TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[lawyersum]

Hi everyone,

I would love to know for all firms, specifically Travers Smith my number one firm of choice for a 2024/25 vac scheme, whether the following experience would fit as a work experience, position of responsibility, or extracurricular.

After submitting my CV and a writing sample in Dec 2023 for a very popular legal blog, I got accepted to contribute monthly articles with deadlines to one of its blog sections. Recently, my editor recommended my promotion to their role as they are leaving soon. As Editor I would be in charge of a team of writers, create monthly rotas, contribute my own articles, and onboard new writers.

And just for some background knowledge, in terms of my proper work experience, I've currently got a high-street internship, pro-bono centre volunteering, Legal Cheek virtual vac schemes, and tutoring secondary school students as for-sure entries in the work experience section.

Given how I obtained this experience (Writer to Editor), the tasks involved, and my promotion, what section of the application form this would fit into? @Jaysen, @Jessica Booker, or anyone your advice would be much appreciated. Also, how do I word the promotion?

Thank you

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi everyone,

I would love to know for all firms, specifically Travers Smith my number one firm of choice for a 2024/25 vac scheme, whether the following experience would fit as a work experience, position of responsibility, or extracurricular.

After submitting my CV and a writing sample in Dec 2023 for a very popular legal blog, I got accepted to contribute monthly articles with deadlines to one of its blog sections. Recently, my editor recommended my promotion to their role as they are leaving soon. As Editor I would be in charge of a team of writers, create monthly rotas, contribute my own articles, and onboard new writers.

And just for some background knowledge, in terms of my proper work experience, I've currently got a high-street internship, pro-bono centre volunteering, Legal Cheek virtual vac schemes, and tutoring secondary school students as for-sure entries in the work experience section.

Given how I obtained this experience (Writer to Editor), the tasks involved, and my promotion, what section of the application form this would fit into? @Jaysen, @Jessica Booker, or anyone your advice would be much appreciated. Also, how do I word the promotion?

Thank you

Positions of responsibility and extra curriculars are interchangeable terms rather than distinct categories.

For me this sounds like work experience though, but could fit under extra curriculars/positions of responsibility if you were limited in the number of work experience entries you can submit.

 

[lawyersum]

Positions of responsibility and extra curriculars are interchangeable terms rather than distinct categories.

For me this sounds like work experience though, but could fit under extra curriculars/positions of responsibility if you were limited in the number of work experience entries you can submit.

Thank you very much @Jessica Booker for clarifying this. Hope to put it in the work experience section if space permits.

 

[sadiq saeed]

You can send me a private message on here and I can ensure they are added to our application opening/deadlines list on the forums!

Thank you in advance!

i will, Thanks

 

[pepsicola96]

Also - is there a thread for tracking events (e.g. A&O's upcoming grad rec call)? If not, does anyone have any advice for keeping up to date with the events each firm has? I have email notifs from places like Legal Cheek etc. and I even tried to create a RSS feed for the firm's events pages but didn't have much success..

no advice really, I just have a list of the 12 firms I'm applying to. Go through each of their websites events page, and their socials, then also legal cheek, all about law, aspiring solicitors etc and check for events for all of them. Signed up for everything pretty much haha.

 

[lookingforaTC]

Sidley Austin VS apps open. Not to put anyone off applying at all, but I have looked through their trainees on LinkedIn and found only 2 of their 30 trainee cohort who attended state school (granted I probably didn't find everyone).

I don't understand why the likes of Legal Cheek don't look into this and report it.

People know privilege is bad at these US firms - but do they really know it is that bad?

90% Oxbridge too - with some LSE/Bristol and Notts/Exeter came up.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Sidley Austin VS apps open. Not to put anyone off applying at all, but I have looked through their trainees on LinkedIn and found only 2 of their 30 trainee cohort who attended state school (granted I probably didn't find everyone).

I don't understand why the likes of Legal Cheek don't look into this and report it.

People know privilege is bad at these US firms - but do they really know it is that bad?

90% Oxbridge too - with some LSE/Bristol and Notts/Exeter came up.

State schools are often not listed on LinkedIn.

For instance, I can’t select my state school for my A-levels but I can select my local Grammar School. Yes, I can manually add my state school, but it isn’t as straight forward in doing so as selecting a recognised educational institution listed on LinkedIn.

So the very low figures could be because people don’t list their school (like I don’t) because they can’t find it or because they don’t even have that level of education listed.

Non-state schools are pretty good at making sure people connect to these as they love a good alumni network to help the future of their schools.

How many profiles were you able to identify that were non-state school educated?

 

[desperateTCseeker1998]

I loathe when firms use CVmail so much. Having only 4 work experience boxes is infuriating.

 

[studentdelaw786]

Hi all,

Can anyone please offer advice on the Mayer Brown Job Simulation exercise?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pepsicola96]

How valuable is attending in-person open days for firms?

Of course I do want to go, but practically it can be quite difficult. One of the firms I'm applying to (Hogan Lovells) is hosting one in october, I'll be at uni for this one, and It's a 4-5 hour train each way to London. They might pay for the train fare but I doubt they'd pay for a hotel.

So while I would like to go for the indirect advantages (learning about the firm, the process etc), is there any direct and explicit advantage?

 

[Jessica Booker]

How valuable is attending in-person open days for firms?

Of course I do want to go, but practically it can be quite difficult. One of the firms I'm applying to (Hogan Lovells) is hosting one in october, I'll be at uni for this one, and It's a 4-5 hour train each way to London. They might pay for the train fare but I doubt they'd pay for a hotel.

So while I would like to go for the indirect advantages (learning about the firm, the process etc), is there any direct and explicit advantage?

They may pay for a hotel given the distance you would need to travel. Maybe contact the firm first to ask what their policy on that is. Its not uncommon for firms to provide accommodation the night before an open day for those who cannot travel in that morning (e.g. from Scotland/Newcastle/Durham and similarly far destinations), especially when the train fare might actually be more expensive due to it being a peak train fare. Can often be cheaper to travel the night before and get a reasonably priced hotel in central London.

If you can go to such events, I recommend it. You become far more memorable when you meet people over the course of a day. There were so many where I would be waiting for an open day attendee's application form because they had made such a great impression on the day itself.

 

[VacSchemer]

Does anyone know how long Sidley usually takes to get back to the applicants? I know they review applications on a rolling basis but would like to know if it’s more so on a weekly basis etc

 

[bangarangbass39]

I’m a non law grad with a months worth of legal experience. I have a strong feeling of which practice areas I’d love to work in. Obviously it’s too early to tell what I would pick, however, and how well I would do of course! Nonetheless I wonder how much I should know about the practice areas I’m in invested in. Furthermore how many practice/sectors areas should I feel comfortable having a discussion about (when it comes to a commercial story question). I don’t want to do in depth research for too many.

My main interests are Public Law, Immigration, Employment, and Risk advisory (Investigations and ethics work). I have enjoyed work in IP, Tax, and I have strong interest in Healthcare/Life sciences. I’ve only chosen firms which are strong in at least 3 of these areas. Just so I have diversity in firms chosen and the training if I get accepted.

I’ve found that when researching firms, I focus heavily on their public law work, it’s the area I’m most interested in. I’ve realised it encompasses a lot practice areas in to one which I love. Furthermore, my legal experience has focused on this a lot and my academic work focused loosely on public law (areas like Imigration, Lifesciences, and Human Rights) Am I trenching my interests in an one area naively in prep for applications? Or can I carry on because of the practice area covers so many different sectors and practices, which means I can draw on a range of insights to demonstrate my interest in various commercial issues?

 

[Smart water 0403]

does anyone know if the Latham and Watkins Open Day fast tracks you to the AC ?

 

[user3883930]

no advice really, I just have a list of the 12 firms I'm applying to. Go through each of their websites events page, and their socials, then also legal cheek, all about law, aspiring solicitors etc and check for events for all of them. Signed up for everything pretty much haha.

Did you find many opportunities to sign up for this month? Everywhere I've looked, events seem to start September onwards - the only one I've seen so far is the A&O talk

 

[s2203]

Hi everyone,

I would love to know for all firms, specifically Travers Smith my number one firm of choice for a 2024/25 vac scheme, whether the following experience would fit as a work experience, position of responsibility, or extracurricular.

After submitting my CV and a writing sample in Dec 2023 for a very popular legal blog, I got accepted to contribute monthly articles with deadlines to one of its blog sections. Recently, my editor recommended my promotion to their role as they are leaving soon. As Editor I would be in charge of a team of writers, create monthly rotas, contribute my own articles, and onboard new writers.

And just for some background knowledge, in terms of my proper work experience, I've currently got a high-street internship, pro-bono centre volunteering, Legal Cheek virtual vac schemes, and tutoring secondary school students as for-sure entries in the work experience section.

Given how I obtained this experience (Writer to Editor), the tasks involved, and my promotion, what section of the application form this would fit into? @Jaysen, @Jessica Booker, or anyone your advice would be much appreciated. Also, how do I word the promotion?

Thank you

Hey, on Travers Smith's application there are two questions, one which allows you to put any details of extra curricular(tutoring) and then another on any achievements/awards/levels of responsibility which you have gained (the very popular legal blog).

 

[TheInevitableTCholder2024/25🙏]

Has anyone heard back from Slaughter and May or Addleshaw Goddard? W&C hasn't gotten back to be by now, should I expect a PFO?

 

[LB24]

Has anyone heard back from Slaughter and May or Addleshaw Goddard? W&C hasn't gotten back to be by now, should I expect a PFO?

Nothing for AG

 

[TheInevitableTCholder2024/25🙏]

Nothing for AG

how about Paul Hastings?

 

[user3883930]

Apologies, just to check - is this in reference to the previous app cycle?

For the previous direct TC cycle