TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Ram Sabaratnam]

Hello, @Andrei Radu @vera.mekhonoshina @Jessica Booker. Could you please help me with how to structure this argument, do I use the STAR method do I just describe tasks which helped me develop competency skills?

Using the three pieces of work experience you have included above, please outline the skills these have enabled you to develop, that are transferable to the role of a Trainee Solicitor. (500 words)

Heya @V2002

I think @Andrei Radu @Amma Usman and @Jessica Booker would definitely have more to say here. But thought I'd add my two cents. I think using the STAR method is a great idea for structuring your response. It can provide your answer with clarity and organisation, making it easier for the reader to follow how each experience helped you develop relevant skills.

That said, the key here isn’t just structure. It’s about depth and reflection. A common pitfall I see when applicants approach these questions is that they describe their skills in overly generic terms, like “This experience helped me develop my written communication skills” or “This experience improved my teamwork abilities.” These descriptions are too generic and vague, offering little detail or insight into how the experience shaped these skills.

For example, if you’re discussing written communication skills, try to be more specific. Did your role involve a variety of writing tasks that taught you how to adjust your tone and style for different audiences? Did you learn to organise information clearly and concisely for a professional document or email? By showing this level of reflection, you demonstrate not just the skill itself but also your awareness of its nuances.

Another example would be when describing your 'research skills'. Did you learn how to assess the credibility of different sources or distil key insights for a specific audience? Did you develop techniques to manage large volumes of information effectively? Highlighting these specifics will make your examples stand out and show how the experience you're discussing has prepared you for the responsibilities of a trainee solicitor.

Ultimately, this question is asking you to showcase how these experiences helped you grow, not just stating the skills themselves. Using the STAR method will help structure your answer, but again use some reflection to answer this question with appropriate depth. Best of luck with your applications!

 

[Deleted member 37508]

Heya @IneedaTCASAP

Just following up on what cwhite233 said. Completely agree that they're a really nice mid-sized firm with a great culture. There’s been some excellent reporting on the firm in The Lawyer (which is unfortunately behind a paywall), but the firm has been doing particularly well from a financial standpoint. They essentially smashed their 2023/24 targets, achieving a 15% rise in revenue to £58.2m and a 61% increase in net profit to £11.5m. This brought their profit per equity partner (PEP) to £479,000, a 26% rise. It’s also worth noting that they acquired another firm, Moon Beever in 2021, and the managing partner Martin Arnold has announced the firm’s aim is to see consistent annual growth, with ambitions to reach £64m revenue by 2024/25.

From just a quick Google search, it seems the private client practice is really driving the firm's growth (in addition to their real estate work). They also made some important hires in this area, including Tim Maxwell and Rudy Capildeo from Charles Russell Speechlys, which will undoubtedly have improved their reputation among private wealth clients. Their new senior partner, Camilla Wallace, has also focused on improving working culture and employee satisfaction (You can find a little podcast they did here). Overall, if you’re interested in real estate matters and private client work, and want to join a firm that’s had an impressive growth trajectory, I’d encourage you to make an application! At the very least, an internship will give you much greater insight into this sort of work and their overall culture.

This is amazing. Thank you for this information @Ram Sabaratnam will definitely take it on board.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi All, I have recieved an A/C invite to DLA Piper - would anyone have any advice or support materials I could use to prepare please? I'm a bit nervous and new to the A/C process @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu (apologies, I saw others tagging you, so I hope its ok to ask for your help in this way also)

Hi @Nathan_CareerChanger and first of all huge congratulations on getting to the AC stage, it is a huge achievement! It is definitely alright to tag us, this is what we are here for - so feel free to do so as often as you need our help!

Now, for the DLA AC, I will first give you some DLA Piper-specific resources that I think will be helpful. This are just meant to familiarize you more with what you can expect and to allow you to identify any particular areas to focus on during your preparation.

• A thread where forum members were discussing their DLA Piper AC experiences
• A detailed post discussing interview experiences at DLA - this type of post was particularly useful for me when I was preparing for ACs last year.
• A shorter, similar post from the 2020 recruitment cycle
• A shorter, similar post from the 2022 recruitment cycle
• A shorter, similar post from the 2024 recruitment cycle

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 top US/MC firm 4/4 times I implemented it last year.

I also have here three amazing guides written by @Jacob Miller, which should prepare you for the other parts of the DLA AC:

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

 

[TJM23]

bird and bird pfo since i didn’t meet the benchmark for wg. quite disappointed 😔

I'm sorry to hear that- I'm sure you will succeed at other applications! Can I ask how fast the turn around was between doing the test and hearing back?

 

[TJM23]

I did mine this weekend. Haven’t heard back yet.

hey can I ask how fast the turn around was between doing the test and hearing back?

 

[hfbjsdhfbhf]

bird and bird pfo since i didn’t meet the benchmark for wg. quite disappointed 😔

Hi! Was this for the spring or summer VS?

 

[_shims_]

Hi! Skadden's application asks 'If you could choose a career other than law, what would you choose? (250 words)'

I am unsure how to approach this question, as I don't want the person reading my application to wonder why I didn't choose that career instead. Any advice will be much appreciated - thank you!

 

[0livia.pope]

hey can I ask how fast the turn around was between doing the test and hearing back?

I heard back the next day to say I passed

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi everyone, I just submitted an application, but I think the system had a technical error, and even though I wrote my application correctly, the system made it seem as if I made a typo. I was supposed to write "conducting", but on my form it says "conducti ng". This happened after I tried to change it multiple times, and even when I thought I did it turned up like this. I am now very upset that this happened, do you think this would automatically be a rejection? I have no other mistakes in the application other than a few redundant spaces before commas, again due to the system. Is it worth emailing grad rec?

Hi @soldofa8 I would not worry about this too much. You will definitely not be rejected because of one typo - especially since the graduate recruitment team may be aware of occasional system errors. Recruiters have told me in the past that 98% of applications have at least one typo and even the "strictest" recruiters operate at most something like a three-strikes-and-you're-out rule. Even if you have multiple typos, while not ideal, recruiters will likely be willing to overlook it if the quality of the application is otherwise very high - this actually happened once to me.

However, I don't see any reason why emailing the firm about this would be a bad idea. They might even appreciate it as they might find out about a system error they were previously unaware of.

 

[Tclarocks123]

I was someone who kept failing firms WG tests and getting filtered out in my first cycle. This cycle I got 37/40 for Linklaters and passed DLA and CC, although idk my exact scores.

I think while practising tests definitely helps, to consistently score high, using resources or watching videos on the underlying reasoning as to why X is the correct answer is what will help you score high consistently. Going off intuition alone never worked well for me.

Really useful.Thank you.

 

[seferiades]

Does anyone know if Clifford Chance is okay with bullet points for work experience, or do they prefer long-form answers?

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi! Skadden's application asks 'If you could choose a career other than law, what would you choose? (250 words)'

I am unsure how to approach this question, as I don't want the person reading my application to wonder why I didn't choose that career instead. Any advice will be much appreciated - thank you!

Hi @_shims_ I would not be too worried about that. When the firm selected this question, it was exactly because they wanted to see what other careers you would be motivated to pursue. I believe this is for three reasons (i) they want to see if there is any overlap between your fundamental motivations for choosing a career in the legal field and your motivations for pursuing an alternative career path; (ii) they want candidates that have seriously considered other careers as well before deciding to commit to law; and (iii) they are interested in recruiting well-rounded individuals with interests and passions outside of law.

The only potential issue of concern regarding tensions with your decision to pursue becoming a commercial solicitor comes at point (i). To address that, I think you want to have as much commonality between the reasons for your interest in the alternative career path and plausible reasons for interest in the work of commercial lawyers. I have recently written a post discussing this, I have quoted it bellow.

While there is no right or wrong answer to this question and while what you can discuss will depend significantly on your interests and experiences, it seems to me that it would be optimal if you can discuss a genuine interest in a job within the commercial sphere. Essentially, I believe the point of this question is to test whether your underlying motivations regarding your career options truly fit commercial law. If for instance you were to say you would have become an art painter if not a lawyer, the graduate recruitment department might be naturally suspicious as to whether your character and aspirations are truly a great fit for being a commercial solicitor. Whilst it is of course possible to have an interest in both fields simultaneously, it might in practice be difficult to write an answer which will not leave recruiters unpersuaded that your true passion lies outside of the work you would be doing for the firm.

For this reason, I think the best answer to this question is to focus on a career path which (i) you think you could actually have had an interest in; and (ii) involves a job experience which has as many similarities as possible to the experience of commercial solicitor. Here, consulting or investment banking seem to me to have lots of common features: you work closely with the same clients you would as a commercial lawyer, you are in an advisory position as well, you need to be very commercially aware, you work across many industries on cross-border transactions etc. Of course, there's many other roles you could choose to discuss besides these two - as long as there's still a substantial overlap between the characteristics of the job you discuss and the practice of a commercial solicitor.

Besides this, I have also thought it may be useful to quote a great post and discussion with @Ram Sabaratnam about this question, which provides you with slightly different perspective:

I think @Andrei Radu and @Jessica Booker would definitely have more to say here, but I don't think there’s really any one-size-fits-all answer. Grad rec isn't looking for you to mention a specific alternative career. Rather, they’re interested in getting to know you and what genuinely interests you in a career. When answering this question, I’ve seen successful applicants talk about a range of alternative careers, from journalism to teaching to becoming a police officer. The common thread is that they used this opportunity to showcase their interests and the skills they would enjoy using in the alternative career they're discussing. For example, when asked this question during interview, I once mentioned going into political science and data analysis as an alternative path because I love working with others to understand the causes and data behind big political issues. I also mentioned the importance to me of getting to delve more deeply into big or complex political events to make them more easy to understand for myself and others. Overall, I think the key is to choose something that resonates with you and allows you to highlight the qualities and skills that are meaningful to you in a particular career.

1. I agree with Ram here that you can choose any alternative career path to discuss as long as you can provide a convincing analysis of your motivation. However, I also think that, all other things being equal, you want your fundamental motivations for the alternative career path to overlap as much as possible with plausible motivations for choosing to pursue a career in law. The reason is that if there is no or only minimal overlap, this might lead some recruiters to doubt the coherence of your career-selection criteria when you decided to work in the legal field. At the very least, you want to provide motivations for an alternative career that will not directly contradict plausible motivations for working in commercial law. For instance, while of course you could discuss an alternative career path as an academic, I think it would be a mistake to cite a desire to work independently on long-term projects as a motivation - as in commercial law you will always have to collaborate with others in an environment that is also 'fast-paced'.

I would therefore say that if you can talk about a career path that has many overlaps with law that would be ideal, as it will be easier to find common motivations for both. Examples that come to mind include investment banking and consulting, as just like Big Law they involve (1) advisory work for varied clients in varied industries and (2) a focus on the world of large international business.

 

[nodustollens]

Has anyone who’s got the virtual workshop at Bristows on wednesday been emailed any details?

 

[Andrei Radu]

Does anyone know if Clifford Chance is okay with bullet points for work experience, or do they prefer long-form answers?

I do not have specific insight into Clifford Chance's recruitment policies but the general rule is to write in prose unless you know the firm is also fine with bullet points. There is also a recent thread on TCLA (which you can access here) where a forum member who attended a Clifford Chance event said the firm asked applicants to explain their work experiences rather than simply "listing" responsibilities. I would say this suggests they expect you to write in prose.

 

[SoonToBeTrainee]

Hi! Skadden's application asks 'If you could choose a career other than law, what would you choose? (250 words)'

I am unsure how to approach this question, as I don't want the person reading my application to wonder why I didn't choose that career instead. Any advice will be much appreciated - thank you!

The recruitment team are super chill about this question.

It’s just an opportunity to show some personality and make sure you can write well.

The recruitment head said to write about something you can convincingly justify in an interview.

The impression I got is that they really don’t care what you answer. Just be mindful that if you say ‘consulting’ or ‘banking’, I imagine another 500 people will.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi.

I have an ac coming up and I know there is a bit on crisis management in the interview. does anyone know where or how I can prepare for this?

Many thanks

Hi @navigatinglegal! I think it is likely that the firm will not be expecting any substantive knowledge for this exercise, but just a general understanding of how businesses work and deal with issues - PR, restructurings, changes in management/policies etc. For a general overview of the topic, take a look at this Investopedia article here and this more detailed IMD article here.

Besides this, I have quoted bellow a post on the forum discussing an AC experience which contained a crisis management task, I hope you find it useful:

Please state the month/year you interviewed at the firm.
February 2023

Please specify what the interview was for.
Direct Training Contract 2025

Please give an overview of the day with approximate timings.

My interview was conducted online. This was not an issue, just make sure you are constantly engaging with the interviewer.


9am Briefing
9.30am multiple choice case study
10:30am case study reading and writing time
11:45am graduate recruitment interview
12:45pm crisis management task given
1pm partner interview
2:30 trainee Q&A

Please provide a summary of each assessment on the day with approximate timings.
Two parts to the case study:

1. Online multiple choice questions: 30 minutes to review a contract, do SJTs, prioritise emails.

2. Written case study: 25 minutes reading, 35 minutes writing - candidates have to pick 2 legal issues and 1 commercial issue from the case given and summarise it in an email to a supervisor. It is not difficult to spot these issues from the documents provided.

Graduate recruitment interview: typical firm questions, competency questions and questions on candidates' skills and experiences.

Crisis management: 15 minutes before the partner interview, candidates will be given a crisis email regarding their case study (eg: PR management, cybersecurity issue etc).

Partner interview: goes through the content from the written case study with more details and questions, and how the candidate should handle the crisis.

What is your best advice for each aspect of the assessment on the day? Please break this down for each assessment. This can include advice for preparation, as well as tips for the day.


Part 1
For the 30 minutes MCQ - the first section (contract review) takes much longer than the others. I followed the advice of previous candidates and took 20 minutes on that section and 10 for the remaining 2 but did not regret this! No prior preparation is required for this part of the case study.


Part 2

For the grad recruitment interview, my advice is to absolutely know the firm inside out. That can be as simple as knowing two or three practice areas of the firm well and relating it to your own experience and why the firm is for you, as well as looking at other aspects such as pro bono, wellbeing, diversity etc. I would say that you should almost be gushing about the firm, this comes out through research and genuine enthusiasm about the firm. Also prepare for the usual competency questions, which are covered in other TCLA threads. There are about twenty questions in the previous threads and if you can answer all of those, you should be more than fine! Those competency questions are also interchangeable, so I would look at the Linklaters Agile Mindset Framework and use some personal examples from your experience to relate to those.


Part 3

For the case study interview, they will ask you whether you would like to start with the crisis management email or the actual case study email which you have drafted for them. With the crisis management email, no knowledge of the law is required, just a good understanding of how businesses work and how a firm would help a company deal with such a crisis.


For the main case study interview, I would highly suggest brushing up on M&A basics (basically refer to the TCLA guide, it is comprehensive enough and extremely helpful). I would also suggest pinpointing some practice areas of the firm that can assist in providing solutions.


The partner and managing associate who were interviewing me were really lovely. Their job is to probe you constantly and I did feel that I was interrogated for around 45 minutes, but they just want to see how you react under pressure. The most important thing is to stay calm, and even if you are unsure of how to answer a question, take a second and ask them to rephrase the question. They aren’t expecting you to answer all the questions correctly and it is important to know when to stand your ground and to also see when they are leading you down a certain path. This is a pure judgment call, but once again, staying calm, knowing how businesses work and knowing the general M&A technicals will stand you in good stead. General commercial awareness is very helpful, in terms of potentially relating the M&A case study to a similar deal in an industry that you have researched previously. As basic as it sounds, even listening to the FT podcast daily provides so much knowledge that can be helpful.


Were you successful?
Yes

 

[AS24]

Hiya @AS24

I'd suggest that you don’t necessarily need to rely heavily on the firm’s marketing materials, but it could be helpful to review Katten’s values as a starting point. To be clear, you don’t have to centre your entire answer around these values, but they can provide some guidance on the traits and skills that the firm might prioritise.

In approaching this question, it might be useful think about the broader skills that would allow someone to thrive as a trainee at firm such as Katten. For instance, based on a quick google of the firm's training programme, it seems they have a relatively small trainee intake. This likely means trainees will have to shoulder substantial responsibility early on, working closely with partners, senior associates, and even clients. Reflecting on this, what skills or experiences do you think would help you thrive in this environment? Additionally, you could focus on their key practice areas and explain how your background or skills would enable you to excel in the types of matters where Katten is especially well-regarded. Best of luck with your application, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have more questions! 😊

Thank you so much @Ram Sabaratnam

 

[AS24]

Hi @AS24! I think the starting point when answering this type of question is the same kind of structure and line of reasoning you would use for a general skills and experience answer. However, instead of merely linking the identified skill/attribute with what would make you a great commercial solicitor generally, you should also try to show why it will specifically enable you to excel more at Katten than at other firms. To do that, you have to first find some Katten-specific firm features you can connect your points to. I can think of four main aspects of a firm you can pick out:

1. Practice areas: research the firm's work and find out what are its main practice areas. Then, show that the identified skills/experiences will be particularly relevant for the specific type of work trainees/junior associates do in those practices. You can even name the particular typical tasks that your experiences will be helpful for, like due diligence and process management in corporate M&A. You could then link that with skills like commercial acumen that you may have gained from experiences like a negotiations competition. However, if you were going for a disputes-focused firm for instance, it would be better to discuss experiences such as debating or mooting, and corollary skills like researching and advocacy. Finally, for an advisory-focused firm, you could prioritize experiences that show your interest into a particular advisory field or which demonstrate an excellent capacity to deal with black letter law analysis.
2. Sector based: if the practice areas approach does not suffice and/or if the firm has a strong sector focus, you could follow a similar approach in terms of identifying skills/experiences that can be linked with one of the industries the firm concentrates on.
3. Training-structure: identify the firm's training philosophy and any more specific features which individuate it and then explain how your experiences/skills will allow you to thrive in that environment.
4. Keywords: as you mentioned, you can also look for keywords and see if there are any particular skills, values or qualities that the firm emphasizes. However, one thing to keep in mind is that firms often formulate these ideas about their identity in rather broad language - the specific terms they use to communicate their core values/skills/qualities, or very similar related ones, are often used by other firms as well. As such I would only go for this approach if: (i) the keywords you find significantly differ from ones at other firms; (ii) the firm emphasizes a particular keyword a lot more than other firms do for for similar keywords; or (iii) if you cannot write better points based on one of the three previous approaches.

Thank you very much @Andrei Radu

 

[safari3]

hey can I ask how fast the turn around was between doing the test and hearing back?

I got a VI invite the next day after I completed the WG!

 

[AS24]

Hi @Ram Sabaratnam and @Jessica Booker

I trust you are well.

When answering this kind of question 'Please give details of any interests and extra-curricular activities, including any positions of responsibility or achievements. ', should I mention the skills I acquired? I never know what kind of approach to adopt.
Thank you in advance.