TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[jojo23]

When an application asks 'Why have you decided to pursue a career in Commercial Law? 250 words' how do I answer this, is it just why commercial law or does it have to be specific? The next question is why Reed smith in particular, so I thought maybe being specific isn't entirely necessary?

 

[cleojwilliams]

HI Cleo

We don't hold any interviews in person until after the application deadline, as our application process is not rolling. We do have video interviews prior to the deadline, but those don't incur a cost. So, @IneedaTCASAP would have been at one of our insight events.
Thank you Gemma.

Many thanks
Gemma

 

[Amjaya]

Hi all,

Just writing in to ask whether you have any advice on this matter. So I was accepted onto freshfields non law workshop and for some odd reason I ignored this email or completely forgot so never attended the workshop. This was supposed to be on the (5th December 2022).

I have applied to many other open days like the graduate workshop etc and have been rejected every year do you think this is due to me not attending the non law workshop and ignoring the email. ( please keep in mind I completely either forgot about it or didn’t open my emails and read it. This only appeared to me yesterday when I typed in freshfields in my email search bar and found the old email).

Please do let me know what you think because I keep getting rejected to subsequent open days etc. I was recently rejected to attend the graduate workshop 2024 ! I know this matter may be self explanatory but really need other input / advice.

@Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

 

[Amjaya]

Is the Mayer brown test automatic? I thought they rejected me 😂

 

[pleasepleaseplease]

Hi @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

I am applying to Kennedys and the deadline is on the 29th, I would really appreciate it if you could provide any guidance on how to answer the questions below as they both are very similar. (Please note that I have not interacted with the law firm before at all) Thank you!!

1. Reflecting on your research and any interaction you may have had with the firm, what has encouraged you to apply to Kennedys? 1500 characters

2. What specific aspects of Kennedys' culture, values, or work have inspired you to pursue a training contract with us, and how do you see yourself contributing to our firm? 1500 characters

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi all,

Just writing in to ask whether you have any advice on this matter. So I was accepted onto freshfields non law workshop and for some odd reason I ignored this email or completely forgot so never attended the workshop. This was supposed to be on the (5th December 2022).

I have applied to many other open days like the graduate workshop etc and have been rejected every year do you think this is due to me not attending the non law workshop and ignoring the email. ( please keep in mind I completely either forgot about it or didn’t open my emails and read it. This only appeared to me yesterday when I typed in freshfields in my email search bar and found the old email).

Please do let me know what you think because I keep getting rejected to subsequent open days etc. I was recently rejected to attend the graduate workshop 2024 ! I know this matter may be self explanatory but really need other input / advice.

@Jessica Booker

I really don't think this will be the case as I suspect they have not even got the data from the 2022 recruitment cycle anymore due to data retention policies.

 

[Gflow0211]

Damn, the irwin Mitchell test was sooo long and one vi question caught me off guard😭

(I also think I took more time than advised)

So worried now!!

Same, I was exhausted and did it yesterday. Which one threw you off, I had multiple 😭

Manifesting for us that we scored good enough in the other sections to make it to ac 🙏

 

[Gflow0211]

Does anyone have any tips for the Irwin Mitchell video interview + any resources for preparing for Capp assessments?

How did you find it? Did mine yesterday and nervous now.

 

[Tintin06]

Had a dream I was waiting for a Vacation Scheme interview at Baker McKenzie ... while doing a VS at Baker McKenzie. When I was waiting for one interview in 2019 I had a dream I was eaten by a crocodile, which was actually what the interview felt like. It's funny how you can end up having dreams (or nightmares) about law firm interviews.

 

[studentdelaw786]

anyone heard back re Gibson Dunn open day?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

I am applying to Kennedys and the deadline is on the 29th, I would really appreciate it if you could provide any guidance on how to answer the questions below as they both are very similar. (Please note that I have not interacted with the law firm before at all) Thank you!!

1. Reflecting on your research and any interaction you may have had with the firm, what has encouraged you to apply to Kennedys? 1500 characters

2. What specific aspects of Kennedys' culture, values, or work have inspired you to pursue a training contract with us, and how do you see yourself contributing to our firm? 1500 characters

I'd split this into the first part being more backwards looking - what you have done to learn more about the firm and the career that specifically aligns with the firm. I'd then make the second question more forward looking - what are you looking forward to experiencing within the firm if you were to join, and how you would contribute to the firm's environment.

 

[B2025]

For Fieldfisher did people put in all of their degree module grades and every GCSE/A Level grade.

 

[pleasepleaseplease]

I'd split this into the first part being more backwards looking - what you have done to learn more about the firm and the career that specifically aligns with the firm. I'd then make the second question more forward looking - what are you looking forward to experiencing within the firm if you were to join, and how you would contribute to the firm's environment.

Thank you!

 

[pleasepleaseplease]

For Fieldfisher did people put in all of their degree module grades and every GCSE/A Level grade.

Yep, this is what I did

 

[B101]

Is there anyone still waiting for W&C post-ac

I've been waiting for over a month now. Do you think they've filled all the slots as the WVS is pretty soon and surely onboarding should take some time?

 

[B2025]

Yep, this is what I did

Thank you omg that is long and thought I was with this after Gowling omg so annoying.

 

[pleasepleaseplease]

Thank you omg that is long and thought I was with this after Gowling omg so annoying.

completely agree, it is very lengthy!

 

[B2025]

completely agree, it is very lengthy!

Trust me it was annoying as hell for Gowling might need to make a cup of tea before starting on filling it out.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

I am applying to Kennedys and the deadline is on the 29th, I would really appreciate it if you could provide any guidance on how to answer the questions below as they both are very similar. (Please note that I have not interacted with the law firm before at all) Thank you!!

1. Reflecting on your research and any interaction you may have had with the firm, what has encouraged you to apply to Kennedys? 1500 characters
2. What specific aspects of Kennedys' culture, values, or work have inspired you to pursue a training contract with us, and how do you see yourself contributing to our firm? 1500 characters

Hi @pleasepleaseplease I agree with @Jessica Booker's points, and I expect @Ram Sabaratnam and @Amma Usman will also have very valuable inputs. To elaborate on how I think you could go about making the 'past-focused' why the firm reasons 'future-focused' distinction:

• Some reasons are inherently either past or future focused: if you mention history and prestige or past mandates, that is by its nature a past-focused type of reason. If you mention firm strategy or innovation instead, that is by its nature a future-focused reason.
• In other cases, you can talk about the same fundamental motivations in both a past and future focused manner. For instance, if one of your motivations is the firm's strength in one practice area, you could firstly discuss how the firm has grew the practice over years - what rankings and market recognition have they historically achieved, have they grow teams sizes, won new clients and mandates, improved revenues and so on. Subsequently, in the second answer you can focus on what the firm is looking to do with the practice in the future - are they looking to generally grow it and if so how, and in particular, are they looking to grow it in particular sectors or in specific geographies?
• In the second answer, you are also invited to discuss the 'why you' or 'fit' element a lot more - as such, you could concentrate on explaining your relevant experiences and achievements in a lot more depth.
• In your second answer, you are also invited to discuss what you think you could do in the firm - this is potentially a good opportunity to show off a bit of your commercial awareness. You could write about (i) what types of typical tasks and workstreams you would be excited to be involved in; and (ii) what predicted future developments about the work the firm is doing is exciting for you.
• Finally, the second question specifically directs you to discussing culture and values. As such, even if you do not identify anything special enough about it to merit framing it as a unique selling point reason, you should still consider discussing your overall fit with it. Thus, it may be better not to write a lot about culture/values in the first answer and focus on it in the second one.

If you follow all of these pointers, I think you should be able to minimize overlap and repetition. Finally, I will also emphasize that you do not need to reach the maximum word count limit in either section. 1500 words is very high, especially given the natural commonalities of the two questions. I think it is likely that the firm is also trying to test you on your ability to be concise and to the point even when not restricted in this regard - as for instance when drafting a contract or a memo, there are no word limits but it is still essential to avoid verbosity. Hence, I would advise you to observe the same norms of brevity in your writing style as if you were writing a response for an application form question with a much lower word count cap.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi all,

Just writing in to ask whether you have any advice on this matter. So I was accepted onto freshfields non law workshop and for some odd reason I ignored this email or completely forgot so never attended the workshop. This was supposed to be on the (5th December 2022).

I have applied to many other open days like the graduate workshop etc and have been rejected every year do you think this is due to me not attending the non law workshop and ignoring the email. ( please keep in mind I completely either forgot about it or didn’t open my emails and read it. This only appeared to me yesterday when I typed in freshfields in my email search bar and found the old email).

Please do let me know what you think because I keep getting rejected to subsequent open days etc. I was recently rejected to attend the graduate workshop 2024 ! I know this matter may be self explanatory but really need other input / advice.

@Jessica Booker @Andrei Radu @Ram Sabaratnam @Amma Usman

I think @Amma Usman and @Ram Sabaratnam might know more, but I would also not expect this to be the case. My perception at least is that most firms do not have a policy of immediately black listing a candidate from future opportunities for only missing one event. I also know a number of people who have been in a similar situation, in that they forgot to attend a firm event, and managed to subsequently progress through the application stages and even get a TC from the same firm.

You can always email/message grad rec on LinkedIn to ask for more clarification vis a vis their recruitment policies, but I think that it is unlikely they will tell you the rejections have been for this reason. I would instead advise you to critically review your past applications (or even better, get someone else with experience to do this for you!) and consider significantly changing your substantive points and/or style and structure if you want to apply again.