Silly question but when we fill out a 'languages spoken' section, do we put down English?
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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)
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Jessica Booker
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I think they are somewhat useful to compare and contrast firms and pick up general themes of the good and bad parts of firms.
But you need to take it with a pinch of salt. Firms can be pretty tactical in who they get to complete such surveys and also plan when the trainees are surveyed. With Lex100, firms can edit out parts they don't want included (or that used to be the case anyway).
I'd recommend reviewing such content against other rankings/firm guides (Chambers Student) and also against what people are saying on sites like Glassdoor. The more the themes come across in multiple sources, the more reliable they are likely to be.
I don't know about 2024, but the 2023 cohort should be doing LPC
No. It’s implied. They wouldn’t hire you otherwise. When you join a firm and they ask for your language capabilities they are putting this on the internal system so if they are looking for someone who speaks a foreign language they can source someone internally. Only time I’d put it down is if it is your only language or you are applying to a non-English office.
Hello all - this might not be the right thread to post this is so if there is somewhere/someone more appropriate I should direct this to, please do let me know.
I have 3 vacation schemes coming up this summer. I'm really excited but feel quite underprepared in terms of knowledge. I haven't done my LPC yet, my paralegal experience is not commercial and I didn't really study commercial law modules at university.
I'm hoping we are not expected to have too much knowledge but I would like to have a more general understanding before starting than I do now. I'm worried I will miss out on being able to participate fully if not.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to read etc for a good background / or overviews of helpful concepts / terminology. I guess it could be LPC / uni type textbooks but again, recommendations / suggestions would be really appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
I have 3 vacation schemes coming up this summer. I'm really excited but feel quite underprepared in terms of knowledge. I haven't done my LPC yet, my paralegal experience is not commercial and I didn't really study commercial law modules at university.
I'm hoping we are not expected to have too much knowledge but I would like to have a more general understanding before starting than I do now. I'm worried I will miss out on being able to participate fully if not.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to read etc for a good background / or overviews of helpful concepts / terminology. I guess it could be LPC / uni type textbooks but again, recommendations / suggestions would be really appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
Congrats on getting 3 VS for the summer! Clearly they’ve seen that you have the skills and knowledge (and potential) to get a training contract and further demonstrate that at a VS, so in all honesty I wouldn’t worry very much about being underprepared. Secondly, there are likely going to be non-law students in the scheme and everyone is expected to do the same tasks etc so again don’t think too much about being underprepared because you clearly are if you got into the scheme in the first place. I do know that the law students on my scheme we’re expected to know contract law quiet well and it was advised before the final interview to revise some modules so that would be my only bit of advise if you have time. Even as a non law student (with no real legal experience) I was asked questions about contract law (although assessed as someone who hadn’t studied it). I’d also recommend getting Christopher Stokes book “all you need to know about the city” and Jake Schogger’s commercial law handbook which were both i drape silbe as ways that I built up my commercial knowledge/what’s the day-to-day life of a lawyer. I’d also recommend listening to podcasts when you have some free time, two of my favourites are commercial awareness with Watson’s Daily and the weekly money talks podcast by the Economist! All of this is good if you have the time to do it, but I really wouldn’t stress out too much about it as they’re looking for a range of skills like team work, presentation, written skills and problem solving alongside the technical knowledge. Make sure to be yourself, be friendly and stay calm as that’s the best way to enjoy the experience which is likely to produce the best results! Hope that helps
I think @thirdtimelucky has given you an excellent perspective on this already. The best part about law, and specifically commercial law if I can say so myself, is that non-legal/non-commercial experience is just as important as legal/commercial experience in helping you understand how you can relate with a diverse range of people and serve your clients pointedly.
There will always be links between your work as a paralegal and your non-commercial legal studies and the work you're looking to do in commercial law- you just need to spend some time introspecting to make those links more apparent.
Commercial lawyers need to be excellent communicators, be responsive, work really well with teams in their own firms but also beyond, preempt issues that may arise in a deal/case and look at their clients' problems from all angles (economic, legal, policy, political etc.). Your non-commercial studies and work can undoubtedly help you demonstrate that you can do all these things well as long as you pick the right examples and find the best links.
Wishing you the best fro your vac schemes!
Hello everyone I took a really long break from applications but am back to doing direct TC applications now. Hope everyone is well.
Anyone still waiting to hear back from Akin Gump post WG.
Anyone still waiting to hear back from Akin Gump post WG.
Did anyone apply for the government legal scheme?
Orrick update! Apparently they're finalising the short list and will be releasing the outcome of the written assessment within the next week
Hey @georgiejg,
Congratulations on your three schemes! 💪 This is awesome news and a huge achievement.
I agree with @thirdtimelucky about Watson's Daily and Jake Schogger's book. Jake's Training Contract Handbook is invaluable in my experience. @AvniD's point about non-commercial/legal experience still being relevant and important is also spot on.
One thing that I would say is that the expectation of legal knowledge in vacation schemes varies between firms. For example, at White & Case we were all given standardised tasks (in addition to some work given directly by our supervisors), whereas at HSF and Akin there was one standardised task that everyone did, but the majority was supervisor-led. So if you can, try to gain an idea of how you are likely to be assessed. If you are being assessed alongside other non-law students for some of the vacation scheme, I think @thirdtimelucky is right that you will not be expected to be extremely hot on your legal knowledge for those parts (although this will help either way).
I was a non-law student (pre-PGDL) when I did my vacation schemes, so I can only really speculate on what was expected of law students. I would guess that firms are likely to see some evidence of legal knowledge from you. My advice would be to have a look on LinkedIn and see whether there are any other students/trainees who did the scheme and ask them about the firm's expectations. If you can find out from someone who did the scheme as a pre-LPC law student, even better.
Listening to a commercial news podcast daily/every other day, reading Watson's Daily (if you can afford it) and having a look through the resources mentioned above will set you in good stead.
As a more generic piece of advice for anyone doing vacation schemes, my advice is always to use an executive summary (as far as possible) in your written tasks.
Please do reach out any time if you would like any further thoughts or advice! Excited to hear how they go 🚀
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Honestly, you should be able to arrange a short interview before the work day starts or after it ends, and if not, you can claim something university-related (e.g. a compulsory debrief with your advisor)!
James Carrabino
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This is really inspiring - congratulations!!
Hi Georgie! I thought I'd share a really useful piece of advice my mam was told by someone in charge of recruitment at a firm who she met on a train (long story I know). While you're going to be doing loads of group activities and networking, make sure the firm has some concrete work from you to assess you on at the end of the VS- apparently a lot of candidates stumble here by devoting too much time to networking, meeting people etc. so make sure you're really utilising your time the best you can
Congrats on getting three VS!
Jessica Booker
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Your screen name (it might be where I am reading it as Pasta rather than Past A....) 🤣Hi Georgie! I thought I'd share a really useful piece of advice my mam was told by someone in charge of recruitment at a firm who she met on a train (long story I know). While you're going to be doing loads of group activities and networking, make sure the firm has some concrete work from you to assess you on at the end of the VS- apparently a lot of candidates stumble here by devoting too much time to networking, meeting people etc. so make sure you're really utilising your time the best you can
Congrats on getting three VS!
The scheme is running this year but the advert has not been posted yet. Keep an eye out for it online
I've got a vac scheme in the summer, and just received an invite for an assessment day for a TC from another firm which is during the scheme. My question is, does anyone know whether a firm will allow you to take a day off during a vac scheme for a good reason?
For anyone looking to apply for Macfarlanes direct TC application this cycle I have some helpful advice.
Yesterday I sattended an event at Weil about reasonable adjustements and spoke to Macfarlanes graduate revruitment.
They require a high 2.1 which states it on their website but graduate recruitment said that they do consider people with a low 2.1 or a 2.2 with mitigating circumstances like if you got a 2.1 overall you still have a good chance so do an application.
Secondly in regards gto the resilliance question it can bre academic or personal they said they have seen examples of personal experiences of resilliance.
I hope this is helpful.
Yesterday I sattended an event at Weil about reasonable adjustements and spoke to Macfarlanes graduate revruitment.
They require a high 2.1 which states it on their website but graduate recruitment said that they do consider people with a low 2.1 or a 2.2 with mitigating circumstances like if you got a 2.1 overall you still have a good chance so do an application.
Secondly in regards gto the resilliance question it can bre academic or personal they said they have seen examples of personal experiences of resilliance.
I hope this is helpful.
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