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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
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Jessica Booker
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Generally decided by graduate recruitment as loads of other people are interviewing other candidates and they need to ensure there is consistency between assessors and also make sure they make enough offers (and not too many).
Will only be your interviewer(s) if you are going to work in their team. As most vacation schemes/training contracts are recruited across a firm, it really needs to be coordinated centrally rather than individual interviewers making offers.
Non-law student here and it's perfectly fine to ask for clarification. I wasn't asked anything with legal jargon in it, but it might be helpful if you understood some of the business terms in the sector - an example of such a term would be SPAC (which I had no clue about until I started following news articles more closely). For interviews, I felt that they were treated as a two-way conversation.
Jessica Booker
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My view is if the firm is actively marketing to career changers, then that shows their interest. Look for events and advertising that may suggest this. For instance:
How to get into law as a career changer - with Shearman & Sterling, Irwin Mitchell, 2TG and ULaw - Legal Cheek
How to get into law as a career changer: Stem Future Lawyers
How To Get Into Law As A Career Changer — With BCLP, Shearman & Sterling, 2 Temple Gardens, And ULaw - Xperta Insights
I used to do this event with the Law Society too: Slide 1 (lawsociety.org.uk) and they had a whole load of firms' representatives attend.
From my experience, Freshfields used to be pretty good at taking on career changers - we had a fair number of career changers, albeit through the direct TC route back in the day.
It's going to be hard to slot firms into these categories because while they may choose to recruit differently it may not be with the intention of keeping career-changers out of the profession.
I would encourage you to instead look for firms with direct TC routes and who have career-changer specific events/recruitment programmes (see Jessica's post here).
@LS07 I'm sorry to hear about this. I would encourage you to take a break from applications-related work for as long as you need to process your rejection and see where you want to go from here. Rejections test the strength of your response and will so give yourself the time and space you require to deal with this disappointment in the best manner possible.
What may feel like 'the' firm for you right now may not be 'the' firm in a few weeks, months, years and tying yourself to this notion can be limiting at times. Interviews are incredibly stressful and testing for even the best of us- you gave it a good shot and that's really what matters at the end of the day. If the outcome is not in your favour, then take some time to process it and see how you could deal with this situation better next time and try to move forward to making new applications to other firms you like. Who knows- maybe there are other firms out there who are an even better fit.
Go for it! I would be quite brief while talking about your interest in football because you don't want to go off-topic but linking deals back to why they interest you is always a good thing.
Jessica Booker
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I have seen this work many times, so not a problem to use something like this.
Guys I just got an email from Travers Smith this morning.
Dear Asil
Thank you for your application for a summer scheme.
We apologise for the delay in getting back to you but due to the volume of applications the process is taking longer than anticipated. We hope to be in touch in the next few weeks.
Yours sincerely,
So there is still hope.
Dear Asil
Thank you for your application for a summer scheme.
We apologise for the delay in getting back to you but due to the volume of applications the process is taking longer than anticipated. We hope to be in touch in the next few weeks.
Yours sincerely,
So there is still hope.
Dont really have a conclusive answer to this, but from my experience if a firm wants to get in touch with you, they will! I missed a call about the outcome of my CMS AC, and was sent an email with phone numbers to call back on. So yes, most likely, if they have made the effort to contact you they will ask you to call back. Hope this helps!
Covington vac scheme offer 🥳 looking like a fabulous summer ahead 
I feel like Travers should either go rolling, or move their deadline closer to just after the new year. As a student, it just feels a little too close to exams with AC's being in mid later March, not sure how other students feel about it?
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My reaction to Travers email this AM giving a very nice “we’ll be with you in a few weeks” update 💀
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