TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[saminoriya]

is HSF blended assessment difficult to get a benchmark for?

 

[bella98]

Hey everyone, I need some advice. Taylor Wessing asks for a cover letter, but one of their questions is "What motivates you for a career in Law at Taylor Wessing and what key skills would you bring?". This question essentially overlaps with the content of the cover letter. How can I avoid repeating myself in both?

@Andrei Radu

 

[benpeacock7766]

Just received a DLA Piper WG. Is that automatic or have I passed the initial app review?

Passed initial app review I believe

 

[M_m]

The Taylor Wessing application asks for both a cover letter (that covers your reasons for joining the firm and key skills) but also has two questions that directly cover the same thing. How do I think I should go about this?

 

[safari3]

Hey everyone, I need some advice. Taylor Wessing asks for a cover letter, but one of their questions is "What motivates you for a career in Law at Taylor Wessing and what key skills would you bring?". This question essentially overlaps with the content of the cover letter. How can I avoid repeating myself in both?

@Andrei Radu

@Mariyam_M Early careers said the answer to the application questions should be concise and straight to the point and that the cover letter is an opportunity for your personality to come through. So I would recommend choosing experiences that are more personal in the cover letter and experiences that are more direct for the application questions. They chose to include both application questions and a cover letter deliberately, so make sure to showcase as much of your whole self as you can. Hope this helps!

 

[lolololol]

does anyone know if latham's test has a vi element? also if anyone has any tips i would appreciate it.

 

[elysian01]

does anyone have a rough idea for who Osborne Clarke's competitors would be?

 

[bella98]

Describe the personal event or experience that, more than anything else, made you realise your desire to work in a law firm and specifically at Fieldfisher.

Guys, I’ve got a bit of a dilemma here. I went to an event two years ago where I talked to a trainee at the firm, I've got info on the event and what they said, but I forgot to write down their name in my journal! Now I’m trying to write an answer for this question, and without the trainee's name, it feels like I could’ve spoken to a trainee from any firm about the usual stuff like collegiality and a positive environment. Any ideas on how to approach this? I'm attending an event with Fieldfisher tonight, which I could describe in more detail. But obviously, this isn’t the event that made me realise I wanted to work at a law firm, especially at Fieldfisher – that realisation happened much earlier ahaha

 

[legallybrunette8]

bit of a silly question but if a firm has the same app questions as last year, can i reuse my answers knowing that i managed to get past the written app stage with them?

 

[Apple]

bit of a silly question but if a firm has the same app questions as last year, can i reuse my answers knowing that i managed to get past the written app stage with them?

You should change/improve the answer, update it to your new skills/experiences.

 

[lawyersum]

Can anyone provide some tips for this CMS question? The only tangible instance I've used AI is the use of Grammarly for uni coursework and applications. How do I link it to personal development seeing that my use is not really that fancy?

Describe a specific instance where you have utilised artificial intelligence (AI) or other technologies in your work or studies. How have these tools enhanced your personal development?

 

[legallybrunette8]

You should change/improve the answer, update it to your new skills/experiences.

totally get this! but what if I honestly haven't gotten any new experiences or skills bc the app i made previously was less than 6 months ago?
would it technically be possible to resubmit the same answer (with a few tweaks) or would it be self-plagiarism?

 

[Apple]

totally get this! but what if I honestly haven't gotten any new experiences ces or skills bc the app i made previously was less than 6 months ago?
would it technically be possible to resubmit the same answer (with a few tweaks) or would it be self-plagiarism?

I don't believe law firms consider anything plagiarism that's just an academic thing really. You can do it but even adjusting your points to more recent developments at the firm would be good. Just because it got through previously doesn't automatically mean it will now. But in short, yeah I dont think your application will be ignored if its the same as the previous year.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hey everyone, I need some advice. Taylor Wessing asks for a cover letter, but one of their questions is "What motivates you for a career in Law at Taylor Wessing and what key skills would you bring?". This question essentially overlaps with the content of the cover letter. How can I avoid repeating myself in both?

@Andrei Radu

I would focus more on the work opportunity in the application question and more of the working environment aspects in the cover letter.

 

[Jessica Booker]

totally get this! but what if I honestly haven't gotten any new experiences ces or skills bc the app i made previously was less than 6 months ago?
would it technically be possible to resubmit the same answer (with a few tweaks) or would it be self-plagiarism?

Self-plagiarism is not a thing. It’s your content, even if you reuse it.

The issue with submitting the same application is you can’t expect the outcome to be any different this time around. If your application is the same, there is a strong chance you will be unsuccessful again. That is why it is always best to update and refine your application.

 

[Tintin06]

Self-plagiarism is not a thing. It’s your content, even if you reuse it.

The issue with submitting the same application is you can’t expect the outcome to be any different this time around. If your application is the same, there is a strong chance you will be unsuccessful again. That is why it is always best to update and refine your application.

I'm laughing at the self-plagiarism point.

 

[Jessica Booker]

I'm laughing at the self-plagiarism point.

Lots of people keep mentioning it lately. I wonder if this is one of the myths running round universities and particularly if people are paranoid about using things like AI.

 

[sammm10101]

Lots of people keep mentioning it lately. I wonder if this is one of the myths running round universities and particularly if people are paranoid about using things like AI.

In my degree, self-plagiarism definitely is a thing, so maybe it bleeds over from that. In the sense that if you copy something that you've already written and submitted, it gets flagged by TurnItIn to be plagiarism, so you cannot write the same thing twice. They really really emphasise it too.

 

[Jessica Booker]

In my degree, self-plagiarism definitely is a thing, so maybe it bleeds over from that. In the sense that if you copy something that you've already written and submitted, it gets flagged by TurnItIn to be plagiarism, so you cannot write the same thing twice. They really really emphasise it too.

That would explain it! Seems a really odd concept though - why can’t you reuse your own thinking? Most academics would lose most of their back catalogue if it applied to their academic writing!

 

[Apple]

In my degree, self-plagiarism definitely is a thing, so maybe it bleeds over from that. In the sense that if you copy something that you've already written and submitted, it gets flagged by TurnItIn to be plagiarism, so you cannot write the same thing twice. They really really emphasise it too.

Same here, I had a friend get an academic warning for plagiarism because he used parts of his past formative essay in a summative lol.