TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Tintin06]

Guys is this true or is this what they usually say as a PFO?

I got White & Case VI and AC without any Open Day - they're not essential, but they are nice to do, and some of them are still open for applications such as Cooley and W&C. Chin up and keep plugging away at it. Something will come up.

 

[lolasparks]

Anyone completed the Latham and Watkins online test?

 

[Brandon93]

Hi everyone, just a quick question about 'best friends' network. Say, for example, Macfarlanes regularly collaborates with Latham in the US. Is it that Macfarlanes is limited to working with Latham in the US or can they chose any firm they want to partner with based on the type of work?

 

[Amehta1]

HSF rejection :/ so far only rejections losing hope again

Hey, was this after AC?

 

[yeezyee]

For career changers/older applicants with more experience. How far back are you going with work experience? Is the past five years sufficient or do I go further back!?

 

[Tsitsipas10S]

If anyone could help with this, I'd be very grateful - if one SC firm recruits solely from its vacation scheme, and another has 50-100% from direct applications (and the rest through the vacation scheme), would my chances be higher of being offered a TC after a vacation scheme from the firm that recruits solely through its vacation scheme?

They have a similar number of TCs on offer.

Thanks!

 

[gazdgazd11]

Hey, was this after AC?

No, passing the SJT and application only

 

[cjwx]

Did anyone else apply for the Eversheds Sutherland open day? I applied but did not receive an email confirmation. There was no test or anything.

 

[Jessica Booker]

For career changers/older applicants with more experience. How far back are you going with work experience? Is the past five years sufficient or do I go further back!?

You can use your discretion with this as to what you think is appropriate but generally I would provide as many entries as possible even if it is going back some time.

For instance, I probably wouldn’t list all my part time jobs separately I did from 14-21 but I would list out the ski season I worked at the age of 18 because it was a full time role and for a period of time I was out of education.

 

[l789]

You can use your discretion with this as to what you think is appropriate but generally I would provide as many entries as possible even if it is going back some time.

For instance, I probably wouldn’t list all my part time jobs separately I did from 14-21 but I would list out the ski season I worked at the age of 18 because it was a full time role and for a period of time I was out of education.

Is 10 or more work experience entries too much. Idk if graduate recruitment would become a bit restless with reading so many 200 - 250word entries. On top of their application questions ?

 

[Deleted member 37508]

Does Latham give a feedback report after doing the test and video interview I have completed it no feedback report as of yet.

 

[Anastasia Eliades]

hey hey did everyone hear back from the ashurst post written exam?

 

[member7830]

does anyone have advice on what to wear to an in person open day? would you say full suit with blazer? or are formal trousers with a v neck jumper enough

 

[Jessica Booker]

Is 10 or more work experience entries too much. Idk if graduate recruitment would become a bit restless with reading so many 200 - 250word entries. On top of their application questions ?

Most likely yes - you don't always have to write 250 words though, and especially if there are older entries that are effectively superseeded my more recent ones.

 

[Jessica Booker]

does anyone have advice on what to wear to an in person open day? would you say full suit with blazer? or are formal trousers with a v neck jumper enough

I would check if the firm has given you any guidance on this, but generally I would say smart trousers and a v neck jumper with a collared shirt or blouse is okay.

You generally don't need to be in a full suit and even if you did go in one, you'd probably take your jacket off anyway.

 

[l789]

Most likely yes - you don't always have to write 250 words though, and especially if there are older entries that are effectively superseeded my more recent ones.

Thank you!

I will take not of this and evaluate.

 

[jasonbourne]

Hey guys, I wanted to ask how I should go about answering a 'Tell me about yourself' question.

I'm not sure if there is a specific format for answering this when it comes to legal applications, or how else I should go about it

 

[lolasparks]

Does Latham give a feedback report after doing the test and video interview I have completed it no feedback report as of yet.

Hey was it just one question for the video interview?

 

[Deleted member 37508]

I got Linklater feedback report. Strengths Working with others & Excellence.

Scored lower in resource and work management - ‘prefer to not take ownership of tasks’

I know I can’t change the outcome but I feel like I’ve really messed this up. Ownership of work is a huge thing in law. Am I overthinking this?

 

[Andrei Radu]

No worries! Happy to continue here.

So, I was hoping to understand the sources of the research that you did for DPW’s profile. I have used Chambers Student and Legal Cheek so far, but I am looking for more detailed sources to get a comprehensive outlook.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

I have quoted bellow here some posts I wrote detailing both (i) my further research sources beyond the ones you mentioned; and (ii) my thinking process in determining what to look out for when trying to analyse a firm's practice areas beyond Chambers/Legal 500 rankings. I think you may find them quite useful. In conjunction, I feel they encapsulate the basic research "theory" I relied on when working as a Law Firm Profile Writer for TCLA, and which enabled me to write profiles like the Davis Polk one. However, please do let me know if you have any other questions about researching firms in general, or researching DPW in particular.

Hi @tarty23! I think this depends on the practice area in question, but my main sources for in-depth research would be:

• The general legal press: The Lawyer (I found it particularly useful), Law.com, Legal Business, The Global Legal Post, Bloomberg Law, Vault etc. My method would be to just type in the name of the firm in the publication's search bar and then skim/read all the articles that came up. You can also add filters with key words such as the name of the practice area. You will find many interesting analyses comparing the features and relative strengths of firms' practices. However, some of these resources are only available with a subscription. Make sure to check if your university/workplace has a subscription, as in my case it did.
• Practice area/industry-specific publications and organizations: you will find organizations publishing statistics and articles on law firm's performances. This is highly-depended on the practice area and sectors you are researching, but for instance in the M&A context Mergermarket and LSE publishes data as to deal volume and deal value of firms worldwide and in different regions.
• Awards: you can also assess the firm's practice area further by seeing what awards relating to it they have recently won - if they do better than other firms in a similar band ranking, you could infer from a superior quality from that.
• Lateral moves and notable practitioners: by searching on google/legal publications you can analyze the practice area more in depth by looking at any notable recent hires or recent losses. Also, take a look at their leading individual practitioners, as some will also have individual chambers rankings and profile. For instance, by knowing that Paul, Weiss managed to hire Neel Sachdev (who many commentators think is the best leverage finance lawyer in the City), you can infer they will have superior expertise to other leverage finance practices.
• Firm interactions: One of the best ways of learning more about a firm's practice area in the context of its competitors is by discussing this topic with a more senior lawyer in that practice area at the firm. They will know a lot more about it and this could save you a lot of research time.

However, I will add that although general reputation/market recognition is an important feature in assessing a firm's practice area, it does not necessarily tell the full story. Other aspects you may consider include: what is the size of the practice area within the firm, and how important of a revenue generator is it? how many practitioners and partners does it have, and does it punch above its weight in terms of impact when compared to the sizes of similarly ranked firms? what is the history of the practice area within the firm - has it seen a lot of recent growth, or has it always been a core part of the firm's practice? and what are the firm's plans in the future for it? does the firm have a very strong reputation only in the UK, or also in other important jurisdictions and globally? are there any specific features of the practice's client base as compared to that of its rivals'? are there any particular sectors that the practice has particular expertise in? how is the practice areas subdivided between different teams? are there any specific high-end mandates that the firm has recently won - and what might you infer from that regarding the market position of the firm's practice area as compared to that of its rivals'? are there any more specific awards and recognitions for the relevant practice area, besides the usual Chambers/Legal 500 rankings? when taken together with other strong practice areas of the firm, are there significant cross-selling opportunities? When you start researching all of these questions, you will find that although initially two practices might have looked very similar because they had the same Chambers band ranking, they have many features that can differentiate them. Once you identify those, you can consider why those more specific features could be of benefit you/be of interest. This way, you can eventually end up with a truly unique practice-area based USP.

To give you a more concrete example - when I was applying to Davis Polk, I saw they had a band 5 Chambers UK corporate M&A ranking. Initially, I thought it would be difficult to write a persuasive USP based on that, as there were other firms with higher corporate M&A Chambers UK rankings. However, upon further research, I found out that (i) Davis Polk had s significantly smaller corporate M&A practice than any of the other ranked firms - with less than 1/3 of the total number of practitioners than similarly ranked firms; (ii) Davis Polk was ranked as the most efficient corporate practice in the UK, with the highest Revenue Per Lawyer (RPL) and Revenue Per Partner (RPP) of any firm; (iii) Davis Polk globally had the highest average corporate deal value of any firm - suggesting a low volume/high value model; (iv) Davis Polk had won various corporate/PE deal of the year or team of the year awards. When taking all these factors together, it was easy to think of an USP in terms of Davis Polk a small but extremely high quality practice, which I could then connect to my motivations to be a become a great corporate lawyer and to work in small teams.