TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[futuretrainee101ac]

Hi, I am looking to apply to the BCLP Spring Vacation Scheme, however, I was wondering whether I should write in full prose or bullet points for the work experience section seeing as the rest of the application consisted of four 500 word answers.
@Jessica Booker

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi, I am looking to apply to the BCLP Spring Vacation Scheme, however, I was wondering whether I should write in full prose or bullet points for the work experience section seeing as the rest of the application consisted of four 500 word answers.
@Jessica Booker

I’d still write in prose for the work experience section. BCLP are one of the firms that just likes a longer application form.

 

[AGRACHEL]

DLA Piper AC invite for London! Anyone else have on the 26th of November? if you have DM me, we could try to help each other prep.

Hello!
Can I ask when you received your VI invite after WG?

 

[AlegalA]

Helloo
Does anyone know how one would get their WG results from CMS? Do I just email early careers?

 

[Amjaya]

Just submitted the WG for HG Lift Off! Fingers crossed I passed 😭

What platform did you use to practice?

 

[stargazed]

What platform did you use to practice?

I used Assessment Day. JobTestprep also has a free test I think and there are lots of resources on Youtube too!

 

[HarmonyN]

Helloo
Does anyone know how one would get their WG results from CMS? Do I just email early careers?

They don't give out the results unfortunately

 

[m12]

for those who've done the Dechert AC - how long did you wait after ur written test, please? thanks

 

[F a v o u r]

How many firms to apply to? Is 30 applications enough quite honestly?

I was actually having a conversation about this with 2 trainees at Latham's open day yesterday. One of them recommend doing about 20 applications - I think that's close to the number of apps he actually submitted - the other one did only 2 apps but also recommended doing close to 20. They were both working full time jobs when they were applying. The first guy said that once you've done 7 really high quality applications which have made it to the next stage, then you would've covered about 90% of the application questions that come up for all the firms.

Interestingly, just before the trainees came down for the networking, a partner had finished giving a talk and she mentioned that she was appalled whenever she would hear people say that they've submitted 3 or 4 applications in a day. When she was applying about 15 years ago, she would spend about 5 days researching a firm before applying. She treated it like a full time job and said that she submitted lots of applications, but didn't give a specific number.

If you can invest your time and energy in writing 30 well-researched and high quality applications, then fair play to you. However, the point of diminishing returns would probably be after 10-12 applications.

 

[F a v o u r]

asking again - anyone heard from baker mckenzie wrt open days in november?

applied to one on 18th and not heard anything - should have at least received a PFO today - assuming its a PFO anyway due to radio silence

they sent the invite yesterday evening for the one on the 18th

 

[Aspiringsolicitor01]

Anyone heard from HFW about their open day?

 

[Gday33]

So I was accepted onto Linklaters OD but they didn’t receive my 3(!) emails confirming details - and now have rejected me as they’re full! I’ve sent them proof I responded but they say they have no spaces left so can’t do anything which is disappointing. Pretty annoyed rn..!

 

[ndqk]

Gibson Dunn Zoom Interview! Cannot believe it.

 

[yasmars]

So I was accepted onto Linklaters OD but they didn’t receive my 3(!) emails confirming details - and now have rejected me as they’re full! I’ve sent them proof I responded but they say they have no spaces left so can’t do anything which is disappointing. Pretty annoyed rn..!

That’s insane!

 

[AI212121]

Gibson Dunn Zoom Interview! Cannot believe it.

Hey, when did u apply if u dont mind me asking?

 

[ndqk]

Hey, when did u apply if u dont mind me asking?

8th September, so pretty early on.

 

[LawyerUpPal]

Gibson Dunn Interview!!! Applied 14/09

 

[Tintin06]

Accepted for Baker McKenzie Employability open day
Rejected for Baker McKenzie Non Law open day

 

[LawyerUpPal]

Sidley PFO 😂😂 Don't even know why I wasted time applying to that satellite firm.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Amma Usman, @Ram Sabaratnam and @Andrei Radu

I trust you are all well.

I am applying to Katten and am trying to understand how to answer this question.

What experience and skills do you have that will make you an excellent solicitor at Katten?
I am struggling to understand how specific I should be. Would you suggest looking for keywords used by the firm's marketing team?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Hi @AS24! I think the starting point when answering this type of question is the same kind of structure and line of reasoning you would use for a general skills and experience answer. However, instead of merely linking the identified skill/attribute with what would make you a great commercial solicitor generally, you should also try to show why it will specifically enable you to excel more at Katten than at other firms. To do that, you have to first find some Katten-specific firm features you can connect your points to. I can think of four main aspects of a firm you can pick out:

1. Practice areas: research the firm's work and find out what are its main practice areas. Then, show that the identified skills/experiences will be particularly relevant for the specific type of work trainees/junior associates do in those practices. You can even name the particular typical tasks that your experiences will be helpful for, like due diligence and process management in corporate M&A. You could then link that with skills like commercial acumen that you may have gained from experiences like a negotiations competition. However, if you were going for a disputes-focused firm for instance, it would be better to discuss experiences such as debating or mooting, and corollary skills like researching and advocacy. Finally, for an advisory-focused firm, you could prioritize experiences that show your interest into a particular advisory field or which demonstrate an excellent capacity to deal with black letter law analysis.
2. Sector based: if the practice areas approach does not suffice and/or if the firm has a strong sector focus, you could follow a similar approach in terms of identifying skills/experiences that can be linked with one of the industries the firm concentrates on.
3. Training-structure: identify the firm's training philosophy and any more specific features which individuate it and then explain how your experiences/skills will allow you to thrive in that environment.
4. Keywords: as you mentioned, you can also look for keywords and see if there are any particular skills, values or qualities that the firm emphasizes. However, one thing to keep in mind is that firms often formulate these ideas about their identity in rather broad language - the specific terms they use to communicate their core values/skills/qualities, or very similar related ones, are often used by other firms as well. As such I would only go for this approach if: (i) the keywords you find significantly differ from ones at other firms; (ii) the firm emphasizes a particular keyword a lot more than other firms do for for similar keywords; or (iii) if you cannot write better points based on one of the three previous approaches.