HR/recruitment process is not up to standard or generally provides a very inadequate experience for candidates?

    Just thought this could be an interesting question for the general thread. Especially as there was an article recently in the Law Gazette discussing how many extra stages legal recruitment requires candidates to go through

    I guess this would be a case of people wanting to stay in their lanes - it's a pretty big deal to get involved in someone else's department/expertise and suggest they're not performing properly.

    That said, if a firm developed a reputation for a poor recruitment process then I'm sure senior people in the firm would take an interest and be concerned about this.
     
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    whisperingrock

    Legendary Member
    Forum Winner
  • Sep 12, 2020
    226
    567
    Do Partners, Directors, senior management ever intervene if the HR/recruitment process is not up to standard or generally provides a very inadequate experience for candidates?

    Just thought this could be an interesting question for the general thread. Especially as there was an article recently in the Law Gazette discussing how many extra stages legal recruitment requires candidates to go through
    Do you have a link to the article? Would love to give it a read.
     

    FM302989

    Legendary Member
    Junior Lawyer
  • Oct 16, 2020
    289
    1,162
    It's never something I have massively thought about, but my feeling is that most senior fee earners will stay out of that side of things unless they're also recruitment partners.

    I dare say if a significant portion of the partnership board shared significant concerns about it, they coukd choose to raise the issue, but I think in practice this is unlikely.

    My perception is that, notwithstanding carrying out interviews, fee earners are quite isolated against the application process to try and minimise instances of exploiting networks to get friends and family jobs etc (much like what happened with the regional firm whose name i forget a few weeks ago!)

    I guess this would be a case of people wanting to stay in their lanes - it's a pretty big deal to get involved in someone else's department/expertise and suggest they're not performing properly.

    That said, if a firm developed a reputation for a poor recruitment process then I'm sure senior people in the firm would take an interest and be concerned about this.

    Completely agree with both of these, especially the staying in your lane, keeping to your own fee-earning work and avoiding nepotism issues.

    I guess I've just seen and experienced so many disgraceful recruiting practices that I want to help and mentor others when I start my TC in a few months. Plus a friend of mine has secured an NQ role at a City firm in an area he didn't train in purely through a family connection.
     

    FM302989

    Legendary Member
    Junior Lawyer
  • Oct 16, 2020
    289
    1,162
    Do you have a link to the article? Would love to give it a read.
    I'll have a check to see if I can find it online! I was browsing the paper magazines that came into my office when I had a read of it. It was reviewing legal recruiting as a whole

    Voila! Quite interesting insights from firms and recruiters alike from City and regional offices
     

    Matt_96

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
  • Dec 15, 2018
    455
    1,196
    Completely agree with both of these, especially the staying in your lane, keeping to your own fee-earning work and avoiding nepotism issues.

    I guess I've just seen and experienced so many disgraceful recruiting practices that I want to help and mentor others when I start my TC in a few months. Plus a friend of mine has secured an NQ role at a City firm in an area he didn't train in purely through a family connection.

    That's absolutely nuts! Let me guess, is this area one that is highly sought after and seen as glamorous?
     

    FM302989

    Legendary Member
    Junior Lawyer
  • Oct 16, 2020
    289
    1,162
    That's absolutely nuts! Let me guess, is this area one that is highly sought after and seen as glamorous?
    It's more on the private client side of things, but involves tax, HNW clients and some contentious trust/probate elements.

    In all fairness, I don't particularly mind trainees networking during their TC and making options for themselves; but I am intrigued to see how my journey to finding an NQ role will be in a couple years time
     

    FM302989

    Legendary Member
    Junior Lawyer
  • Oct 16, 2020
    289
    1,162
    Whilst you guys are on this topic, did you hear about Walker Morris giving a TC to the son/daughter of the managing partner? 😬
    Didn't hear that, but I'm aware of people in top 200 law firms securing TCs where parents are the Partners. I don't want to blackball that ever happening, as you would hope that family doesn't play a part in the decision making process and the candidate gets the job based on merit and performance!
     
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    LawGrad2019

    Distinguished Member
    Feb 19, 2021
    74
    257
    It's more on the private client side of things, but involves tax, HNW clients and some contentious trust/probate elements.

    In all fairness, I don't particularly mind trainees networking during their TC and making options for themselves; but I am intrigued to see how my journey to finding an NQ role will be in a couple years time
    Good luck to them practising in complex tax, trusts, wills and probate without the usual training 😬
     

    Matt_96

    Legendary Member
    Future Trainee
  • Dec 15, 2018
    455
    1,196
    It's more on the private client side of things, but involves tax, HNW clients and some contentious trust/probate elements.

    In all fairness, I don't particularly mind trainees networking during their TC and making options for themselves; but I am intrigued to see how my journey to finding an NQ role will be in a couple years time

    Oh, in a way I feel like that's a bit less of a leap than I thought, as there's a lot of crossover nowadays. My brother's best friend trained at slaughters and qualified into something corporate-y (I forget what it was) and now does private client at a big firm in that space that he had no connections with. I think he may have done a tax seat as a trainee but that's it. While I'm sure the MC brand helped, in general, that kind of commercial/corporate skillset is actually very useful because of the increasingly business-savvy way UHNWs are structuring their wealth.

    So despite the nepotism angle, the move in itself isn't so shocking.
     
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