TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Amjaya]

Is the Mayer brown test automatic? I thought they rejected me 😂

 

[pleasepleaseplease]

Hi @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

I am applying to Kennedys and the deadline is on the 29th, I would really appreciate it if you could provide any guidance on how to answer the questions below as they both are very similar. (Please note that I have not interacted with the law firm before at all) Thank you!!

1. Reflecting on your research and any interaction you may have had with the firm, what has encouraged you to apply to Kennedys? 1500 characters

2. What specific aspects of Kennedys' culture, values, or work have inspired you to pursue a training contract with us, and how do you see yourself contributing to our firm? 1500 characters

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi all,

Just writing in to ask whether you have any advice on this matter. So I was accepted onto freshfields non law workshop and for some odd reason I ignored this email or completely forgot so never attended the workshop. This was supposed to be on the (5th December 2022).

I have applied to many other open days like the graduate workshop etc and have been rejected every year do you think this is due to me not attending the non law workshop and ignoring the email. ( please keep in mind I completely either forgot about it or didn’t open my emails and read it. This only appeared to me yesterday when I typed in freshfields in my email search bar and found the old email).

Please do let me know what you think because I keep getting rejected to subsequent open days etc. I was recently rejected to attend the graduate workshop 2024 ! I know this matter may be self explanatory but really need other input / advice.

@Jessica Booker

I really don't think this will be the case as I suspect they have not even got the data from the 2022 recruitment cycle anymore due to data retention policies.

 

[Tintin06]

Had a dream I was waiting for a Vacation Scheme interview at Baker McKenzie ... while doing a VS at Baker McKenzie. When I was waiting for one interview in 2019 I had a dream I was eaten by a crocodile, which was actually what the interview felt like. It's funny how you can end up having dreams (or nightmares) about law firm interviews.

 

[studentdelaw786]

anyone heard back re Gibson Dunn open day?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

I am applying to Kennedys and the deadline is on the 29th, I would really appreciate it if you could provide any guidance on how to answer the questions below as they both are very similar. (Please note that I have not interacted with the law firm before at all) Thank you!!

1. Reflecting on your research and any interaction you may have had with the firm, what has encouraged you to apply to Kennedys? 1500 characters

2. What specific aspects of Kennedys' culture, values, or work have inspired you to pursue a training contract with us, and how do you see yourself contributing to our firm? 1500 characters

I'd split this into the first part being more backwards looking - what you have done to learn more about the firm and the career that specifically aligns with the firm. I'd then make the second question more forward looking - what are you looking forward to experiencing within the firm if you were to join, and how you would contribute to the firm's environment.

 

[pleasepleaseplease]

I'd split this into the first part being more backwards looking - what you have done to learn more about the firm and the career that specifically aligns with the firm. I'd then make the second question more forward looking - what are you looking forward to experiencing within the firm if you were to join, and how you would contribute to the firm's environment.

Thank you!

 

[pleasepleaseplease]

For Fieldfisher did people put in all of their degree module grades and every GCSE/A Level grade.

Yep, this is what I did

 

[B101]

Is there anyone still waiting for W&C post-ac

I've been waiting for over a month now. Do you think they've filled all the slots as the WVS is pretty soon and surely onboarding should take some time?

 

[pleasepleaseplease]

Thank you omg that is long and thought I was with this after Gowling omg so annoying.

completely agree, it is very lengthy!

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

I am applying to Kennedys and the deadline is on the 29th, I would really appreciate it if you could provide any guidance on how to answer the questions below as they both are very similar. (Please note that I have not interacted with the law firm before at all) Thank you!!

1. Reflecting on your research and any interaction you may have had with the firm, what has encouraged you to apply to Kennedys? 1500 characters
2. What specific aspects of Kennedys' culture, values, or work have inspired you to pursue a training contract with us, and how do you see yourself contributing to our firm? 1500 characters

Hi @pleasepleaseplease I agree with @Jessica Booker's points, and I expect @Ram Sabaratnam and @Amma Usman will also have very valuable inputs. To elaborate on how I think you could go about making the 'past-focused' why the firm reasons 'future-focused' distinction:

• Some reasons are inherently either past or future focused: if you mention history and prestige or past mandates, that is by its nature a past-focused type of reason. If you mention firm strategy or innovation instead, that is by its nature a future-focused reason.
• In other cases, you can talk about the same fundamental motivations in both a past and future focused manner. For instance, if one of your motivations is the firm's strength in one practice area, you could firstly discuss how the firm has grew the practice over years - what rankings and market recognition have they historically achieved, have they grow teams sizes, won new clients and mandates, improved revenues and so on. Subsequently, in the second answer you can focus on what the firm is looking to do with the practice in the future - are they looking to generally grow it and if so how, and in particular, are they looking to grow it in particular sectors or in specific geographies?
• In the second answer, you are also invited to discuss the 'why you' or 'fit' element a lot more - as such, you could concentrate on explaining your relevant experiences and achievements in a lot more depth.
• In your second answer, you are also invited to discuss what you think you could do in the firm - this is potentially a good opportunity to show off a bit of your commercial awareness. You could write about (i) what types of typical tasks and workstreams you would be excited to be involved in; and (ii) what predicted future developments about the work the firm is doing is exciting for you.
• Finally, the second question specifically directs you to discussing culture and values. As such, even if you do not identify anything special enough about it to merit framing it as a unique selling point reason, you should still consider discussing your overall fit with it. Thus, it may be better not to write a lot about culture/values in the first answer and focus on it in the second one.

If you follow all of these pointers, I think you should be able to minimize overlap and repetition. Finally, I will also emphasize that you do not need to reach the maximum word count limit in either section. 1500 words is very high, especially given the natural commonalities of the two questions. I think it is likely that the firm is also trying to test you on your ability to be concise and to the point even when not restricted in this regard - as for instance when drafting a contract or a memo, there are no word limits but it is still essential to avoid verbosity. Hence, I would advise you to observe the same norms of brevity in your writing style as if you were writing a response for an application form question with a much lower word count cap.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi all,

Just writing in to ask whether you have any advice on this matter. So I was accepted onto freshfields non law workshop and for some odd reason I ignored this email or completely forgot so never attended the workshop. This was supposed to be on the (5th December 2022).

I have applied to many other open days like the graduate workshop etc and have been rejected every year do you think this is due to me not attending the non law workshop and ignoring the email. ( please keep in mind I completely either forgot about it or didn’t open my emails and read it. This only appeared to me yesterday when I typed in freshfields in my email search bar and found the old email).

Please do let me know what you think because I keep getting rejected to subsequent open days etc. I was recently rejected to attend the graduate workshop 2024 ! I know this matter may be self explanatory but really need other input / advice.

@Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

I think @Amma Usman and @Ram Sabaratnam might know more, but I would also not expect this to be the case. My perception at least is that most firms do not have a policy of immediately black listing a candidate from future opportunities for only missing one event. I also know a number of people who have been in a similar situation, in that they forgot to attend a firm event, and managed to subsequently progress through the application stages and even get a TC from the same firm.

You can always email/message grad rec on LinkedIn to ask for more clarification vis a vis their recruitment policies, but I think that it is unlikely they will tell you the rejections have been for this reason. I would instead advise you to critically review your past applications (or even better, get someone else with experience to do this for you!) and consider significantly changing your substantive points and/or style and structure if you want to apply again.

 

[Andrei Radu]

When an application asks 'Why have you decided to pursue a career in Commercial Law? 250 words' how do I answer this, is it just why commercial law or does it have to be specific? The next question is why Reed smith in particular, so I thought maybe being specific isn't entirely necessary?

I think generally if the question is just framed as a simple 'Why commercial law?' one there is no need to integrate 'why this firm' elements as well. In fact, I think it is advisable not to do so, as you risk muddling your points and thus reducing focus and clarity. Since in this case there is also a subsequent 'Why the firm' question, it is definitely better to keep the points entirely separate.

 

[User5678]

For Fieldfisher did people put in all of their degree module grades and every GCSE/A Level grade.

Yes you need to otherwise they email you to send them all your grades module/subject wise before they make a decision

 

[pleasepleaseplease]

Hi @pleasepleaseplease I agree with @Jessica Booker's points, and I expect @Ram Sabaratnam and @Amma Usman will also have very valuable inputs. To elaborate on how I think you could go about making the 'past-focused' why the firm reasons 'future-focused' distinction:

• Some reasons are inherently either past or future focused: if you mention history and prestige or past mandates, that is by its nature a past-focused type of reason. If you mention firm strategy or innovation instead, that is by its nature a future-focused reason.
• In other cases, you can talk about the same fundamental motivations in both a past and future focused manner. For instance, if one of your motivations is the firm's strength in one practice area, you could firstly discuss how the firm has grew the practice over years - what rankings and market recognition have they historically achieved, have they grow teams sizes, won new clients and mandates, improved revenues and so on. Subsequently, in the second answer you can focus on what the firm is looking to do with the practice in the future - are they looking to generally grow it and if so how, and in particular, are they looking to grow it in particular sectors or in specific geographies?
• In the second answer, you are also invited to discuss the 'why you' or 'fit' element a lot more - as such, you could concentrate on explaining your relevant experiences and achievements in a lot more depth.
• In your second answer, you are also invited to discuss what you think you could do in the firm - this is potentially a good opportunity to show off a bit of your commercial awareness. You could write about (i) what types of typical tasks and workstreams you would be excited to be involved in; and (ii) what predicted future developments about the work the firm is doing is exciting for you.
• Finally, the second question specifically directs you to discussing culture and values. As such, even if you do not identify anything special enough about it to merit framing it as a unique selling point reason, you should still consider discussing your overall fit with it. Thus, it may be better not to write a lot about culture/values in the first answer and focus on it in the second one.

If you follow all of these pointers, I think you should be able to minimize overlap and repetition. Finally, I will also emphasize that you do not need to reach the maximum word count limit in either section. 1500 words is very high, especially given the natural commonalities of the two questions. I think it is likely that the firm is also trying to test you on your ability to be concise and to the point even when not restricted in this regard - as for instance when drafting a contract or a memo, there are no word limits but it is still essential to avoid verbosity. Hence, I would advise you to observe the same norms of brevity in your writing style as if you were writing a response for an application form question with a much lower word count cap.

Thanks Andrei, this very helpful! I really appreciate it. The limit is 1500 characters, I don't know what I'd do if it was 1500 words hahaha

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi! If a firm asks the same application question for a vacation scheme and an open day (achievements and extracurricular activities), is it okay to copy and paste the successful answer?

Hi @molak202 the short answer I would give you is no. There's two main reasons for that. Firstly, applications for a VS are significantly more competitive than for an open day and as such the standards recruiters hold your answers to will be commensurately higher. What makes for a good enough answer to be admitted to an open day in many cases will not be good enough for progressing past the first stage in a VS application. Secondly, firms like candidates who are looking to constantly improve. This is especially the case if in the meanwhile you have attended an open day and should therefore have many further insights and interactions to mention.

Finally, in the unlikely case you do not find many substantive points to add/change or significant improvements to make in your writing style and structure, I still think you should rephrase some parts of your answer. You definitely do not want your VS application to be flag as an identical copy of an open day application, as some recruiters could interpret it as a lack of effort on your part.

 

[Tom smith]

Hi, what might be the key points to focus on in an interview if asked who the firm's competitors are?

 

[vr36]

Does anyone know if Hill Dickinson sponsors international students?

This is from the application form- "Please be aware that we are unable to employ you unless you have the right to work in the UK or the location to which you are applying at the date the role commences and for the duration of the contract".

@Jessica Booker

 

[sibs23]

Hi, I am applying to Addleshaw Goddard for the GCO training contract route. There is only one application question which is the same as the one on the traditional TC route. The questions i - "What attracts you to a career with Addleshaw Goddard?" - is it ok to list one of my main points being the GCO role itself and why I am drawn to it? Or am I trying to answer a different question if I do that? The character limit is tight (1500 words). It would feel weird to not talk about the GCO role and why I want do it.

 

[A worried graduate]

Does anyone know if Hill Dickinson sponsors international students?

This is from the application form- "Please be aware that we are unable to employ you unless you have the right to work in the UK or the location to which you are applying at the date the role commences and for the duration of the contract".

@Jessica Booker

Just tried a random website called VisaSponsors.co.uk who have a sponsor list (the government one doesn’t load properly).

While Hill Dickinson LLP is not there, a company called Hill Dickinson Business Services Ltd is (based at the same location too so likely the same firm in some way).

As this firm only has the skilled worker visa listed, I’d guess that the answer is no for TCs but yes once a certain PQE is reached.