TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Jessica Booker]

I guess I was looking at it from the perspective of international arbitration specifically. If there were 100 Freshfields trainees who were all seeking to qualify into international arbitration only, it would be more competitive than 5-10 trainees at Debevoise & Plimpton looking to qualify into the same practice area in their firm (since there is less people to begin with). I think it could also depend on business needs as well. If a firm like Freshfields only needed 1-2 international arbitration NQ’s from a pool of almost 100 that expressed interest, then I imagine it would be tougher competition.

I think it also depends on whether a firm is full service or specialist. Freshfields offers almost every practice area imaginable, so I think it’s likely they’d want an even spread of NQ’s across their transactional and contentious practices (I don’t know this for sure I’ve never been to or worked at Freshfields). To my understanding, I think Debevoise & Plimpton is more focused on certain practice areas, one of them being their international arbitration practice. I imagine they have a few NQ positions for this area as it’s one of their main practices (alongside public international law). To be fair though, I don’t know an awful amount about Debevoise & Plimpton. 🥲🥲​

There wouldn't be 100 trainees at Freshfields wanting to qualify into IA - the firm wouldn't recruit that way.

Plus trainees would most likely have had to sit in an IA seat/secondment to be in with a realistic chance to qualify there. That could easily mean its limited to less than 12 trainees (not sure how many IA seats they have these days) being considered for one role. And the benefit of Freshfields is they have two qualification rounds per year, so it would never be 100 trainees - more like 40-45 qualifying at one time.

The issue with a smaller trainee intake but with a larger practice area is that 1) they tend to only have one qualification round per year where they only have one intake, and the ratios can spike much more easily than at a firm like Freshfields. If every trainee at Debevoise rotated into IA, they could all be interested in qualifying there and all have the right experience to do so. That would not happen at a firm like Freshfields.

But even if we said there were 12 viable trainees at Freshfields and 10 at Debevoise to go into an IA NQ role, all it could take is for none of those to be interested, for some to be hired elsewhere and who you have actually got vying for the roles could be very different.

The key data we aren't really considering though is how many seats there are and how many NQ roles there are. That is likely to influence qualification chances than anything else. Graduate Recruitment/HR try to make this manageable - they would try to stop departments taking on 5 trainees per rotation if they had no NQ hiring plans, but ultimately sometime business demand (e.g. one big high-profile case) could lead to additional trainees being taken on for one rotation but with the view that it is unlikely going to lead to a NQ opportunity at the end of the TC. Plans also change - whether its partners leaving, unexpected paternity/maternity/sabbatical leaves, significant increases/decreases in client work, NQ hiring numbers fluctuate a lot and often unexpectedly.

This is why there is a lot of luck in the process - there are too many variables for anyone to plan or control this.

 

[Kodak123]

Has anyone who’s deadline was 10th Jan for the Goodwin VI heard back yet?

 

[eirake]

PW interview this morning!

 

[jacksollaf]

Is this post-AC?

No no, post-App 🙈

 

[wannabe_lawyer_]

PW interview this morning!

Massive congrats! Did you apply to spring or summer?

 

[Miss Chocolate]

anyone heard back from RPC for their summer VS after test?

 

[a1024]

Any insights on Taylor Wessing AC?

 

[Miss Chocolate]

Also any insights into Mishcon VI would be appreciated !! xx How long do you get to prepare for a question and how much time are you given to record your response?

 

[helenaskelton]

anyone heard back from RPC for their summer VS after test?

Yes got PFO

 

[EA95]

PW interview this morning!

Congatulations 🎉🎉

 

[Miss Chocolate]

Yes got PFO

sorry to hear that!! do you mind me asking when you heard back? do you know if they have any upcoming ACs?

 

[g.cl.2020344]

anyone heard back from RPC for their summer VS after test?

I havent' heard back either, on their website they say that ac invites should go out in jan and offers made in Feb, but I havent heard of any1 being progressed

 

[Miss Chocolate]

I havent' heard back either, on their website they say that ac invites should go out in jan and offers made in Feb, but I havent heard of any1 being progressed

Damn AC invites already sent out in Jan? tbf I did my WG on 22/01 so maybe I should sit tight for a couple more days. I think someone's already had a SVS offer so I am going to assume they are doing this in batches. I wonder if they have anymore ACs coming up

 

[g.cl.2020344]

Hoping OC and ML will get back to us soon!!

 

[BonanzaBih_]

congrats, when did you hear from them?

They emailed yesterday late afternoon ish

 

[kCbr]

Goodwin post-VI PFO

I'm sorry to hear that! I'm still waiting on an email. I'm not sure if anyones gotten acceptance emails as of yet but its been 5 weeks now with not hearing back. Making me a little nervous.

 

[Chris Brown]

There wouldn't be 100 trainees at Freshfields wanting to qualify into IA - the firm wouldn't recruit that way.

Plus trainees would most likely have had to sit in an IA seat/secondment to be in with a realistic chance to qualify there. That could easily mean its limited to less than 12 trainees (not sure how many IA seats they have these days) being considered for one role. And the benefit of Freshfields is they have two qualification rounds per year, so it would never be 100 trainees - more like 40-45 qualifying at one time.

The issue with a smaller trainee intake but with a larger practice area is that 1) they tend to only have one qualification round per year where they only have one intake, and the ratios can spike much more easily than at a firm like Freshfields. If every trainee at Debevoise rotated into IA, they could all be interested in qualifying there and all have the right experience to do so. That would not happen at a firm like Freshfields.

But even if we said there were 12 viable trainees at Freshfields and 10 at Debevoise to go into an IA NQ role, all it could take is for none of those to be interested, for some to be hired elsewhere and who you have actually got vying for the roles could be very different.

The key data we aren't really considering though is how many seats there are and how many NQ roles there are. That is likely to influence qualification chances than anything else. Graduate Recruitment/HR try to make this manageable - they would try to stop departments taking on 5 trainees per rotation if they had no NQ hiring plans, but ultimately sometime business demand (e.g. one big high-profile case) could lead to additional trainees being taken on for one rotation but with the view that it is unlikely going to lead to a NQ opportunity at the end of the TC. Plans also change - whether its partners leaving, unexpected paternity/maternity/sabbatical leaves, significant increases/decreases in client work, NQ hiring numbers fluctuate a lot and often unexpectedly.

This is why there is a lot of luck in the process - there are too many variables for anyone to plan or control this.

What would you say in relation to competition for certain seats (e.g., international arbitration) at Freshfields, given the firm has an eight-seat trainee associate programme. If each intake has 40-50 trainees (two cohorts per year) and for each seat rotation, a vast majority of trainees expressed interest in wanting to do a seat in international arbitration, how would the firm navigate this? If the firm prioritised those in their second year of the TC (5th - 8th seat), would it be possible that by the time a 1st seat trainee goes through their entire training contract, the vast majority of trainees in their cohort will have experienced at least 3 months (one seat) in the international arbitration practice? To my understanding, Freshfields allows people to double up on a seat (6 months), so would this give those people an advantage over those that only did 3 months?

When it comes to qualification, would it be possible that there would be a significant number of trainees (out of 40-50) who were interested in qualifying into international arbitration (given they’d probably experienced it at least once during their TC)? Would this then mean it’s more competitive at a firm like Freshfields to enter a practice like international arbitration compared to a firm like Debevoise which has a standard four seat TC rotation and one trainee intake/qualifying period, with a smaller intake of around 10 trainees? Im just wondering that if I were to apply for the WVS at a firm like Freshfields next application cycle, would I find it harder to experience seats of interest and qualify into a practice area of interest compared to a US firm with a smaller cohort of trainees.​

 

[Reem2024]

Can anyone list any key commercial insights/ news? I have an AC tmr but with uni exams I haven’t had time to prep😔

 

[eirake]

Massive congrats! Did you apply to spring or summer?

Summer only, so they might be starting to send out invites for summer ppl too

 

[kCbr]

Anyone else got an AC from Goodwin?

Hi! Did you get an invite to the AC after taking the VI?