TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[josiemusgra]

Any tips on how to prepare or research around a 1-page pre-read material provided 3 days before a written exercise for an AC?

 

[marisachr]

Need help with this Withers application question -
''If your favourite childhood toy suddenly came to life, what advice would you give it today? (60 words max)''. These law firms are getting too creative 🤣 @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu

 

[RonRod13]

Any tips on how to prepare or research around a 1-page pre-read material provided 3 days before a written exercise for an AC?

Which firm is this for?

 

[Parsorandini]

There is no objectively correct framework to use for all your work experiences - the level of detail you should go into highly depends on the experience itself and you will have to make some judgement calls as to what will add most value to your application. However, I think it will be useful to explain (a) the criteria for determining level of appropriate detail you should go into; and (b) the right writing style and structure

(A) Criteria to determine what level detail is desirable in a work experience
A paradigmatic example of a very substantive role you should try to explain in detail is a working as a paralegal for a commercial law firm for a few years. This is a role that:

1. Was long term and took up large amounts of your time;
2. Included many varied sets of tasks and responsibilities;
3. Probably enabled you to develop many relevant skills for a trainee's job;
4. Probably has a number of links you can make to various 'why commercial law' and 'why the firm' reasons;
5. Probably included some specific moments when you performed well-above the expectations;

Since it scores well in all, I would try to use all the available word count to describe the experience as thoroughly as possible. I will however caveat this by adding that these five points do not necessarily include all the relevant considerations - they are simply the ones I used to guide my writing. As such, if you can think of further criteria to add, you should definitely do so.

For illustrative purposes, a work experience at the other end of the spectrum could be a one-day role at your university where you get to help out with organizing some event. This role (i) was not long term, (ii) did not have many varied responsibilities; (iii) while it contributed to the development of some skills, the development will not have been very significant; (iv) probably does not have many element that can be linked to commercial law or the firm; (v) probably does not have many moments where you could really impress. As such, when describing this experience, I would not do more than write a few short sentences explaining my basic tasks.

Now, between these two experiences at opposite ends of the spectrum there are many in that sit in between, scoring well on some metrics but not others. This is where you will have to make some judgement calls. There is no objective way to determine the weigh you should place on each criterion and to what level of detail that should translate to. Moreover, the question of how elaborate your writing should be will also depend on the context of your other work experiences. If you have many other work experiences which are more relevant, this should be a consideration in favor of more brevity - beyond a certain point, including more and more information will just reduce the impact any specific more impressive point of information could have made on a recruiter. In a similar vein, the extent to which you reference an experience in other parts of the application should be considered.

Nonetheless, do not be too worries about these judgement calls you have to make. Recruiters are well aware that there is no objectively correct 'model' answer when describing work experiences. If you think about them carefully and use your common sense, I would be very surprised for this to be dragging your applications down.

(b) Structure and Style
An part of work experience writing that many people do not focus on enough is structure and style. Since many candidates have several work experiences and since these sections have less clear assessment criteria than application form questions, I would argue that style and structure is as important if not more than in the other parts of the application. Many often when applicants write poor work experience description this is not due to substantive aspects regarding the level of detail they went into, but simply that they employed a more verbose and less clear manner of writing than they would in an motivational question/cover letter answer. If you avoid this mistake, I believe any perceived inadequacies regarding levels of detail in the description will be looked on much more favorably by recruiters.

As such, for style, I advise you to go for the same 'to the point' writing you should use when writing a 'Why the firm' or 'Why commercial law' answer. Even if you have a higher word count limit for a work experience section or you have less points to include, do not interpret that as an excuse to be wordy. Critically examine your writing and ask yourself if any given sentence or part of a sentence is: (i) contains information that is necessary to be communicated; (ii) that cannot be communicated in a shorter manner; and (iii) that cannot be communicated in a simpler manner. If the answer is ever 'no', think about how you can rephrase your point.

The question of structure is unfortunately influenced by what your assessment based on the five criteria mentioned in the first section of this post. For more substantive experiences, I would use the STAR structure (Situation, Task, Action, Results). For less relevant experiences, I would simply aim to cover the essence of the experience in a few sentences. As a rule of thumb, I think any experience that requires you to write more than 100 words should be structured using STAR.

This is amazing and invaluable - thank you so much!!

 

[James Wakefield]

Anyone heard back from Cooley about the virtual open day coming up?

 

[Aspiringsolicitor01]

uhhh I am bombing these video interviews. What do people say when a question asks you, 'how do you build rappor with a client who is seeking to expand into a new market?' More specifically how do you speak for 2 minutes

 

[seaweed.bond]

uhhh I am bombing these video interviews. What do people say when a questions asks you, 'how do you build rappor with a client who is seeking to expand into a new market?'

Not an answer but a second cry for help 💀💀 could anyone who aces/passes VIs give any tips ?

Or @Ram Sabaratnam are there any entry articles on TCLA that give advice ?

 

[Apple]

uhhh I am bombing these video interviews. What do people say when a question asks you, 'how do you build rappor with a client who is seeking to expand into a new market?' More specifically how do you speak for 2 minutes

Something I noticed was that if I was nervous in a VI I'd talk really quickly, but its counterproductive because you blurt everything out 50 seconds in and have nothing left to say.

A structured approach to answering, i.e. having two clear things you address in turn, as well as talking slowly and clearly, are helpful for me. Although that is a fairly difficult question to answer on the spot.

 

[SoonToBeTrainee]

uhhh I am bombing these video interviews. What do people say when a question asks you, 'how do you build rappor with a client who is seeking to expand into a new market?' More specifically how do you speak for 2 minutes

This is such an odd question. The two things aren’t necessarily linked.

If the question was purely ‘how do you build a rapport with a client’, I’d understand.

But them expanding into a new market has little to do with how you’d build a rapport with them lol.

Answering video questions like these feel like the written applications at times. There’s little substance. It just feels like repetition, buzzwords, and corporate waffle.

 

[Apple]

This is such an odd question. The two things aren’t necessarily linked.

If the question was purely ‘how do you build a rapport with a client’, I’d understand.

But them expanding into a new market has little to do with how you’d build a rapport with them lol.

Asking about their motivations behind expansion is logical in terms of providing commercial advice, but that’s certainly dull, and not how I’d build a rapport

Could it not be that as the client is entering into a new market, and is perhaps less sure about what/how they will do things, you may need to establish a different sort of rapport than to a client who knows precisely what they want and their issue is more routine?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Need help with this Withers application question -
''If your favourite childhood toy suddenly came to life, what advice would you give it today? (60 words max)''. These law firms are getting too creative 🤣 @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu

As someone with neurodiversity, this question grates on me a lot.... it really doesn't work in your favourite toy was lego bricks, a bike or something that couldn't have a personality/character.

I think @Ram Sabaratnam does a great job in their advice on this same question by not focusing on the "toy" but actually the fact that the theoretical situation is an opportunity to reflect on the difference between childhood and being an adult. Ram's post is here:

TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

Which firms are biased in favour of younger applicants? Realistically where do I, as a 27-year old, have a chance? 27 is still very young and I was always under the impression US firms had more mid 20s onwards intakes.

www.thecorporatelawacademy.com

 

[Amjaya]

Anyone heard back from Cooley about the virtual open day coming up?

They said they would get back today!

 

[SoonToBeTrainee]

Could it not be that as the client is entering into a new market, and is perhaps less sure about what/how they will do things, you may need to establish a different sort of rapport than to a client who knows precisely what they want and their issue is more routine?

Yeah, that’s a very good point. I completely agree. I’m just not sure I’d build a rapport with the client in any different way.

It feels less like a question on rapport and more on ‘how would you advise this client differently’

It’s a difficult question. I’m not entirely sure how I’d answer tbh

 

[Jessica Booker]

HSF WVS offer!!! Unfortunately, the dates clash with my W&C WVS, so I am contemplating whether I should ask HSF to be moved to summer or spring, but I'll have to have some reason...Any ideas?

You don't need to hide you have another offer - most candidates who ask to move are going to do so because they have a competing offer.

 

[Audric_T]

Hi,
I received the email from DLA saying I had successfully passed the WG test a week ago and I was wondering how long it took for people who go the VI?

I got the vi a week later and the AC a week and a half after the VI but they shortlist every stag

 

[elsx]

I got the vi a week later and the AC a week and a half after the VI but they shortlist every stag

Okay thank you. I guess I'll see if I get something tomorrow and otherwise assume I wasn't shortlisted.

 

[Tintin06]

I’m getting a lot of messages about VIs. I’m not in a frame of mind to deal with these and have been depressed since not converting the VS I did in spring. I’m not sure how many more months of waiting I can take. I’m 27 and I was once told that if you don’t qualify by 30 it seriously impacts your chances of making Partner. That, plus my concern that multiple VSs raises questions about your abilities. I know resilience is important here but even so.

 

[hazanelson]

anyone heard back from baker's general open day - i applied on the deadline, and didn't realise it was rolling, so assuming rejection.

 

[lolololol]

just got a cooley open day pfo i am losing hope already 😭

 

[Aspiringsolicitor01]

I am really losing hope over VIs. Whenever I think I’ve got them nailed I get another scenario based one that I can’t understand how to fill 2 minutes without waffling