TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[wanttosolicit]

HL and Sidley interview invitations..!

 

[James Wakefield]

Anything from Forsters post-AC?

 

[milawalton]

HL and Sidley interview invitations..!

Did you just get this? and was it for the spring or summer vac scheme?

 

[NJS]

HL and Sidley interview invitations..!

Sidley for summer?

 

[lawbear123]

has anyone gotten Bristows first round but is unable to book a slot?

 

[legallycurly]

HL and Sidley interview invitations..!

Congrats!! For HL, is this for DTC or VS?

 

[lou1707]

Birketts vac scheme offer 🙈

Update: they’re rescinding the offer because I’m on a student visa and can’t do more than 20 hours. I’m actually heartbroken. Please if @Jessica Booker or anyone has an idea of what I could do it would be greatly appreciated (I already emailed my uni to know if there’s anyway they could accommodate my term times around the vac scheme)

 

[wanttosolicit]

Did you just get this? and was it for the spring or summer vac scheme?

Sidley for summer?

Congrats!! For HL, is this for DTC or VS?

Sidley Spring & Summer and HL Summer
Sidley applied September and HL applied deadline

 

[desperateTCseeker1998]

More or less the same application. Lots of grammar issues fixed (hopefully).

Interesting, I also was rejected post-TI for the VS so wasn’t sure whether to reapply/couldn’t decide if I needed to rewrite some answers (like my commercial issue one for example) for the sake of the application being different or if it was a waste of time

 

[bluescarf]

Hi, does anyone have any advice for how to stand out in a cover letter (this is for a DTC app)? I've never had to do one for a law firm before. They've given a few pointers i.e. why this firm/office/why a career in law, but I'm struggling with sounding quite generic (I feel!)

Hi bumping this, @Andrei Radu @Amma Usman

 

[NJS]

Sidley Spring & Summer and HL Summer
Sidley applied September and HL applied deadline

Worth the wait then since September haha, hoping I’m the same! Best of luck 🤞🏻

 

[3000to1shoteverytime]

Hi bumping this, @Andrei Radu @Amma Usman

The cover letter is usually only a page of A4 so actually covering those 3 things requires careful drafting. As for being generic sometimes it can be but the why law as a career can really only come from your experiences that led you to law and also why the firm too ro some extent. Unless there is some real niche area that you have a strong affinity with your why firm will be similar to other people's by its very nature of being what about them attracts people to want to work there.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Update: they’re rescinding the offer because I’m on a student visa and can’t do more than 20 hours. I’m actually heartbroken. Please if @Jessica Booker or anyone has an idea of what I could do it would be greatly appreciated (I already emailed my uni to know if there’s anyway they could accommodate my term times around the vac scheme)

I am sorry to hear this situation - it is frustrating when these situations can occur especially so late on in the recruitment process.

The first thing to mention is that the firm won't need to rescind as such, it will be more than the terms of the offer cannot be met. I just want to make this clear as I don't want people to panic that other offers could easily be rescinded.

Are you graduating this year or will your course be carrying on into the next academic year? I ask as if you are graduating from the course this summer it may be possible to move to this internship visa if the firm is happy to cover the costs of this: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/firm-accreditations/tier-5-gae-scheme. However, you will need to consider your general visa status as a student, as I am fairly sure you can only have one visa valid at one time, and therefore it maybe too complicated to move from a student visa to this visa and then back again.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Do people have tips on connecting with trainees/ future trainees on linkedin?
I'm sending connections but I feel like if people don't know you they're unlikely to accept? Would you recommend sending a message with the connection invite (also bearing in mind you can only do that for 5 invites a month).

Tips welcome!!

I recommend trying to find people you have some kind of connection with where you can.

That connection could be that you went to the same university or especially if you are a non-law candidate, maybe you have studied the same subject as them.

It maybe that you have a mutual connection on LinkedIn or follow the same interests (e.g. maybe you see they have made an interesting comment on someone else's LinkedIn content).

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi @Jessica Booker, I am currently applying for a paralegal role. What type of things should be included in the cover letter? Is it the same structure as a vacation scheme or training contract cover letter? Any advice would be highly appreciated. Thank you

For a paralegal cover letter, the first thing is to look closely at the job description/job advert and pick out key information/requirements from that and build it into your cover letter.

It is important to cover the following within the cover letter:

• Why the firm
• Why the opportunity (e.g. why specifically that paralegal role in that department - e.g. if it is a Real Estate Paralegal role, why do you want to work in Real Estate and why specifically that paralegal role).
• Why you

 

[Jessica Booker]

you don’t need to actually submit the cover letters lmao.

You often don't have to submit a cover letter, but in many instances, I would encourage people to do so, especially for paralegal roles they are especially interested in.

I think it is important to do so when you haven't got paralegal experience or especially when you have less evidence of your interest in that specific area of work (e.g. you have only worked in Litigation but this is a Corporate/M&A paralegal role).

Cover letters can make the differences between candidates and also can help to demonstrate motivations, which often a CV won't.

 

[lou1707]

I am sorry to hear this situation - it is frustrating when these situations can occur especially so late on in the recruitment process.

The first thing to mention is that the firm won't need to rescind as such, it will be more than the terms of the offer cannot be met. I just want to make this clear as I don't want people to panic that other offers could easily be rescinded.

Are you graduating this year or will your course be carrying on into the next academic year? I ask as if you are graduating from the course this summer it may be possible to move to this internship visa if the firm is happy to cover the costs of this: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/firm-accreditations/tier-5-gae-scheme. However, you will need to consider your general visa status as a student, as I am fairly sure you can only have one visa valid at one time, and therefore it maybe too complicated to move from a student visa to this visa and then back again.

I am sorry to hear this situation - it is frustrating when these situations can occur especially so late on in the recruitment process.

The first thing to mention is that the firm won't need to rescind as such, it will be more than the terms of the offer cannot be met. I just want to make this clear as I don't want people to panic that other offers could easily be rescinded.

Are you graduating this year or will your course be carrying on into the next academic year? I ask as if you are graduating from the course this summer it may be possible to move to this internship visa if the firm is happy to cover the costs of this: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/firm-accreditations/tier-5-gae-scheme. However, you will need to consider your general visa status as a student, as I am fairly sure you can only have one visa valid at one time, and therefore it maybe too complicated to move from a student visa to this visa and then back again.

Thank you for your answer and advice. I do graduate this year but unfortunately my university's term dates extend until the 15th of September (it is an LLM). They basically told me that unless I can prove the scheme falls outside my term date they can't accept me

 

[legallycurly]

Sidley Spring & Summer and HL Summer
Sidley applied September and HL applied deadline

If you don't mind, could you tell me when your ac is for HL?

 

[ad.]

As @Amma Usman has said. This should not be an issue, especially given the scheme is likely to conclude by the time you have the NI number and when you get paid.

I do stress to international candidates who are getting to final round stages, especially late on or close to schemes starting, or when they start applying for jobs after graduation, it’s probably best to apply for an NI number earlier on rather than waiting until you have a job offer just to make these processes a little easier/less stressful.

Thank you for your explanations — I hadn’t thought about needing a NI number at all 😅 otherwise I would have applied for it much earlier. I was just too focused on getting the actual job/internship haha

Thus, I am sure this post will be very useful for international students who might have been a bit clueless/inexperienced like myself! Thanks again Jess!

 

[Chris Brown]

Just finished my Willkie interview. Ngl was the hardest I have done to date.

I had mine fairly recently and it was definitely a bit harder than the Paul, Weiss interview. 🥲

Best of luck to everyone that has done their partner interview and waiting to hear back. 🙂​