Ahh I chose to do mine in summer, I feel like I will be under too much stress with final year law exams to do it in spring!
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
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I heard back from Shearman with a summer VS offer exactly a week after my interview, but I wouldn't worry too much at this stage as it's still quite early.
For anyone who’s done Weil’s video interview, did you have unlimited time to prepare before you recorded your individual response? I’m nervous to so much as open the link because I don’t feel ready 😭
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This is excellent. Thank you! I’m a late career changer and a foreign student, so it’s great to know that if I can just really highlight the previous skills and experiences I’ve gained, then that may well be enough
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I think I applied late Dec or early - Jan, and it was a pretty generic email, high standard of applications, cannot provide feedback at this stage, etc.
Really agree with this. This was the first app cycle where I was able to send in apps to firms within the first 1-2 weeks of opening. I found that wherever I was an early applicant, my application was forwarded to at least the next stage of the cycle, so highly recommend this!
I strongly agree with you, I have attended various events and what I realised is that US firms really valued my background and maturity.Hi @syw I am really glad that my post resonates with you
I got to the final interview stage at six different firms and only one of those was a UK firm - that was the only one where I was unsuccessful. Now it could certainly be the case that US firms valued my US education, but I also got a sense that they liked the fact I had explored other things. I think that UK firms do an excellent job of hiring diverse candidates (in many ways more than US firms), but I would say that this diversity manifests itself slightly differently.
Each firm has their own approach and you start to realise that as you traverse the process
I believe that Americans in general value candidates who are not afraid to explore other things, while UK firms are more inclined to target young students. I do not know what's best, personally I know I want to become a litigator but also experience a bit of corporate, hence US firms are better for me.
Hi! From what I remember, you only have 60 seconds to prepare, and 90 seconds to answer. If you’ve prepared general motivational and firm-related questions, you’ll be fine! Best of luck!
I’ve never been asked what deals they’re currently working on. Has anyone been asked this in the past?
If it helps, for an AC where I was asked a deal I’ve found interesting, I stated what the deal was, why I personally found it interesting and then talked about why I thought it was relevant (a wider trend in emerging markets, etc) & if there was something particularly impressive about it (e.g. how it was financed, the number of jurisdictions involved, awards it won, etc). For its relevance, I Googled the deal beforehand, to see articles written about it outside of a law firm website/context. I don’t know if this is the right approach per say, but that’s what I did.
I didn’t speak for more than a minute, it came up towards the end because of something else I had mentioned. Overall, I don’t think firms are expecting you to recite those 3/4 paragraphs they write about the deal on the website, but it always helps to briefly outline the deal and why you picked that one. Of course, this is in the context of a deal that they’ve done, not sure if asking about an ongoing deal is common though. Hope it helps!
is it normal for a firm to take a while to get back to you with feedback post-AC?
It is really variable, I had a call last year to let me know I was unsuccessful and they talked through all of my feedback and what to work on versus what I did well there and then on the same call. Another firm said they would email feedback after an unsuccessful AC at the start of September and I didn't receive anything (despite requests) until the 13th Jan! Every firm and process is different
Thanks! Also, when they did get back to you, did you have a bit of time between their response and the AC slot?
Hi @LEL,
So for when I was doing vacation schemes, I did as @FS suggested and tried both a contentious and non-contentious seat (generally). I then thought about the practice areas that I was most excited about or interested in at that firm. For example, at White & Case I did EIPAF (a particular strength in London), whereas at Akin Gump I sat in Litigation (an area I was interested in exploring) and Insolvency (a particular strength in London).
I would not consider the number of hours rumoured to be worked in certain departments. I would also ignore rumours of conversion rates (personally I never heard that one practice area was 'harder' on a vacation scheme than another anyway).
So in short, balance what you are interested in with what the firm is good at. Think about if you were to practice at X firm, what area(s) you would want to explore on your TC!
Hi @robynm09,Hi, does anyone have any advice for the Debevoise AC /Open Day? There will be an interview based on an FT article so I was wondering if anyone has any advice on that as well? Thank you!
Congratulations on being progressed to the AC stage with Debevoise! That's awesome news.
For article-based interviews, this post should be helpful. This post about ACs in general might be worth a read too.
I hope that is useful!
@FS agreed. This is great advice!
Hi @lellie23,
Congratulations on getting progressed to the AC stage! In addition to the posts I suggested above for @robynm09, this post may also be helpful (where @James Carrabino provides some fantastic advice). I would also recommend @AvniD's post here.
I hope that helps.
The biggest thing to do now that you have been invited, in my opinion, is to do preparation little and often if you can. The AC will come around quickly, but you will have at least a few days to prepare (which is plenty of time). Think about the areas that you feel comfortable about, and try to focus on those that you (currently) do not.
Please do reach out if you would like to ask any further clarifications!
Hi @TinaT,
To summarise the below, if you are going to bring up a particular deal, I would advise you to feel very comfortable discussing it and thinking critically about it under pressure. This is difficult to answer in the abstract, but I have been in an interview where half of my interview was centred around my thoughts on a commercial issue which was relevant to a deal that I mentioned. It therefore helps to have a strong footing in both the deal you are considering, but also the wider commercial context in which it is taking place.
If it helps, the process that I went through when thinking about a particular deal was this:
1. Research stage. I googled the deal to look for any news coverage that I could find about it or the firms involved and their strategies. This would take approximately 30-40 minutes maximum. I actually quite liked this stage(!). I often would print the articles I found.
2. In line with the above, I would look at the Partners/Counsel/(Senior) Associates listed as being involved with the deal and consider their backgrounds (often using LinkedIn). 10-20 minutes maximum. I would add this, where necessary, to the information I had compiled in 1. Often I just hand wrote particularly interesting pieces of information (e.g., if a Partner who went to my university worked on it, other interesting deals they worked on etc.).
3. Digestion stage. I would read through and highlight the information that I had compiled in Stage 1. This took approximately 1-2 hours.
4. Noting stage. Using the information that I had highlighted in 3., I would note down the key points that I had gathered in 3. Often I felt like I retained quite a bit of background, so this stage really was only the key points.
5. Critical thinking stage. Thinking about the sort of questions they could ask me about this deal if I spoke about it (including those concerning related wider commercial issues). These would always include basic questions like "why did you pick this deal?", "which departments do you think were involved?" as well as more difficult ones, such as "what do you think were the commercial implications of X?" or "what do you think would have been challenging working on this deal?". This stage would last an hour or so (although I would think about it up until my interview as often it took me a day or so to sit with the question until I felt comfortable answering confidently on it).
Do ask any clarifiers if you would like to! On hand to help as always 🚀
Hi @lawstudent135,has anyone done W&C's VI and can give me some advice/tips? thanks
My advice (based on doing the VI in 2021) would be to consider the firm's overall global strategy, be comfortable talking about the three whys and consider some basic competence questions!
Very happy to help further if you would like
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