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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25
- Thread starter Jessica Booker
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- Sep 9, 2024
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Hi @bella98 I just wanted to add my perspective to @Ram Sabaratnam's excellent points and to also use the opportunity to do a bit of overanalysis of the 'theory' behind an optimal 'why commercial law' answer. I think there are essentially two ways you can make a 'intersection of business and law' reasoning work. One of them, as Ram explained, is to focus on the intersection directly. Essentially, this means looking at the most important features of work that involves both commercial and legal thinking and explaining how that attracts you. The advantage of such an approach is that it is very direct, clear, and will not take up a lot of word count. The disadvantage is that it will likely not in itself be sufficiently specific to justify your choice of law over any other career. For instance, say you make your point about how the work of a commercial solicitor involves a lot of collaboration with sophisticated parties like opposing counsel, bankers, consultants and so on. And this is a good thing to mention. This reasoning explains, for instance, why you prefer a career as a commercial solicitor to one as an academic or sole legal practitioner. From the point of view of the recruiter, writing about this collaboration-centered interest restricts the field of potential career options compatible with your fundamental motivations. However, it does not restrict it to only commercial law and nothing else. Investment banking and consulting for instance require similar levels of collaboration. And this problem persists with a number of other commonly-cited motivations, such as a desire to work in a client-facing role or to use analytic skills for problem solving.@Ram Sabaratnam I recall you previously mentioned avoiding the generic response, 'I am interested in both law and business,' when addressing the question of why I chose commercial law. I typically prefer a structured approach to these types of questions where I write three key points, starting with how my interest in the field began and so on. Could the intersection of law and business be one of those points, or does that come across as too broad? The reason I ask is that I studied law and also ran a small business, so I often incorporate that into my answer as one of the key points. Thank youu
Essentially, I think whichever are the two or three reasons you cite, you want to picture them as Venn diagrams. Each of them will exclude a number of careers and include a number of other careers, and each circle will have some overlap with the others. To be sufficiently specific, you want to ensure that you only find commercial law at the intersection. This can definitely work with the aforementioned type of 'direct' reasoning, but you will need to supplement it with reasons that will eliminate other applicable careers such as consulting or finance.
The second approach, which is the one I used, has the disadvantages of being less direct and of taking up more space. However, if done correctly, I think it has the important benefit of ensuring that only commercial law will be at the intersection of your "motivational" Venn diagrams. The approach involves stating the same 'intersection of business and law' point, but instead of trying to pick up one attractive aspect of the job to justify the claim directly, it splits it up into a 'Why law' and a 'Why business' part. As Ram explained, you cannot simply assert this, so then you go on to explain (i) what about working with law interests you - examples of what I have seen work well here included focusing on an interest in legal reasoning; advocacy; textual analysis skills; and (ii) what specifically makes you interested in the business world - examples of what I've seen work is a general interest in learning about the inner workings of the economy; how relationships between institutions and individuals work in different industries and geographies.
This further focused analysis on what about the concept of law and business attracts you does not need to go into too much depth. In theory, we could always ask further whys to any answer you give, and recruiters are not absurd. As long as you pick up one one central aspect of law and once central aspect of business that draws you and you then illustrate that with a concrete experience/achievement, I think you will have a great answer.
I got to VI. They did say in their email that they would welcome an app from me after the six month period, but they might say that to everyone.
Best of luck in getting past AC! I hope it works out for you
Jessica Booker
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Yes - you could include this detail in this section if it is a course or qualification.
- Sep 9, 2024
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Hi @KBanana and just to offer a quick response before @Ram Sabaratnam and @Jessica Booker come back to you: I think the answer is yes, provided that the course requires significant commitment of your time and efforts. If it takes less than 4-5 hours of study per week for you, I think that will mentioning it will likely not do you much harm, it won't add a lot of value either. If you dedicate around 10 hours or more, I would definitely mention it. On that point, I would also advise you to explicitly quantify your efforts both in terms of time commitments and regarding the level of proficiency you expect to attain.
They were all motivational and strength based.
Just keep in mind it’s very tiring and long… took me three hours to finish it so make sure you do it at a time when u have energy, time and space
There were like 7 sections one section was 4 motivational video interview ques about the firm. The others were all tests with one strength based video interview ques at the end of each of the six tests.
Sorry, I do not remember the ques as such as it was too long but ofc do the basic why IM and stuff. The tests are all based on case study docs which they upload and ask u to read.
Hope this helps
@Scarlett27
@Andrei Radu @Jessica Booker @Jessica Booker - I would like to say a massive thank you for all of your help, I appreciate all of your support - I secured a position on the summer internship with DLA, I am extremely appreciative of your guidance.
The next day at 3pm - the partner who interviewed me phoned me to congratulate and confirm my place
Yes it was
I think some other people received rejections today so if you haven’t heard back yet, it should hopefully be a good sign 🍀General question for anyone who has been to an interview/AC:
Did you feel being interviewed by a lawyer quite daunting? The idea of me (a rookie!) talking at length with a partner is pretty intimidating to me. Especially when the whole exercise is to see whether I’m what they’re looking for. (i.e. am I good enough or not?)
I’d love to hear how people frame the dynamic in their minds.
Thank you in advance ☺️
Did you feel being interviewed by a lawyer quite daunting? The idea of me (a rookie!) talking at length with a partner is pretty intimidating to me. Especially when the whole exercise is to see whether I’m what they’re looking for. (i.e. am I good enough or not?)
I’d love to hear how people frame the dynamic in their minds.
Thank you in advance ☺️
It isn't really that daunting in my experience and can be quite enjoyable if you frame it as speaking to an expert in their field.
Does anyone know of any big firms that don’t consider your GCSE / A level grades at all when deciding on your application (even if they ask for them)?
For example, I know Mayer Brown is one such firm: they ask for all of your grades from GCSE to degree level during your application, but only actually take the degree level results into account when making their decision, completely ignoring your GCSE’s & A levels. Any other firms like this?
For example, I know Mayer Brown is one such firm: they ask for all of your grades from GCSE to degree level during your application, but only actually take the degree level results into account when making their decision, completely ignoring your GCSE’s & A levels. Any other firms like this?
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