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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25
- Thread starter Jessica Booker
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Well at least they are looking at last minute applications. I did the same! Like 2 mins before deadline haha (haven't heard back yet though). Best of luck
PFO from NRF today, and just found a PFO for the Skadden Open Day from yesterday, but also did a VI today so it swings in roundabouts!
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I am trying to research the firm but there are not even any virtual events to get to know the firm a bit better? How have people been researching Stephenson and Harwood?
- Sep 9, 2024
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Hi, @Pola123! First of all, congrats on the progression and good luck in the VI!! I did the DLA VI last year and from what I remember it mostly had the basic usual mix of motivational/competency questions you find in video interviews. While I don't know what questions they will use this year, I would not expect a very different approach. As such, most of the tips I can give you will be the broad, generally-applicable VI tips.
However, I can list bellow (a) some examples of DLA-specific questions you may want to prepare; (b) some general VI tips; and (c) a step by step guide for interview preparation that proved very effective for both VIs and final round interviews for me:
A. DLA-specific questions:
- Why are you applying to this DLA Piper office specifically?
- What is unique about DLA Piper's international approach? Are there any disadvantages and advantages compared to other models?
- Who are our biggest rival firms, and how can you distinguish us from them?
- Why do clients keep coming back to DLA Piper?
- Tell me about a challenge and an opportunity you see for the firm?
- Tell me what attracts you to our client base and the work we specialize in?
- Which one of our practice areas are you most interested in and why?
- Prepare really well for the big 3 (Why commercial law, Why DLA, Why me) and a few of the other very common questions (such as about a new story you have been following and its impact on the firm).
- Also, prepare for variations of the big 3 - instead of just 'Why DLA' and 'Why commercial law' independently, you could be asked both questions at the same time - 'Tell us about why do you want to be a commercial solicitor at DLA Piper'.
- Try to get to a point where you can, on the spot, answer both the independent questions and the broader combinations of questions in 1 minute, 1.5 minute, and 2 minute timeframes. Then record yourself and assess your performance. The more you do this, the more will you improve your flexibility to answer different variations of questions in varying timeframes.
- Prepare for some less common/curveball type of questions. There's no way of predicting what more unique questions DLA may go for this year, but at least one question could be more unusual. The best you can prepare for that is by improving your ability to think of the spot and flexibility in how you can refer to your experiences.
- Do not overcommit when you first start answering a question. This was by far the biggest issue for me last year. I would try to be structured and signpost, so I would start my answer by saying 'I will give you three/four reasons why ...'. However, midway through articulating my answer I would realise I did not have enough time to comprehensively state what I indented to. Thus, I would have to sacrifice either on the quality of my explanations or just not talk through everything I said I would, neither of which is a good look. As such, when in doubt, go for less rather than more. Your purpose should not be to blow away the recruiters, but to simply communicate good substantive points in a clear, concise, and composed manner.
Hi there! My interview preparation approach, which led to a VS offer 4/4 times I implemented it, was essentially split in four phases:
Step 1 - Preparing ideas for answers
The first and most difficult step in preparing for interviews is learning how to respond to a wide variety of questions. Of course, you cannot prepare beforehand for all potential variations of all potential interview questions. Furthermore, you do not want to learn answers by heart and then just repeat them in front of the interviewers - they are likely to sound robotic. However, by investing a substantial amount of time thinking about how you would go about answering to as many different questions as possible, you start learning how to describe your motivations and experiences in a flexible manner. This decreases the chances that you will not be caught off-guard by any given question. It also increases the chances that, even if you have not prepared for a question you are being asked, you will find a somewhat sensible answer to it.
The first thing I would do when invited to an AC/interview (and for a video interview, but not in the same level of detail) would be to try to build a question bank to practice on. I would create a Word doc with a few big headings (like 'CV based/competency questions'; 'motivations/firm-specific questions', 'commercial awareness questions', situational judgement questions' etc) and firstly write down all the questions I could think of under each relevant heading. I would then look at my CV, and find try to think how I could leverage my experience to answer those questions. Finally, I would write 2-3 short bullet points under each questions to explain how I would answer it - I have found this helps with memorizing the ideas for your answers. Thus enabled me to both have the ideas ready to go in my mind for a high number of questions and to be able to go through the though process of formulating the answer in the actual interview. It is also worth mentioning that at this step I would prepare particularly well for the questions I thought were very likely to come up (such as Why the firm, Why me etc).
The second stage involved searching for interview question banks on the internet - such as the one offered by TCLA here. While reading them, I would spend around 30 seconds on each question thinking of potential ways of answering them. I would then copy the questions I was having particular difficulty with and add them under the relevant heading in my word document. After finalizing this process, I would once again look at my CV and spend a longer amount of time thinking how to best answer each of them. Then, I would note down my ideas in short bullet points.
The final stage was similar to the second, with the only difference being that I would search directly for examples of past questions asked by the firm I was interviewing at - resources that were useful were this TCLA forum and Glassdoor.
Step 2 - Practicing articulating your answers
Once I had found the right ideas as to how to answer most interview questions, the second step of preparation involved improving my ability to articulate them. Despite the initial awkwardness of this method, I have found it incredibly useful to simply turn my laptop's camera on, pick one question at random, give myself a few seconds to think, and then record my answer. Subsequently, I would watch the recording with as critical an attitude as possible to see the parts I was struggling with the most. Then I would repeat this process again and again until I was happy with the way I was answering any given question.
A point worth noting is that as I was deciding at random which question to respond to, I would try to tweak the specific phrasing of the question in my mind. Thus, instead of just learning how to answer 'Why do you want to pursue a career in commercial law?', I would learn to answer many variations of the same type of question, such as 'How did your interest in commercial law originate?', 'Why commercial law rather than another area of the law?', 'Why do you want to be a commercial solicitor rather than a commercial barrister?' and so on. Once again, by following this approach, I would learn how to be flexible in formulating my ideas to best suit the exact question the interviewer would be asking me.
Step 3 - Mock interviews
Especially for any AC/final stage interviews, mock interviews are a really useful preparation tool. After you have improved yourself as much as you could by firstly preparing your best ideas for answers, and then preparing the best way to articulate them, you would now be in the best position to further improve both your ideas and your capacity to communicate them by getting feedback from others. Hence, if you can find someone with VS/TC interview experience (or even just experience with commercial law/interviews in general), it would be really helpful to get them to do a mock interview for you. Moreover, getting more familiar with the 'interview experience' beforehand contributes a lot to your ability to calm your nerves and do your best on the big day. As such, I would advise you to reach out to people who could help you with this, even if they are not part of your immediate circle. You will be surprised how many people will be willing to help you out!
Step 4 - Getting into the right mindset
Finally, although this may sound a bit cliche, try to go into the interview with a positive attitude. Remind yourself that just by reaching this stage, you have demonstrated to be an exceptionally competitive candidate. Acknowledge the fact that since the firm chose to meet you out of so many other applicants, it means you have everything you need to succeed - whether that means success with this particular firm or another. Finally, although I appreciate how hard it may be, try to not put an excessive amount of pressure on yourself. Meditate on your journey and how far you've come and accept that as long as you do your best, you will have nothing to blame yourself for. Going through these thought processes the night and morning before the interviews helped me a lot with reducing my anxiety and my ability to show enthusiasm in my attitude.
I hope this is useful
- Sep 9, 2024
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Hi @Amehta1! Having spoken to a friend who did it, it is timed. They did not mention the exact amount of time you get to prepare, but I think general practice is to have a 1-2 minute period per question.
does anyone know, if i fail in applying for the linklaters open day, can i still apply for the vac scheme?
it says you can only complete the capp online assessment once per cycle, and I've really not found time to prepare for that or the watson glaser. wondering if i'm better off just not applying for the open day, and preparing more for a vac scheme application
it says you can only complete the capp online assessment once per cycle, and I've really not found time to prepare for that or the watson glaser. wondering if i'm better off just not applying for the open day, and preparing more for a vac scheme application
"Describe how you think the innovative developments taking place in the legal industry will change the role of a commercial lawyer at Dentons. Please outline your research and reference the sources you used to inform your opinion." - in what way should we reference or outline sources? I was thinking Harvard style?
Hey, I was in their application tips event yesterday. Yes, they have stopped the London vac scheme this year due to not enough demand. Only direct TC for London this cycle!
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