TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[londonlawyer]

Has anyone received a reply from Adeline after sending their preferred dates for Debevoise?

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi team (@Andrei Radu, @Amma Usman and @Ram Sabaratnam)

I hope you had a good weekend.

I have an AC, and the written task requires me to answer a client's question and analyse several articles.
Do you have any tips on how to approach both parts of the task?
Thank you in advance for your help.

Hi @AS24 I hope you have enjoyed your weekend as well ! For the first part of the task, I would focus on making the practical answer the client is seeking very clear. If possible, provide actionable steps that the client can take relating to the issue at hand. Furthermore, if you have the opportunity, try to connect the reasoning in your answer with the underlying business rationales driving your client's decision-making, even if those are not explicitly stated in the question itself.

The one thing you should avoid is getting bogged down in legal jargon and technicality. Every lawyer I have spoken to has told me clients hate this. They need to be able to understand the advice you are giving them, and for that you must speak their language. If your answer does require more substantial technical analysis and you have to show how you have reached your conclusions, split it between an "Executive Summary" section, where you simply state the practical conclusions and the steps to be taken/decision options the client has, and a "Legal/Commercial Analysis" section, where you go on to substantiate exactly why that is the case.

For your second part, I think you could once again benefit from splitting your answer into two. I used to have a "Summary" section, where I briefly laid out the uncontroversial facts, and an "Analysis" section. You should avoid spending too much time in the former by including unnecessary detail - simply write a one or two paragraphs or a few bullet points immediately after you are down reading. In my experience, you will automatically remember everything important enough to include in the Summary section, so I would not waste time on going back and checking the articles for more information to add; the majority of your time should be invested in providing the best analysis you can. Depending on the context, I would potentially use further subheadings for the different types of considerations you will be looking at. Finally, to provide a persuasive argument for your view, I think you should make an explicit case as to which of the relevant factors should be weighed the most.

 

[BillSikes]

Anyone who has already completed RPC AC - do you know about any upcoming AC's?

 

[hfbjsdhfbhf]

@Jessica Booker Hi! Would it reflect badly on me if I emailed grad rec asking for an update post-AC? For reference, I had my AC about a week and a half ago and I've heard that some people have had rejections since.

 

[latome19]

That's interesting feedback. My answer to this question goes something along the lines of: "I started a project which then expanded to a team with me leading the team, and I encouraged team members to work together; I also worked with other members of the business to improve the project"

But maybe it makes sense to rephrase it a little to remove the leadership element, considering that it's a junior role we're applying for, and talk about all the times I helped other team members solve problems unprompted

I mean as long as you frame it in a collaborative light, some leadership role should be fine. Like a society committee member: you still worked as part of a team. The problem I referred to, I guess, would arise if you were to state that as chairman/president of that society, I contributed to my team’s success by doing Z … and achieved X. Jessica’s template above is really helpful—you can avoid this problem by simply starting your answer with describing the achievement of a team where you didn’t have the most important role.

 

[latome19]

@Jessica Booker Hi! Would it reflect badly on me if I emailed grad rec asking for an update post-AC? For reference, I had my AC about a week and a half ago and I've heard that some people have had rejections since.

I wouldn’t do that because the fact that you’ve heard nothing while others received rejections is a good sign.

 

[BillSikes]

@Jessica Booker Hi! Would it reflect badly on me if I emailed grad rec asking for an update post-AC? For reference, I had my AC about a week and a half ago and I've heard that some people have had rejections since.

Just wait it out it hasn't been long.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Had you accepted any of your spring offers before you completed your summer vs?

No - I was fortunate in that the first TC offer I got was only expiring in September. The second spring offer was in theory only valid for three weeks, but I negotiated a longer period for consideration so that I am able to complete my summer vacation schemes. In practice, if you have multiple TC/VS offers you have a strong bargaining position, which gives you have a good chance of either being able to negotiate your way out of signing immediately or into being allowed to complete other VS even though you have already signed.

 

[FutureTraineeMaybe]

Hello @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

Hope you are doing well!

I have an upcoming AC for Burges Salmon- in which there is a group exercise where we have to decide on the best investment option for a client and also present this later in a written exercise.

Would you have any advice on both these tasks?

 

[Jessica Booker]

@Jessica Booker Hi! Would it reflect badly on me if I emailed grad rec asking for an update post-AC? For reference, I had my AC about a week and a half ago and I've heard that some people have had rejections since.

No. That’s not an issue to ask when you may hear back given it’s been nearly a couple of weeks (unless the firm has told you it would be a longer period for you to hear back).

 

[anonymous.15]

How to answer 'tell us about a time you worked in a team'. Any tips would be much appreciated. Is it necessary that I mention a challenge or is it okay to simply state my role and how I communicated with the team?

I think by using the star method, what the situation was and how you managed to resolve it .

 

[trainee4u]

Leadership references are fine for team working examples. I would just recommend being specific. For instance, how specifically did you encourage team members to work together, how did the team respond.

Yes my answer is quite specific. Here's a slightly redacted & condensed version:

"As an X at a bank, I managed a team of Y. We were performing a task to achieve compliance with ABC.
I arranged meetings with Y and Z, where we collaboratively came up with effective solutions, meeting compliance regulations & improving efficiency.
Collaboration between X, Y and Z was essential to success.
I initiated brief daily team meetings to discuss progress and encourage team members to share issues.
At the end of the project we reviewed its successes and failures, to allow team members to learn and grow, and to identify areas for future improvement. By collaborating we achieved our goals."

 

[maylawwww]

Does anyone know if Taylor Wessing still has a group exercise in their ACs? They don't mention any group elements in the briefing they've given us, just a commercial exercise and a competency interview, and the commercial exercise doesn't sound like it's a group task.

I'm really anxious at the prospect of a group task so confirmation either way would be so so helpful!!

no group exercise! just the commercial exercise (which is interview based) and the competency interview

 

[Lawtofinancetolaw]

congrats! is that for the summer vs??

Thanks and yeah for the Bristol svs!

 

[ohnoselim]

anyone thats doing a VI, how do you remember all this information?

I'm preparing for all types of questions but find it hard to remember in such a short time too

I know it's a no go to read off a screen, any advice?

 

[Dogsoooo]

Nerves of excitement for my AC tomorrow at Weil any final tips.

 

[elsx]

anyone thats doing a VI, how do you remember all this information?

I'm preparing for all types of questions but find it hard to remember in such a short time too

I know it's a no go to read off a screen, any advice?

Hi,
I usually write some words for the main points I want to make on a post it that I put near the camera so that I don't forget what I want to say without reading off a screen.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hello @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

Hope you are doing well!

I have an upcoming AC for Burges Salmon- in which there is a group exercise where we have to decide on the best investment option for a client and also present this later in a written exercise.

Would you have any advice on both these tasks?

Hi @FutureTraineeMaybe for the group exercise I think you need to strike the right balance between showcasing teamwork and collaboration but also demonstrating your capacity for commercial analysis and leadership. Since there is a tight time limit and since everyone will be aiming to show the same qualities, there is a natural tension between the two. As such, many candidates end up either being too passive (in not getting sufficient airtime because everyone else always wants to speak as well) or too assertive (in constantly interrupting others to get their points across). However, there are a couple of strategies you can use to ensure your individual contributions shine through without undermining others:

• Offer to keep the time: this shows a proactive attitude while not being very demanding as to your mental focus. It also enables you to (i) avoid taking the responsibility of any required writing, which is more demanding; and (ii) naturally intervene at certain points in the discussion to mention time considerations, which is also an opportunity for you to add substantive points.
• Try to introduce structure and organization: although many candidates will want to immediately start the analysis, instead of simply throwing yourself into discussing substantive points, try to introduce a framework: what points will you discuss, in what order, how much time will you spend on each, and what relevant assessment criteria should you keep in mind when analyzing the points? This will ensure a more comprehensive overview and a more clear output.
• Focus on finding more niche/less-obvious analysis points: as you are given a brief for the group exercise task, you will normally have a bit of preparation time during which you can think what points to bring up. You will find some points that are really intuitive which you will know the others likely also thought of. Instead of focusing on those and fighting with everyone to get to express those obvious points, I would use that time (and the extra thinking time in the initial discussion phase when everyone is fighting to say the obvious points) to find relevant ideas that others may have missed. The, as the discussion is winding down on that subpart of the task, I would mention these more niche points. This will avoid making you seem competitive and also showcase ability for more nuanced analysis.
• Focus on synthesis and weighing: another similar strategy for impressive contribution which may not require too much fighting over airtime is to once again seek to contribute as the discussion on the substantive points is winding down. What you can do here is intervene to summarize what everyone has contributed, weigh their points, and then make an informed argument as to what the decision should be.

For the written task, I will quote bellow a number of posts I have recently written with my best tips - but do let me know if you have any follow up questions. Best of luck !

While I think different strategies apply for different formats, there are a couple of pointers which I would say are generally applicable for all or almost all types of written exercises:

1. Time-management: You might have heard this so many times already, but I have to stress that most written exercises are incredibly time-pressured. I remember I was always told this, but it is very easy to forget during the actual assessment. In the first 20-30 minutes I have always to an extent or another allowed myself to be tempted by thoughts such as 'Oh it won't take me that long to read/write that part, I will just speed up a bit later' and I would thus justify being less efficient than I could have been in the first half of the exercise. As I would be entering the second half and nearing the end, I would invariably then find that it was very difficult to increase my working pace to make up for lost ground and my work product would suffer as a result. Thus, my advice is to be on your guard against that and to try to spread out your efforts evenly across the allocated time. Take one or two minutes in the beginning to make a plan and divide your workload, allocate portions of your time to completing the different parts, and try to make yourself to stick to those time limits.
2. Efficient reading: In a substantial number of written exercises you will be given a large number of documents containing overlapping information and also big sections of text containing technical details which are not of great importance to your task. Once again, there is a temptation to ignore the time constraints and to try to read everything closely to ensure you are not missing anything. However, in my experience the main task of the assessment very rarely or never hinges on easy to miss details. As such, my advice for you is to try to quickly read and skim through the documents, and only once you have a big picture go back and look at the relevant sections in more detail.
3. Analysis: Almost all written assessments have an analysis part, in which you are asked to weigh different considerations and make a judgement. I would advise you not to focus too much on trying to "blow away" the reader with the depth of your analysis or creativity of your arguments. Given the time constraints and nature of the tasks, there is rarely scope for that and if you focus to much on this kind of goal you might miss explaining much simpler points that should have been included in your analysis. As such, concentrate on considering the position of all relevant stakeholders (if you have issues doing this, drawing out diagrams can be very useful), having all the main pros and cons properly laid out, and weighing which set of considerations should you give priority to. If you can further support your opinion by making any links to current news stories or commercial trends, try to do so.
4. Clarity and structure: Finally, ensuring your answer is very easy to follow is a point whose importance I cannot overstate. A essential skill for a prospective trainee is an ability for clear communication, both verbally and in writing, and this type of assessment is how they test the later. As such, you should focus on having a simple writing style and structure as much as you focus on the substantive points you are trying to communicate.

Hey @AS24 I definitely am, their scarcity here has really taught me their value 🥲. On this brighter note, I will split up my thoughts between how to organize your time and then your ideas.

Organizing Time
To ensure you are managing your time well, before you start working through the exercise I advise you to take a few minutes to make a plan. First, take a look at the number of tasks and read the prompts. Then, briefly skim the annexed briefs and readings - but only very briefly. You want to see how many pages of readings you will have per task and how dense those look. Based on this information, make an estimation as to how much time each task or part of the exercise will take compared to the others - ie you might see the first task as requiring about twice the workload of the second and that the third is roughly the same as the second. Then, you should spend around 1/2 of your time on the first, around 1/4 on the second and another 1/4 on the third. However, before dividing the time using the relevant fractions, subtract around 10 minutes from the initial total time: 5 to account for the planning part at the beginning and 5 for contingencies and reviewing spelling and grammar at the end. I think this should be your basic approach, but do keep in mind these further considerations:

• You may want to make a further separation between the estimated necessary time to do the reading and the estimated necessary time to write your analysis for each part. One of the most significant issues I have had with written exercises has been giving in to the temptation to take more time than I should reading and taking notes; and simultaneously underestimating the time it would take me to write my analysis. In my experience, the materials in these exercises are not that difficult to work through and do not attempt to trip you up, so they do not require that much time. Thus, it might be a good idea to plan ahead how much you want to take on them: it should help you keep yourself in check during the exercise and not let your anxiety and overthinking make you waste precious time by reading the same passages again and again.
• You may not be able to estimate such a simple fraction split as in my aforementioned example. That is fine, and you definitely should not spend time overthinking this element. Simply go with your gut in making some judgement about the relative workloads and move forward with that. The most important part of this planning is not maximum accuracy in representation of the time each should take, but in providing a rough framework which will enable you to keep yourself to account and thus improve efficiency.
• If your tasks/parts of the exercise have different priority levels you should adjust your time allocation fractions. I would still aim to have a rough representation of what the workload of each involves but I would also allow adjustments to that to ensure a high quality work product for the most important ones.

Organizing Ideas
As for structuring your thoughts, it is unfortunately more difficult to give very concrete advice, as the right way to go about it will be highly dependent on the details of the exercise. My main advice is to find multiple distinctions between the different categories of information that you will be presenting ; and to organize them under multiple headings. The last thing you want is a huge block of text. It will almost always be more difficult to read and understand and will often also end up confusing your analysis as well. To give some examples of how you can go about this:

• Split the descriptive part of your writing (where you are essentially summarizing uncontroversial facts) and the analytic one (where you are advancing your opinion based on the aforementioned facts);
• If your argument is more complex, separate the analysis of the different inferential steps necessary to establish the conclusion;
• Separate the pros considerations, the cons considerations, and the synthesis view;
• Split your analysis of the different alternatives based on the facts;
• Separate your analysis of the relevant considerations based on their class (financial, legal, social, reputational etc) and based on the relevant class of stakeholders (shareholders, clients, the government, the public etc).

Of course, no piece of writing in an AC will need or be capable of supporting categorizations based on all the above. I have only listed some ideas to keep in the back of your mind; once you go through the actual exercise, you should be able to intuitively decide which is the most appropriate and easy for you to use.

 

[Mango]

Can Debevoise just send me a PFO so I can move on 😭

 

[delarse]

How many people have been offered a Vac Scheme at Withers. I did my interview and am now stressinggg

Same here for the Spring scheme. No response yet.