TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2023-24

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Jessica Booker

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I need some advice from you guys - do you think it's a good idea to have my notes open in a Word document during a virtual assessment centre? This would include things like situations for standard competency questions or points about why I'm interested in the firm. On one hand, I believe it might help me stay more relaxed, but on the other hand, I'm concerned about becoming overly dependent on these notes 😥

What do you do? (I only had in person ACs so far so this was not an option haha)
If you do it, make sure they are very short key words rather when what you would say out loud. Otherwise you will read it like it’s a script or speech and this can come across as disingenuous.
 
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Jessica Booker

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@Jessica Booker- I want to purchase one of the TCLA written exercise packs as I have my first-ever AC written exercise coming up (OC AC), I was wondering which one I should select between the Technical written exercise and the Legal and Commercial Analysis written exercise. What is the difference between the two? Thanks :)
Tagging in @Jaysen or @Erin who will be able to provide you with more detail.
 

axelbeugre

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Hey Axel, thanks for sharing this.

What criteria would you recommend using to draw comparison between a firm and it's competitors?
I would say:
  1. Presence of a specific practice area which is innovative for the financial, economic and socio-political considerations around competitors.
  2. International presence: how many offices they have in the world, what areas of the world are covered by the firm which are not by others.
  3. Training contract structure and opportunities: are there opportunities in this law firm which are not present in others?
  4. Talent retention: how many people stay at the firm after qualification?
I would take these into consideration. There are definitely more to take into account but you cannot necessarily consider everything so make sure to consider what you can and what will make your answer effective and will make the firm you are referring to shine compared to others.
 

MrHubertLouis

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What’s the rule regarding choosing whether a work experience is SQE qualifying? Coz in a few applications, I ticked “yes” for my current role coz I am doing a mixture of paralegal and business operations work, but I’ve never had a chat with my employer about whether it is actually QWE or not. SQE states that QWE is “any experience of providing legal services that offers you the opportunity to develop some or all of the competencies needed to practice as a solicitor”. Will I be in trouble if it turns out it’s not QWE?
 

jesslawapps

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Oct 17, 2023
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For interview questions such as "Tell us about a time you have been resilient" and "When have you faced and overcome obstacles" are firms unlikely to ask both of these or are they looking for different answers for each. Also, is it the STARR or PEE method we should be using when trying to structure our responses? Thanks in advance :)
 
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