TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Toomanypfo]

hi congrats!!! what intake did you apply for and when did you hear back?

The London summer vacation scheme and I got the invite this morning

 

[legallyrach]

For the people who've heard back from Sidley, did you apply to the Spring or Summer intakes (or both)?

I applied for both I believe

 

[legallyrach]

Omg wow well done!! Please could I ask when you applied/heard back from Cleary?

Thank you lovely! I applied on the 30th of Jan, did the WG on the 7th of Feb, and got the AC invitation on the 11th

 

[Andrei Radu]

@Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman @Andrei Radu Received a VS offer! Any advice on what to do prior to this to prep for the VS?

Huge congratulations on the VS @badmintonflyinginsect ! My main tips for preparing for a vacation scheme are the following:

1. Brush up on your commercial awareness: while the specific way commercial awareness matters for the purposes of conversion tends to differ on a firm by firm basis, it is almost always an important factor. As such, in the coming weeks before the VS I would pay extra close attention to business news and see if there are any updates I should be aware about on important topics (inflation and monetary figures, economic growth, capital markets and dealmaking activity, etc). At the same time, try to fill any gaps in your general knowledge of how businesses work, the different economic sectors, and the roles and functions of the different actors and instruments in the world of finance and investing. I highly recommend Investopedia to build up your knowledge of business jargon.
2. Research the practice area you will sit in: once you find out what your seats will be, take some time to understand what it is exactly lawyers in those practices do - why do clients need their services, and how do those services differ from those offered by other practice areas? Furthermore, try to get an understanding as to how delivering those services works in practice: what are the different workstreams and tasks involved on typical client matters, and which of those are trainees/vacation schemers most likely to work on? For this, I highly recommend the Westlaw/Practical Law Introductory Practice Area Guides; they go in a lot more detail than you will be expected to know but are the most comprehensive resource I know of.
3. Reach out and build rapport with people at the firm: It is always a good idea to try to build rapport early with people at the firm. As such, you could consider sending a LinkedIn text/email asking for advice or a chat with a trainee at the firm, particularly if you have met them in the past. I would also target people who are currently doing a seat in the practice area you have been allocated, as they will be able to give you the best advice on preparation. Building rapport with them is also particularly important, as graduate recruitment tends to emphasize the reviews of people in your seat when collating input for a TC offer decision. However, avoid appearing overeager and annoying people with busy schedules. Be very straightforward about your intentions and show your appreciation for the time they decide to give to you.

 

[Wannabe_Lawyer]

I applied for both I believe

Thanks, I'm definitely getting pfo-ed in that case lol.

 

[Ggvh]

Hi, has anyone done the Forsters AC? I'd be more than happy to trade insights for the Mills & Reeve, Weil, Milbank, and White & Case AC!

Hi, has anyone done the Forsters AC? I'd be more than happy to trade insights for the Mills & Reeve, Weil, Milbank, and White & Case AC!

.

 

[Joey green]

If I indicated summer/spring for PW, can i assume pfo at this point?

 

[James Wakefield]

Hi @Ram Sabaratnam! Any tips for the Cooley AC? ☺️

 

[fitzer401]

If I indicated summer/spring for PW, can i assume pfo at this point?

Don't give up just yet. If there's one thing that you can take away from reading these forums is that there is a lot of cases where no news is good news!

 

[Livelaughlove]

Still in NRF VI purgatory 🫠

 

[Chris Brown]

If I indicated summer/spring for PW, can i assume pfo at this point?

You may have seen my posts on the forum in the middle of last week where I was on the verge of crashing out because I hadn’t heard anything from Paul, Weiss and I had convinced myself it was a PFO (seeing others had also been PFO’d). 🥲🥲

To my surprise (literally I was shocked and I still am), I was invited to interview on Friday. I guess my point here is, no news is always going to be good news. It’s easy to assume it’s a PFO, but until that email doesn’t come through, try to keep a positive mindset. 🙂🙂

Best of luck for Paul, Weiss @Joey green I’m sure you’ll get good news soon. 🙂🙂

I also applied for both Spring and Summer because I’m simply too indecisive lmao. 😂😂​

 

[jojo23]

Anybody heard from shoosmiths (post test) and crs (post vi)?

 

[andreilover01]

Hi everyone, I have an AC with Jones Day coming up, and would really appreciate any and all insight!!

 

[BBsharkk]

Anyone still being ghosted by Akin, Gibson and Milbank post-app? 😂

 

[g.cl.2020344]

Anyone still being ghosted by Akin, Gibson and Milbank post-app? 😂

I really don’t understand firms who leave you as though you never applied!! I applied to GD 1st Sept- the day they opened and did their first year insight scheme!! I haven’t heard anything and emailed them and they responded two weeks ago saying they are still looking at applications which is lowkey insulting because I’ve seen people get VS offers on LinkedIn!!! Sorry for the rant lol

 

[Jaysen]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to follow up for those who were here on Friday/have experienced the user BreadandButter or 'yourworstnightmareisback'. Thank you to everyone who reported this person and to @Jessica Booker for managing this.

We have a few ways we monitor duplicate accounts and we are about 90% sure we know who this is. Interestingly, they seem to have another account that is much nicer to everyone and one they use to react to people/be aggressive in the forums.

We've restricted one of the accounts to require approval before posting. If this is you, then I'd just suggest reviewing why you are creating new accounts to troll users. It might be more worthwhile to just focus on the law firm process.

A caveat to this is that we do sometimes get this wrong, though, and if this is the case, you can private message Jessica or email me at [email protected]. Please also do the same if you interact with a user you feel is a previously banned account. Jess and I are really keen to make sure this community stays as kind and supportive as you are. It's only ever a tiny proportion of users like this, but we want to make sure we action this very quickly.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi Andrei

This is so insightful, thank you for sharing!

If I may, can you help me understand more about who Skadden’s direct competitors are? I’m trying to understand whether Skadden’s direct competitors are simply other US firms or if it is broader than that. Thank you.

Hi @TonyStark I think you can think of competitors in two main ways. Firstly, at the level of the firms as a whole, we would essentially look for the firms that share the most important features of Skadden for the purposes of defining market position. While the exact features that are most important for outlining market position are debatable, I would describe Skadden in London in the following way: a large office of an elite US firm with a diverse offering of practice areas but a focus on high end transactional work. The two other firms that best fit this description are Latham & Watkins and White & Case.

The second way to think about competitors is at a practice area level, where two questions are relevant - (i) which are the firms with the strongest teams in that practice, and (ii) which other firms would Skadden most often find itself pitching against when trying to win a mandate? For firms like Skadden, which excel in most of their practice area, there is a substantial deal of overlap between the two. Now, looking at Skadden's most important practice areas, we get the following:

• Corporate M&A (which is Skadden's most important practice area by far): the Magic Circle firms (as they are still the undisputed leaders of the UK corporate market) and Latham & Watkins, Cleary Gottlieb, Davis Polk and Sullivan & Cromwell (firms Skadden would most often come up against when fighting for transatlantic deals or deals originating from US clients).
• Banking & Finance: Borrowers: Once again the MC firms have leading positions in this area, and on the US side we have Cleary Gottlieb, White & Case, and Ropes & Gary
• International Arbitration: Commercial Arbitration: Kings & Spalding, Gibson Dunn, Latham, Quinn Emmanuel, Debevoise, and White & Case.

 

[Andrei Radu]

hi! what are the advantages of a firm following a sector based approach?
@Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

Hey @a1024 I answered this in an in depth post a while ago, I will quote it bellow:

Hey @legal18 so I think there are a number of associated benefits of a sector-focused approach from both a client and an employee perspective:

Benefits for clients:

1. Ease of service: essentially, a sector-focused firm will deliver legal services in a way that is a lot easier for the client to use. Firstly, if a firm organizes teams more around sectors than practice areas, it looks and is a lot more similar to the client's business. Businesses perceive themselves as players in a certain industry and do not neatly separate their legal needs between the different workstreams of different practice areas. Thus, the legal service of sector-focused firms seems a lot more tailored to the client. Secondly, industry-focused firms tend to have partners with significantly broader expertise. Hence, the firm can provide a 'one-point-of-contact' system to clients, which is easier to navigate administratively.
2. Strategic advice: the idea is that if you spend years and years working on matters in a single industry, by the time you become a more senior practitioner you will have almost as much technical expertise in the sector as the client themselves. Having this kind of deep insight and knowledge of the industry will not only mean that you can give better advice to clients on particular mandates, but it will also mean you will be in a better position to form a client-lawyer relationship which goes beyond that. This way, you will have a good chance of getting to know all the insides of the client's business and becoming their go-to strategic advisor. Thus, the client gets the benefit of exceptional business and legal advisory services simultaneously.
3. Industry reputation: if the firm generally does a lot of high-end work in a particular sector, it will become very reputable with businesses in that sector. The fact that firm will simply be a very well-known name definitely helps in terms of shaping advantageous negotiations dynamics with opposing counsel. A great example of this is Kirkland in the PE sphere. Simply because of the firm's reputation in this area, it is able to obtain advantageous terms for clients by insisting they are "market terms". Because nobody does as many deals as they do in PE, it is sometimes difficult for the other side's counsel to counteract Kirkland's claims.

Benefits for employees:

1. Learning more about the intricacies of the sector as a benefit in itself: if you have a prior interest in a given sector of the economy, working for a firm that has a focus on that sector will enable you to get a lot more exposure to it, which can be a benefit in and of itself. Just as you might have a general interest in commercial law because you have a general interest in learning more about and working with businesses, you might also have a specific interest in sector-focused firms because you have a specific interest in learning more about the sector. This reasoning will be especially persuasive if you have some previous work or other relevant experience related to the sector. Personally, I have seen candidates write persuasive answers based on this type of question in regards to sectors ranging from tech and financial services to energy, pharma and transportation.
2. Becoming a true strategic business advisor: this is similar to the line of reasoning you mentioned but is focused on long-term career prospects. As mentioned before, repeated experience in a single industry means you will in time become very technically proficient in your understanding of it. This puts you in a great position to become a true strategic adviser, which is potentially a more interesting role than just dealing with their legal requests.
3. More high-end mandates: if the firm can generally provide better service than its competitors because of its sector focus, this also means that the firm will be better placed to win the top of the market mandates from that industry. This might be naturally attractive to you, as these mandates tend to be the among the most complex and consequential.

 

[theruleofno]

Anyone still being ghosted by Akin, Gibson and Milbank post-app? 😂

I think all 3 have given out VS offers for both spring and summer

 

[Ram Sabaratnam]

Hi @Ram Sabaratnam! Any tips for the Cooley AC? ☺️

Hiya @James Wakefield

The Cooley assessment centre was quite a full-on day when I did it, and if the structure remains the same, you can expect a packed schedule. This schedule included (1) a group exercise; (2) lunch and chats with people at the firm; and (3) two separate interviews, one with an associate and another with a partner.

In my cycle, the morning involved a group exercise. We were expected to successfully pass this stage to proceed to the interviews in the afternoon. The group exercise had a strong commercial focus, so it’s worth taking some time to think about the kinds of issues that often arise in commercial exercises involving investment decisions, M&A considerations, and other types of similar business challenges. Beyond commercial awareness, the usual group exercise rules apply - try to show your ability to work effectively with others. There’s also a presentation element, where clarity, a client-focused approach, and time management all play a big role. There weren’t any written exercises when I did it, so I don't think you'll have to worry about that here.

Between the group exercise and the interviews, you'll have lunch and a chance to chat with trainees, associates, and the wonderful training principal, Claire Temple. This is a great opportunity to ask any questions you genuinely have about the firm, but also to get to know people in a more informal, relaxed setting. You might feel a bit nervous during this time, since some candidates will be unsuccessful at this stage and will need to leave. But just focus on doing your best and engaging with people you meet.

If you make it through to the interviews, you’ll have one with an associate and another with a partner. I wasn’t asked any commercial questions in these, but I found that some of the motivational questions gave me an opportunity to weave in my commercial awareness (where relevant). If you can, it’s definitely worth preparing for competency-based and motivational questions in advance. I also received quite a few curveball questions (e.g. “If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?”). If you get one of these, don't panic. Just think of these as an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to think on your feet and give a sense of your personality.

Hope this helps! And good luck with the AC!