TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2023-24

[axelbeugre]

Preparing for SQE 1 exams which take place next week whilst simultaneously applying to firms for VS and paralegal roles has been incredibly stressful. Getting rejections can seriously dampen your mood which affects the energy with which you prepare for exams.

But those who will be sitting the SQE exams next week - best of luck with the exams and the law firm applications. We've got this!

Good luck with the exam, I am sure you will be great at it!
I totally sympathise with the stress and anxiety you might be under but you are working so hard to achieve your goals and I am sure that your future is bright and all the effort you are putting in now will pay off in the near future. You are showing perseverance, bravery, tenacity and strength through this process and I am sure that any law firm will be lucky to have you.

Good luck with your journey and good luck for the SQE!

 

[Deleted member 27336]

I'm reading through my answer for Covington before I submit. I am worrying whether I have answered the question too specifically.

The question is: Focusing on a particular practice group at the firm, what challenges and opportunities do you foresee over the next 12 months?

Looking at the Cov website, practice areas are siloed into: Corporate, Litigations and Investigations, Regulatory and Public Policy and then Industries and Issues.

On chambers, they are listed as being: 'Trainees are able to choose two seats from five practice areas: Corporate, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Life Sciences Regulatory, Life Sciences Transactional, Project Development and Finance, and Technology Regulatory.'

I have written an answer on the challenges and opportunities in Project Dev and Finance - specifically focusing on the renewable PF, but I am now wondering if it should be PF in general (which seems overly broad), or even wider challenges and opportunities facing their corporate practice for instance...

I interpreted it more specifically - I wrote about technology regulatory

 

[lowlynonlawapplicant]

Hey everyone - first time poster here! I've recieved one assessment day for Cleary Gottlieb and one final-stage interview for Slaughters (as for vac schemes they have no ACs). I was wondering, at this stage, what my chances of securing an offer for a vac scheme were? I know the answer won't change anything as I will prepare in the same way. But I was wondering nonetheless.

 

[Xx123_]

They called me two days after the AC and no I did not see it coming, im still in shock now. I mean im going to assume I passed all the sections since I got the scheme but im not sure they dont really dive into your results, they gave me feedback on areas to work on and said I really impressed in my partner inrerview but idk.

Hi I have an upcoming AC with Links - do you have any advice for the case study section? I’m really nervous about it

 

[sxw517]

I interpreted it more specifically - I wrote about technology regulatory

Thanks!

 

[Sunshinepink]

Hello, is the Akin online assessment automatic or because you're onto the next stage?

 

[Sunshinepink]

Akin PFO. Genuinely heartbroken

Was this post initial application or post online assessment?

 

[law2022x]

Hello, is the Akin online assessment automatic or because you're onto the next stage?

It seems like it's after they review your app but I also haven't seen anyone with a rejection post-app so I'm left slightly confused...

 

[babylawyer1942]

anyone know what they mean by "please give details" under the language skills section in applications ?

 

[Seven]

anyone know what they mean by "please give details" under the language skills section in applications ?

Native/Intermediate/Basic/Fluent etc. I think.

 

[Manuchelsout]

Any HL summer AC invites

 

[Legalstalker]

Happy Friday everyone!!
If anyone needs a sign of motivation here it is…

1. This is my first cycle applying
2. Yes I have applied to way too Many firms
3. Yes I have a rejections sheet which is just as impressive 😭
4. I probably won’t get any offers due to the sheer amount I have applied to but I’ve found joy in applying.
5. how did I find the time? I had a week or so off of work as I was sick and used that time to apply x Christmas break.

I had a mind block after my Fieldfisher PFO post TI and wanted to give up all together. But I’d say rejection pushed me to apply to more places. There are some firms I’ve put more effort into than others, and others I applied to just to improve my understanding of tests.

 

[Manuchelsout]

Happy Friday everyone!!
If anyone needs a sign of motivation here it is…

1. This is my first cycle applying
2. Yes I have applied to way too Many firms
3. Yes I have a rejections sheet which is just as impressive 😭
4. I probably won’t get any offers due to the sheer amount I have applied to but I’ve found joy in applying.
5. how did I find the time? I had a week or so off of work as I was sick and used that time to apply x Christmas break.

I had a mind block after my Fieldfisher PFO post TI and wanted to give up all together. But I’d say rejection pushed me to apply to more places. There are some firms I’ve put more effort into than others, and others I applied to just to improve my understanding of tests.
View attachment 5556

Good application tracker and that is impressive for 1st cycle

 

[Jessica Booker]

Same! I have also already applied last month. Is this worrying?

No - I suspect there is either a technical or human fault in utilising a candidate database, whether that be something like Vantage or their own data they have collected. If you attended multiple events with them, it could easily be that they have your email on their database multiples times (and just haven’t tidied the data up of duplicates).

 

[Jessica Booker]

If you had a very glaringly obvious mistake in your CV (one of the headers), should you email the firm to give them an updated CV? Idk how I missed it

You can do, but they most likely will only take the first one. No harm in sending it anyway, just in case though

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hey guys, where do you begin looking when a firm says "what work have we done recently that interests you" I never know where to begin researching as a lot of things firms do are only reported on their website (from what I can tell), so it's difficult to draw 250-300 words out on this. I'd appreciate any advice on where to look and how to go about answering this 🤗🙏

Looking at their Legal 500 or Chambers profile (the “client” version, not the student version), can be helpful in finding out about individual matters. There may lack detail about those matters, but then further research into the client or the news story can often pick up different articles that describe more of the content of the matter for you to consider.

 

[Jessica Booker]

I have my first AC of the cycle on 16 Jan.

Group exercises seem like something that is essentially hard to prepare for (aside from commercial knowledge that might assist the scenario). Does anyone have advice about what I could do to prepare? The AC is CMS London if that helps more with the specifics.

I appreciate any advice.

I don’t think you can prepare for group exercises. Just go in with a willingness to collaborate with everyone else (don’t dominate proceedings), and try to be flexible/adaptable in your thinking and approach. Make sure you get your ideas forward, get consensus for those ideas from your group, and be supportive (where appropriate) of good ideas of other people.

 

[Jessica Booker]

I'm reading through my answer for Covington before I submit. I am worrying whether I have answered the question too specifically.

The question is: Focusing on a particular practice group at the firm, what challenges and opportunities do you foresee over the next 12 months?

Looking at the Cov website, practice areas are siloed into: Corporate, Litigations and Investigations, Regulatory and Public Policy and then Industries and Issues.

On chambers, they are listed as being: 'Trainees are able to choose two seats from five practice areas: Corporate, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Life Sciences Regulatory, Life Sciences Transactional, Project Development and Finance, and Technology Regulatory.'

I have written an answer on the challenges and opportunities in Project Dev and Finance - specifically focusing on the renewable PF, but I am now wondering if it should be PF in general (which seems overly broad), or even wider challenges and opportunities facing their corporate practice for instance...

I think this will be fine. I wouldn’t worry about it being more specific to one practice area.

 

[Jessica Booker]

anyone know what they mean by "please give details" under the language skills section in applications ?

I would give the level of fluency you are at within that language both from a speaking and writing perspective.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hey everyone - first time poster here! I've recieved one assessment day for Cleary Gottlieb and one final-stage interview for Slaughters (as for vac schemes they have no ACs). I was wondering, at this stage, what my chances of securing an offer for a vac scheme were? I know the answer won't change anything as I will prepare in the same way. But I was wondering nonetheless.

Unfortunately no one can determine this for you. Your chances will be determined by how you perform in the assessments, not by how many people are involved in the process.typically there will be 2-3 candidates for every vacancy at the final stage, but if the firm needed to interview more candidates, they would just do this (or hire fewer people if this was not an option).