TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25
- Thread starter Jessica Booker
- Start date
-
- Tags
- vacation scheme
- Sep 9, 2024
- 609
- 1,068
For the first question, while I do not have a lot of prior knowledge about the firm, I do believe Chambers and Legal 500 rankings are good indicators for a firm's practice area focus and strengths. Based on that, it seems like Winston & Strawn is not simply a litigation boutique, but that it covers a wider array of practices to service a wider client base. Looking at its Legal 500 rankings (as Chambers only ranks its finance department), we see the firm is recognized for:Does anyone know Winston & Strawn is known for / what the firm specialises in (London office specifically)? I read something on here that said it's quite a niche / specialised firm and it seems they may be most known for litigation but my research suggests they are also pretty strong in more transactional / advisory areas like finance, M&A, I&R etc?
Also, one of the questions on their application for is 'what motivates you?' Seems quite simple but also quite wide so any tips on how to approach this question would be much appreciated!
- Transactional: for finance, particularly bank lending; for corporate, particularly mid market corporate M&A and PE;
- Disputes: general commercial litigation; particularly high rankings also in international arbitration and class action defence for product liability (the highest rankings of all its practices, which I think explains the firm's reputation for disputes)
- Advisory: competition law; also its aviation and sports practices;
They are inviting 60 people for ACs. They have only hosted I believe 3-4 ACs so far of around 4 people. It's not over till it's over!
anyone heard back from akin or millbank
Thank you! In the same boat. If anyone could share whether or not they have heard back / what their experience has been, would be much appreciated!
I’m also still waiting for a W&C response lmao.🤣💀
It’s been 3 weeks since I applied and I still haven’t heard anything back at all. 😬🫣
Idk whether to assume PFO atp. 🥲🥲
Damn that’s even worse. I thought 3 weeks was bad. 😭
Did you apply for spring or summer? I applied for both because I’m indecisive asf. 😬
I applied on 23 Sep and have heard nothing lol. Defo a PFO but they shouldn't make me wait 4 months lol. Do you think I should email?
I have seen people on the forum that applied for WVS and were instead considered for SVS and got invited to VI/AC recently. 🙂
It’s probably best to email them about it imo. 🙂
Hiya, I just emailed them so will let the forum know what they reply! White & Case are known for ignoring applicants so not looking the best!
Tbf they do get up to 5,000 applications a year for VS + DTC but I don’t think it’s right to ignore applicants. 🥲
People spend ages on their applications and it’s unfair to leave them in the dark for months. 😬
Hopefully we get responses soon. Best of luck for W&C VS. 🙂
Last edited:
- Sep 7, 2024
- 370
- 843
Hiya @desperateTCseeker1998 and @chrisbrown
@Jessica Booker has already given a great answer, but I just wanted to add a bit more context to my previous comments.
Ropes & Gray hasn’t required applicants to submit a work experience section for several years now. This seems to be a deliberate choice by their graduate recruitment team, likely to make the process fairer in some way. In previous years, their application process has often included a question about commercial trends impacting the legal industry and how Ropes & Gray is positioned to meet those challenges. It would have been quite awkward to have used the space allocated to include references/discussions of my work experience or skills merely because they lacked a work experience section.
Again, my advice would be to focus on answering the question directly. If you really want to, you could briefly highlight any relevant skills or experiences that support your point. For example:
"Having worked as a paralegal on X team, I came to appreciate the importance of adaptability in the work done by commercial lawyers. This quality is essential in helping firms navigate challenges and drive growth, as seen in [specific example/reason]."
This way, you can still make your answer personalised without discussing how you developed the trait or used the trait in question.
Hope that helps 😊
- Sep 9, 2024
- 609
- 1,068
I do not have much to add to @Amma Usman's excellent post on this besides just mentioning what I think is the core aspect of law firm's profitability. Amma explained the different revenue streams that a firm can seek to maximize and the many different costs that it can seek to minimize, but in my view the core driver of large firms' profitability is simple: the revenues generated by its associates.
While rates do differ based on context and market sentiment, the going billing rate for an associate at a top US firm (and it seems the MC firms are not far behind) is around the 500-1000 pounds per hour mark, depending on seniority. Now, with an average partner to associate ratio of around 1:4 to 1:5, and assuming a billable target of around 2000 hours per year, we get to a figure of just under 6 million pounds of revenue generated per partner (also, assuming a 2-3 PQE average billable rate of 650 pounds for the sake of the calculation). Even when discounting for the costs of associates' salaries (also assuming for the sake of the calculation at an average 3 PQE level) of 250,000 pounds per year, we get a total of just under 5 million pounds per year. If leverage can be reduced while keeping the total of billable hours the same (say, by increasing the billable target and decreasing the associate headcount) this will be even more profitable, as firms will have to expense less on salaries - which is where the perverse incentive to overwork associates comes from.
Obviously, there are many other costs and expenses that a firm needs to account for - office space, taxes, support staff, etc; and there are other significant revenue generators - most importantly, partners' own billables. Moreover, of course not all firms can bill at the aforementioned rates and have those high target hours, but then not all firms have the associated high salary costs. The bottom line however is that for all large firms, and for elite firms in particular, having as many busy associates as possible is extremely profitable. As such, firms do all they can to get their hands on many matters and target clients able to afford high billables, which is why they compete so fiercely for the "high-end mandates". It is also why the lateral partner market is so hot, as firms aim to hire practitioners that will bring their client books with them.
Finally, an element of profitability (at least in the sense of PEP) that should not be understated is the distribution of equity shares. The more a firm guards its equity partnership ranks, the bigger piece of the pie will each of the existing equity partners get, which will translate to higher PEP figures. For instance, at Kirkland, a firm famed for its profitability, there is one equity partner per every two non-equity partners, a model which allows the firm to charge higher rates (as it can charge 'partner level' rates for more lawyers) without having to dilute the profit pool.
I would love to know this too, getting hopeless.. I did the WG in early dec
Similar threads
- Sticky
- Locked
- Sticky
- Sticky
