TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Andrei Radu]

Hi @Andrei Radu and all,

I have a pre recorded VI with a US firm. I'm not too worried about the questions themselves but I have a tendency to speak in a monotone voice when I am nervous during video interviews. For some this may be perceived as a lack of enthusiasm and confidence.

Will this be marked against me if my answers are still clear, concise and well structured? Basically I'm trying to find out what the criteria is for a video interview? If anyone has any insights I would appreciate it.

Thanks

Just to add to @Jessica Booker's and @jta227's great advice, one thing I did to improve my style of speaking has been to pay a lot more attention and to try to consciously control the pace of and the breaks in my speech. Simply including two or three well-placed pauses between points and by slowing your normal pace when articulating more complicated ideas will make you sound a lot more impactful - take a look at this short clip of Jim Donovan (one of the leading executives at Goldman Sachs) explaining and simultaneously illustrating the effectiveness of pauses. If you have the time, I would also advise you to watch his longer recorded lectures such as 'Are you destined to deal?', it is an amazing example of what a less-flashy but extremely effective oral communication style looks like.

Finally, to build up on one of Jessica's pointers, I have a friend who dealt with a similar issue, but he found that if I sat on the other side of the table while he was recording himself he would be able to act as if he was speaking to me and thus perform a lot better. It may sound unorthodox, but I would give it a try !

 

[Andrei Radu]

Question on repeating information!!

So Travers has the following questions on their application form:
"Please provide details of your main extra-curricular activities and leisure interests.
Please provide details of any positions of responsibility that you have held and your key achievements."

Is it OK to repeat the things I talk about here in the general 'work experience' section? @Andrei Radu (sorry for tagging you for the millionth time 😭😭)

I think it is fine to repeat in the sense of using examples which consist of experiences listed in the work experience section as well - I did this in almost all of my applications. However, you should avoid repeating the descriptions of those experiences. To the extent possible, try to have a different content and substantive points made in the application form and in the work experience section. Regardless, make sure that at least the wording is quite different, as you should definitely not have identical paragraphs and sentences.

 

[vstchunter]

Is there point in applying to Gibson Dunn now? I know they are rolling but does anyone know if they actually review every application? Cheers

 

[dm_corporate]

Just to add to @Jessica Booker's and @jta227's great advice, one thing I did to improve my style of speaking has been to pay a lot more attention and to try to consciously control the pace of and the breaks in my speech. Simply including two or three well-placed pauses between points and by slowing your normal pace when articulating more complicated ideas will make you sound a lot more impactful - take a look at this short clip of Jim Donovan (one of the leading executives at Goldman Sachs) explaining and simultaneously illustrating the effectiveness of pauses. If you have the time, I would also advise you to watch his longer recorded lectures such as 'Are you destined to deal?', it is an amazing example of what a less-flashy but extremely effective oral communication style looks like.

Finally, to build up on one of Jessica's pointers, I have a friend who dealt with a similar issue, but he found that if I sat on the other side of the table while he was recording himself he would be able to act as if he was speaking to me and thus perform a lot better. It may sound unorthodox, but I would give it a try !

Thanks all!
What a coincidence - I watched this video earlier today so hopefully these tips will help me going forward.

 

[Andrei Radu]

When an application asks: is this law-related work experience, does this just mean professional law roles like interning in a legal department or completing a vac scheme? That was my initial interpretation but I am now wondering about roles I have taken within law societies and tutoring law modules - it seems counterintuitive to say these roles are not law related? Please could somebody help, thanks!

I do not think there is a determinate meaning for 'law-related work experience', most likely it differs depending on how individual departments/recruiters choose to interpret it. Regardless of the interpretation however I believe it is quite unlikely any of them would take issue with you classifying the aforementioned experiences as law-related. I did the same thing in my applications for law society roles and it did not seem to impact me.

 

[Andrei Radu]

In terms of preparing for legal questions, do people reckon the only modules worth revising are Contract, Tort, Land Law and Trusts?

If you have completed any more commercial law related modules such as company law, I would also revise some of the material for that. Just to be sure, I would perhaps add some of the basics of EU Law if you have already taken the module and are going to a Competition-law focused firm. However, in practice I have only come across and have only ever heard about people coming across contract law questions. As such, I would dedicate most of my revision time to that.

 

[jacksollaf]

Is there point in applying to Gibson Dunn now? I know they are rolling but does anyone know if they actually review every application? Cheers

I think they already reached the second stage a while back so you still could, but chances are slim, so would be better to just wait for the next cycle to maximise your chances...

 

[Amiyrerose]

im so scared too!!! my first VI and i feel like im prepping for ages and still not got enough, i'm not too sure what questions they will ask hhaaha

SAME , I was told by my programme coordinator that it’s supposed to be strengths based questions so not to worry about cases. I just generated some example questions and practicing answering them linking Kennedys to my answers every time. I

 

[NJS]

Is there point in applying to Gibson Dunn now? I know they are rolling but does anyone know if they actually review every application? Cheers

Firms are well aware that lots apply right before the deadline, if you're good enough you're good enough, so I'd say give it a go

 

[Tiffanychan4]

SAME , I was told by my programme coordinator that it’s supposed to be strengths based questions so not to worry about cases. I just generated some example questions and practicing answering them linking Kennedys to my answers every time.

ah thank you thats really helpful!! i'm just gonna try get it over and done with i think good luck !!

 

[zoobla20]

I wouldn’t say any job has sway in an application form on its own, but it will be a good role to have on your application form/CV and will show a lot of transferable skills.

thank you!

 

[sapphireoreos]

Has anyone heard back from Mishcon's summer vacation scheme or Forsters's summer vacation scheme? (I got a holding email a week or so ago from the latter saying they will respond by today)

 

[jacksollaf]

Has anyone heard back from Mishcon's summer vacation scheme or Forsters's summer vacation scheme? (I got a holding email a week or so ago from the latter saying they will respond by today)

Still too early for Forsters to send it, they'll probably send it by like 2ish... Also, Baker is also supposed to send out the invites for the test

 

[AS24]

Hey @AS24, I hope you are well too and all the best for the new year !

For your first question, I think you should still aim to cover the same three basic 'Why commercial law', 'Why firm' and 'Why you' in the cover letter, though perhaps with an increased emphasis on the 'why you' part. To avoid repetition, I would consider doing a combination of the following:

• Use a more concise and to the point style in the application form answers and a more narrative style and structure in the cover letter. You can see the form as you needing to deliver on some very specific tasks, while the cover letter more as you telling your story and presenting your profile.
• Furthermore, it is generally thought you can use examples from personal experiences and hobbies a lot more in the cover letter than in the application form answers, where you should focus more on work/academic examples. The use of personal experiences might be particularly useful in the cover letter if you decide to also give a short description as to how your motivations have historically progressed and led you to this point.
• To the extent that you cannot avoid repeating some of the same examples, try to focus on different parts of the experiences. For instance, if this was some kind of work experience, you may describe one relevant task in the form answer and one in the cover letter.
• To the extent that you cannot avoid repeating some of the same substantive points (I expect you should be able to find a number of different why Orrick reasons, but you might have the same basic points for why commercial law), try to elaborate on them in a different manner. For instance, say one of your reasons for why Orrick is their expertise in the VC/tech space. In the application form answer you could focus on Chambers rankings, deal figures and client base, while in the cover letter you could discuss one of their transactions at length.

For your second question, I do not think this linking experiences with skills is a strict requirement, but I would advise you to do it nonetheless. It shows off your commercial awareness and makes the relevance of your achievements and interests evident. A recruiter should never have an issue with seeing this even if they weren't necessarily expecting it; but if they expected it and you did not include it, that could be a serious issue. However, I would keep it brief (one or maximum two sentences at the end of a paragraph) and have the experiences themselves as the main focus.

Thank you so much @Andrei Radu

 

[Gg2001]

Anyone done the NRF Arctic Shores? Same as Gowling's?
My feedback from Gowling was:

"How you understand others": 4/4 - I always do well on emotion recognition games
"How you respond to change" 1/4 - I'm sure this is from reacting too slowly or wrongly in the press x/y type games
"How you attend to tasks & decisions" 1/4 - I'm not sure what this relates to specifically
"How you approach challenges" 3/4 - I think this is spending too long on the game at the end.
"How you identify patterns & rules" 4/4 - I will have performed very well on the maths stuff

So my concern is that research proves that reaction times decline with age and I'm 40+.

NRF have asked "If you have require any reasonable adjustments please do let us know as soon as possible and we can look at what adjustments cant be made."

I'm slightly confused by this because they say on their form that "We’re positive about employing disabled people and are an accredited Disability Confident Employer. As a Disability Confident organisation we offer interviews to disabled people that meet the minimum criteria for our roles."

On that basis I therefore disclosed that I have ASD (although I don't have a formal diagnosis, I would likely get one), so I'm a bit confused now about this, in that I've already disclosed a disability so there's some second-guessing perhaps on whether I should request an adjustment. In addition, I don't think that the people at Arctic Shores have considered that their games are age discriminatory specifically, and it says on the Arctic Shores page only that any of the following may warrant an adjustment and/or additional time:

"▶ ADHD ▶ Autism ▶ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ▶ Dyscalculia ▶ Dysgraphia ▶ Dyslexia ▶ Dyspraxia ▶ Epilepsy ▶ Mental Health Issue ▶ Multiple Sclerosis ▶ Physical Disability"

but age is not listed there.

I'm very much in doubt that it would be a good idea to email NRF and say "hey, your testing discriminates on the basis of age, which is illegal", even though it's obvious that it does. So maybe I just email and say "I'd like more time for the split-second games on the basis of ASD meaning I have slower reactions" [even though this is probably scientifically much less certain than the age issue, lol]? Anyone with experience dealing with this?!

I would try and opt for firms with watson glaser and verbal reasoning tests instead. I found tests like arctic shores and ashurst test difficult even with the disability adjustments added. Also check out Amelia’s insta, she is a clifford chance trainee and she posts advice for disabled candidates. She also targeted firms without gamified assessments, Clifford chance has Watson glaser as their test. https://www.instagram.com/ndlawyerproject/. You can ask for extra time for gamified tests, try and practise brain teasers and job test prep has a test pack too

 

[NCTC2025]

Success pillars for Reed Smith were kinda bad:
6/9
6/9
4/9
4/9

Shame cuz the Video Interview questions went well

 

[marisachr]

Anyone heard back from DWF?

 

[aspiringsolicitor23]

I do not think there is a determinate meaning for 'law-related work experience', most likely it differs depending on how individual departments/recruiters choose to interpret it. Regardless of the interpretation however I believe it is quite unlikely any of them would take issue with you classifying the aforementioned experiences as law-related. I did the same thing in my applications for law society roles and it did not seem to impact me.

Thank you!

 

[aspiringsolicitor23]

I would not include society roles.

The law tutoring is a bit of a grey area, but I suspect they mean providing legal advice in any capacity rather than topic.

Thank you!

 

[nazk01]

Has anyone heard anything back from Dentons post-VI regarding AC? I only received an update email saying we are reviewing your VI now and that was a while ago.