TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[lolasparks]

DLA sent last night - sooo happy but so anxious at the same time. How can I best prepare in case I do get to the AC

We are pleased to tell you that you have successfully achieved the benchmark and will now be considered for a place at one of our in-person assessment centres.

Please be aware that although you have successfully reached this stage of the process you may not secure a space at an assessment centre. With limited spaces, we will now consider all who have reached this stage and shortlist. Please do not worry if you don’t hear from us, we are working hard to update everyone as soon as is possible.

Was this for London?

 

[Andrei Radu]

For the question: "Tell us why you want to become a solicitor, and with reference to your experience so far, explain how your skills are suited to the role."

1) Should I take this as being a commercial solicitor?
2) Would it be okay to say that one of the reasons relates to seeing the impact of my work in the real business world and then give an example of experiences where I have seen the impact of my work (for example as a tutor and seeing results for my students) even though it doesn't relate to the business world? or is that too far-fetched?

1. I think the short answer is yes, though perhaps I would put less emphasis on the 'commercial-interest' side of your answer than in your standard 'why commercial law' answer. It might be a good idea to try to integrate an explanation of your interest in commercial law within your broader 'why do i want to be a solicitor' reasoning.

2. I do not think it is at all a bad idea - the experience can still be very valuable concrete evidence that you do care about concrete impact. This for instance can explain why your general interest in legal work is not pushing you to become an academic rather than a practitioner. However, I think this will not suffice as a standalone reason for why you want to be a solicitor. When you take all your reasons together, make sure that they can explain why you want to be a solicitor instead of (i) another role with an impact in the world of business (say, in consulting or finance) and (ii) other law-related roles, such as a barrister, civil worker or academic.

 

[g.cl.2020344]

It’s nice to see Ashurst did string a lot of us along for 7 weeks. Knowing damn well they’ve could’ve rejected us in September. Ridiculous to say the least.

100% I haven't heard back since my application in September its mad

 

[g.cl.2020344]

Still haven't heard back from W&C since my application at the beginning of September, when people r having ACs. Kinda ridiculous, surely just reject me?!

 

[Andrei Radu]

DLA sent last night - sooo happy but so anxious at the same time. How can I best prepare in case I do get to the AC

We are pleased to tell you that you have successfully achieved the benchmark and will now be considered for a place at one of our in-person assessment centres.

Please be aware that although you have successfully reached this stage of the process you may not secure a space at an assessment centre. With limited spaces, we will now consider all who have reached this stage and shortlist. Please do not worry if you don’t hear from us, we are working hard to update everyone as soon as is possible.

Hey @Audric_T and congratulations on passing the benchmark! I have quoted bellow a post I recently made about preparing for a DLA Piper AC:

Regarding DLA Piper-specific interview preparation resources, I thought to link the TCLA Interview Experiences page we have for the firm. It was written by other people who completed the AC in the past and gives you both a detailed description of the experience and some advice. This resource was particularly useful for me when I was preparing for ACs at other firms, so I do advise you to take a look - you can access it here. You can also find a more recent added post on this for the 2023/24 cycle here.

Besides that, I thought it may be useful to also link some more general preparation resources for you. I have recently wrote a comprehensive guide for the competency interviews specifically. This includes a step-by-step preparation approach which led to me getting a VS offer from atop US/MC firm 4/4 times I implemented it last year. You can access that here.

I also have here three amazing guides written by @Jacob Miller:

• One for case studies
• One for negotiations
• One for general interview preparation.

 

[g.cl.2020344]

I emailed W&C asking for an update last week and they said as soon as they have an update they will be in touch... so I'm v confused

 

[g.cl.2020344]

Please put me out of my misery dechert

have u done the written assessment or AC? I did mt written assessment three weeks ago and nothing since

 

[legal18]

1. I think the short answer is yes, though perhaps I would put less emphasis on the 'commercial-interest' side of your answer than in your standard 'why commercial law' answer. It might be a good idea to try to integrate an explanation of your interest in commercial law within your broader 'why do i want to be a solicitor' reasoning.

2. I do not think it is at all a bad idea - the experience can still be very valuable concrete evidence that you do care about concrete impact. This for instance can explain why your general interest in legal work is not pushing you to become an academic rather than a practitioner. However, I think this will not suffice as a standalone reason for why you want to be a solicitor. When you take all your reasons together, make sure that they can explain why you want to be a solicitor instead of (i) another role with an impact in the world of business (say, in consulting or finance) and (ii) other law-related roles, such as a barrister, civil worker or academic.

Thank you so much!!

On your first point, how would you recommend differentiating answers where they ask why you want to be a commercial solicitor vs. a solicitor.

My first reason for answering this question was going to be that I enjoy working in a business context and then go into examples of where I have adopted a commercial/innovative mindest. Should I rethink this? Or should I just have an opening sentence that I want to become a commercial solicitor?

 

[Andrei Radu]

Thank you so much!!

On your first point, how would you recommend differentiating answers where they ask why you want to be a commercial solicitor vs. a solicitor.

My first reason for answering this question was going to be that I enjoy working in a business context and then go into examples of where I have adopted a commercial/innovative mindest. Should I rethink this? Or should I just have an opening sentence that I want to become a commercial solicitor?

I think ideally I would try to bled the commercial interest into the 'why solicitor in general' reasons rather than have a distinct 'why a commercial solicitor specifically', so as not to make any recruiter doubt I was copy pasting a more standard why commercial law answer. However, I think your approach is fine as long as when taken in conjunct all your reasons still clearly show why you want to be a solicitor instead of any of the aforementioned related roles, whether in the business or legal world.

 

[Deleted member 37508]

Still haven't heard back from W&C since my application at the beginning of September, when people r having ACs. Kinda ridiculous, surely just reject me?!

I’d honestly give up with them. How I see it is the vacation scheme starts in less than a month. They’ve given offers already and the odd VI. They keep saying to wait as they’ll get back but they’ll get back with a rejection. It boils my blood that all the firms for winter have found it acceptable to leave applicants waiting for months. I understand it’s a busy period but surely someone can take up the duty to inform the unsuccessful applicants every 2 weeks or so. The only WVS I’m holing out for is HL seeing as they closed 1 week ago but have already hosted an AC.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi, for my Gowling application, would it be better to write about my legal work experience (full time jobs) rather than talk about vac schemes which are more recent than some of my work experience? I guess there is no right or wrong answer. I am leaning towards talking about my work experience but it feels strange not to include any of my VSs.

Ideally I would try to talk about both. However, if you have to choose I would just base my decision on what examples from either the VS/the more substantive work experience work better to illustrate your points.

One other thing to keep in mind when deciding is also how competitive the application process for the full time job was. As VSs are known to be highly competitive, mentioning them might make the recruiter automatically look at your application with different eyes so to speak.

 

[g.cl.2020344]

I’d honestly give up with them. How I see it is the vacation scheme starts in less than a month. They’ve given offers already and the odd VI. They keep saying to wait as they’ll get back but they’ll get back with a rejection. It boils my blood that all the firms for winter have found it acceptable to leave applicants waiting for months. I understand it’s a busy period but surely someone can take up the duty to inform the unsuccessful applicants every 2 weeks or so. The only WVS I’m holing out for is HL seeing as they closed 1 week ago but have already hosted an AC.

yeah I think the ship has sailed w W&C which is such a shame cos I applied so early and really liked them... Yeah who knows how HL will go cos I did their WG assesment but idk if I passed it

 

[g.cl.2020344]

it's just sad that we put so much effort into these apps and don't hear back for months- a quicker rejection would be a lot better than nothing for two months

 

[Hskajab]

Thanks - was your AC for the direct TC or the WVS?

Winter VS

 

[tarty23]

How much do people think a 2.1 is a disadvantage to having a first?

 

[Tom smith]

Hi, if I have two open days I got onto on the same day, is it worth emailing one of them to see if I can change to a later open day they are running?

 

[Bubbles O_O]

Paul, Weiss and Goodwin Procter open days invites!

 

[Unknowncabbage]

Is everybody still waiting on Linklaters to get back for the open day?

 

[BT0901]

No other firm has put me off from working there as much as Sidley. I applied in August, knowing they recruit on a rolling basis. I emailed their GR mid-October to ask if they could let me know of their decision soon since I had to book off my annual leave. They promised to respond at the end of October but still nothing. People have already announced their offers on Linkedin. Why is it so difficult to send an email saying that my application has been unsuccessful.

 

[KSV]

Are we likely to be asked about the US election and how it might impact the UK in our law firm interviews? I understand it will depend on individual firms (maybe US/non-US) but in general, is it likely?