TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[tcla02]

@Amma Usman @Jessica Booker do recruiters look at how long it took you to finish an untimed assessment? I just finished my trowers assessment in about 2 hours will that be looked down upon ?

 

[Gg2001]

I’m wondering the same thing. I did the Mayer Brown job simulation a couple of weeks ago. I have seen that a fair few people on this forum have received AC invites as long as a week ago, so I’m guessing it’s likely a PFO for us.

I don’t think so? I got the job sim link a week ago (Friday 11:30pm to be exact lol)

Here's the full Forsters PFO, which is very good:

• Eligibility: Some candidates applied too early. To be eligible for the 2025 vacation scheme or 2027 training contract, you need to be able to complete your degree, law conversion (if needed) and SQE before September 2027. Therefore, if you are studying a history degree finishing in 2026, you would not have sufficient time to complete the PGDL (one year) and the SQE (one year) prior to commencing your training, for example.
• Firm name: we saw many people spell the firm name incorrectly e.g. Fosters, Foresters. It is also Forsters’ rather than Forster’s. Some applicants used the wrong firm name, e.g. Farrer
• Grammatical errors: we saw a lot of American spellings where it was not expected e.g. organized, prioritized and realized. This can be a sign that AI has written the answer and shows the answer has not been thoroughly checked before copying into the for
• AI sentences: Some applicants left sentences in their applications which made clear the answer had been created in AI. For example, the paragraph would start with ‘here is an updated version with more information on…’.
• Length: many applications were too short, we provide a relatively short word count to encourage applicants to be efficient and succinct with their answers, however you should be aiming to reach within 10% of the word count. If you do not provide enough information, it limits the number of marks you can achieve.
• Marylebone: some applicants mentioned that they are excited by the idea of working in Mayfair, however we moved to Marylebone in January 2024

Question One was

"Work experience: Tell us about any paid employment, position of responsibility or volunteer work you think is relevant to your application (up to three separate roles). We want to understand your role, what you learnt and why the position was of interest to you. Please include dates for the role. (approx. 100 words per item)"

the feedback:

• Dates: some disregarded the element of the question asking for the dates.
• Lack of explanation: some applicants didn’t actually explain what their job was.
• Lack of variety: two or three very similar examples were given. You would have benefitted from selecting a wider variety of experiences e.g. rather than 3 1-week legal internships. The selection of similar examples limited the skills and achievements you spoke about. You may like to choose examples of different types (e.g. paid, unpaid, voluntary, position of responsibility), and different lengths (e.g. 1-week, 3-month summer placement, holiday job you return to, gap year work experience).

Question Two was
"Why Forsters: What are two things you have personally found interesting about Forsters through your research? Please explain why these are interesting or matter to you."

the feedback:

• Options picked considered too safe: many candidates avoided talking about clients, cases, lawyers and departments. In summary, they avoided talking about anything legal. We want to know which areas are of interest to you, and be able to see you have researched them thoroughly. We would advise you aim for a legal element, as well as talking about the easier elements to talk about, such as values, culture, D&I and CSR (which required less research
• Six seat training contract: the rotation system was one of the most commonly listed answers. To avoid a generic application, it would be better to choose something less obvious from the website. Some people made the mistake of calling it a four-seat training contract.
• Variety of legal areas: many applicants said they were attracted to the wide variety of departments on offer, but they did not go into detail as to which appeal the most/why they would like to sit there/what they know about the team.
• For insight, the most common answers were the Tate case, Art and cultural property, an interest in private wealth (without further details) and our value of We take happiness seriously,

Question Three was
"Tell us about one goal you have set for yourself recently and describe the steps you are taking and skills you are developing in order to achieve it."

the feedback:

• Need to break down the steps further: often steps were too broad e.g. ‘I am focusing on my health’, this needed further clarification of the steps e.g. I have designed a meal plan, I have designed a weekly gym schedule, I have challenged myself to 10,000 daily steps. You may like to make the steps more measurable to add detail.
• Lack of skills identified: many candidates missed identifying the skills they have developed.
• For insight, the most common answers were running, learning a language, building confidence, improving public speaking, time management skills.

I like their PFO letter very much because it does make it clear that in reality if you so much as make as one bad spelling "decision", e.g., "judgement" for "judgment" or "prioritize" for "prioritise" you WILL be PFOed and there's no mincing of words or pretending that things like this won't get your application tossed instantly.

thank you for sharing this

 

[Jessica Booker]

@Amma Usman @Jessica Booker do recruiters look at how long it took you to finish an untimed assessment? I just finished my trowers assessment in about 2 hours will that be looked down upon ?

Did the assessment say it was untimed? If so, then no.

If it said there was an unlimited amount of time, then there may be some form of element of reviewing time completed into the assessment, but it’s hard to know this for definite as it will vary from firm to firm.

 

[C_AJH]

Milbank AC for Summer!

 

[johnnysins]

Milbank AC for Summer!

Congrats! Did you just get it? And was it also for the Lev-Fin track programme?

 

[Miss Chocolate]

Someone here posted they got a TC with NFR (congrats!!) -- do most firms hand out TCs on a rolling basis?? I thought the ACs for direct TCs would be like in the summer.

 

[mx.jsn]

Hi, does anyone know if the linklaters fast track guarantees you an Ac place?

Yes- unless they have changed the process. I was on this track last year.

After the open day they send the AC invite.

 

[badmintonflyinginsect]

@Jessica Booker Hi Jessica! In one of my applications, I have not filled out the equal opportunity monitoring questions (gender/birthday/etc). Will this affect my application?

 

[futuretrainee101ac]

Nope I’m taking it today !!😭 I’m just going to try my best good luck to you

Honestly, best of luck to both of us!! I'll keep you posted on how I get on, let me know how you get on too!!

 

[Zaraa.x]

Someone here posted they got a TC with NFR (congrats!!) -- do most firms hand out TCs on a rolling basis?? I thought the ACs for direct TCs would be like in the summer.

I believe the individual got the offer after completing the winter vac scheme.

 

[Jessica Booker]

@Jessica Booker Hi Jessica! In one of my applications, I have not filled out the equal opportunity monitoring questions (gender/birthday/etc). Will this affect my application?

No - these questions are optional (either by non completion or by choosing “I do not disclose” and are used for reporting purposes across applicants. Answers are not accessible in terms of seeing an individual’s answers in the recruitment process.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Someone here posted they got a TC with NFR (congrats!!) -- do most firms hand out TCs on a rolling basis?? I thought the ACs for direct TCs would be like in the summer.

I am fairly certain this was off the back of their winter scheme. They will purposely still hold back opportunities for their summer process.

 

[tc67]

Any advice for Hogan Lovells, CMS, Taylor Wessing AC? Happy to share tips for Ashurst and NRF!

 

[isTeapp]

Does anyone have any tips for writing a memorandum of understanding during an AC?

 

[mariistm]

Did the NRF arctic shores this morning, I got 4/4, 4/4, 1/4 and 2/4 and I would say this test is bullsh*t but reading the feedback it was actually very accurate lol😔 not the best scores but holding out a glimmer of hope

 

[mariistm]

Also did Kennedys VI this morning, it’s so interesting how I can have no nerves before a VI and know what i plan to say inside out and even so, as soon as i hit that record button, my brain goes out the window!! Kind of bombed the first question but i hope the recruiter sees through my nerves as my second and third question were much better in my opinion, once i relaxed

 

[Shia]

Hey all, does anyone have any insight into the Simmons and Simmons AC? Would appreciate any tips!! - Would be happy to share tips for HSF, Macfarlanes, Weil, and Osborne Clarke

 

[W12345]

Hey all, does anyone have any insight into the Simmons and Simmons AC? Would appreciate any tips!! - Would be happy to share tips for HSF, Macfarlanes, Weil, and Osborne Clarke

Congratulations on the AC! When exactly did you complete the Simmons and Simmons assessment?

 

[Reem2024]

Also did Kennedys VI this morning, it’s so interesting how I can have no nerves before a VI and know what i plan to say inside out and even so, as soon as i hit that record button, my brain goes out the window!! Kind of bombed the first question but i hope the recruiter sees through my nerves as my second and third question were much better in my opinion, once i relaxed

Hi! Same!! I hate that most firms use it now since it’s sm harder than a real interview! Honestly so terrified of this one because they give no indication as to what to expect, i.e commercial or competency or motivational 🥲

 

[legallymimi]

Does anyone know how soon Fieldfisher sends their test post-application?

I applied on Dec 28th and received the test on Jan 10th