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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25
- Thread starter Jessica Booker
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Sidley PFO 😂😂 Don't even know why I wasted time applying to that satellite firm.
- Sep 9, 2024
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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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Hi , I just wanted to check if the Kennedys tc is open to final year law students or is it only for graduates?
@Ram Sabaratnam @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu please can you kindly assist
Thanks very much in advance
@Ram Sabaratnam @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu please can you kindly assist
Thanks very much in advance
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Linklater open day rejection.
End of my open day applications.
End of my open day applications.
Took 5/6 weeks to get to me and I haven’t heard anything since completing it 👍🏻
I applied VS 17/09, test received 29/10, taken 01/11, heard nothing since - I think they’re just slow
The PFO's are getting to me send help......
What is annoying is I got rejected post app for a firm and met them at an event and asked for feedback on my app and they got back to me and said you should have gone to the next stage of the application but you can submit an application for summer and we will pass you to the next stage. Anyone else been in this situation.
- Sep 9, 2024
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There's an interesting Law.com article (which you can access here) arguing that Latham is struggling with a lack of clear strategy. Essentially, over the last couple of years the firm has struggled in keeping up with the increased profit margins of rivals like Kirkland and Skadden. The firm's equity partnership has actually shrunk over this period. Simultaneously, the firm's average partner compensation (so accounting for non-equity partner compensation figures as well) has also decreased.
Some commentators argue that this is in due to: (i) insufficient concentration on its core New York office, as the firm was slow to keep up with the superstar 20+ million compensation packages offered by its rivals to attract and retain top partners - which is particularly concerning since NY is by a distance the most profitable legal market in the world; and (ii) lack of a clear vision for its European offices, as the firm is neither focusing solely on the highly profitable PE/cap markets niche, nor is it fully committing to offering a Magic Circle-like full service offering. This could be a worst of both worlds scenario, as it puts the firm in a worst position both when pitching against its more focused US and UK rivals.
However, my personal opinion is that while these worries are sensible, they are also slightly exaggerated. A number of different leading partners at global firms and many commentators have argued this is a transformative period for the world of big law, which is naturally accompanied by an increased number high profile lateral hires. Simply because of its size, the firm is a natural target for rivals who look to poach top partners. To the point, Kirkland has arguably had a worse year in terms of partner departures, with over 20 partners (including Neel Sachdev, one of the architects of its growth) leaving for Paul, Weiss. Since some of the elite New York firms with historically smaller London offices have started looking to expand and are ready to invest significant sums, it is not at all unexpected for bigger players to suffer as a result.
Nonetheless, the lateral hiring wars are still ongoing and there is a lot of movement in between firms. Kirkland went on its own hiring spree after the Paul, Weiss raid and poached some star partners in a number of practice areas which had seen recent departures. Sidley Austin, one of the firms which recently hit Latham, was just a few days ago itself targeted by Davis Polk and consequently lost the co heads of its European restructuring practice. The point is, things are quite fluid on the lateral hiring scene at the moment and the poaching firms often become poaching targets and vice versa. Personally, I would be surprised if Latham will not seek to respond to the current headwinds in a manner similar to Kirkland's.
Thank you! Did you apply? I just wanted to check if you added grades subject/ module wise or only an overall grade. It is a bit unclear from their application format! Thank you
- Sep 9, 2024
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Hey @aspiringlawstudent123 - I think this is actually a great question. Part of the reason why I cannot give you a very simple answer is that I do not think firm's organizational structure can be broken down in a dichotomy practice area vs sector based grouping - rather, I think it is more of a spectrum. Firms that mainly organize themselves based on practice areas will often split some of their practice areas in subdepartments dealing with transactions in a particular sector - you might see this especially for firms with big client bases in industries like tech, pharma and energy. At the same time, even sector-focused have a limit as to the variety of work you do in one sector. Generally, you will not work on huge M&A deals and cross border litigations simultaneously.
I think the best way to try to ascertain which side of the spectrum a firm is on is to look at their seats offerings. You should be able to find that out either on the firm's website or on publications like the Chambers Student Guide. After you have looked at the list of seats, try to judge whether they seem to more related to practices or sectors. Then, check on the firm's website whether there are any further subdivisions of practices. If after this and the rest of your general research your results are still inconclusive, I would assume the firm is organized on a practice area basis. This is the traditional model which the vast majority of firms use and the firms that do not will normally heavily advertise this as an unique selling point.
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