TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

trainee4u

Legendary Member
Sep 7, 2023
268
593
I was wondering about alternative sites too as the lawyer and law.com have always been a nuisance

thelawyer uses Wordpress back end. Said Wordpress REST API is publicly exposed, and contains all the content for all the articles in JSON.

thelawyer has made a rather basic attempt to obfuscate this by adding a second / (which doesn't change its destination) and then blocking accesses to the normal single / on their firewall, but this doesn't stop you viewing the content.

afaict law com's content is free to read!?
 
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A worried graduate

Legendary Member
Mar 25, 2024
320
197
thelawyer uses Wordpress back end. Said Wordpress REST API is publicly exposed, and contains all the content for all the articles in JSON.

thelawyer has made a rather basic attempt to obfuscate this by adding a second / (which doesn't change its destination) and then blocking accesses to the normal single / on their firewall, but this doesn't stop you viewing the content.

afaict law com's content is free to read!?
Maybe it’s just the rankings that cost
 

A worried graduate

Legendary Member
Mar 25, 2024
320
197
As @Jesscia Booker said, there is not a right or wrong answer as this will be highly dependent on one's circumstances; moreover, I definitely do not think the choice is a 'decisive' one, in that there are plenty of people who succeed with both approaches. That said, if I were in this position, the following would be the central factors in my decision-making:
  1. How easily can you self-finance? Would parents or family be able (and willing) to cover it, or would you need to take any debt? If the latter, this would be a huge minus. However, even if you can self-fund, if this will make a significant dent into your/your family's savings, this is also a factor to consider.
  2. What does your applications history look like? Have you gave it your all (making lots and lots of high quality applications, have through research on each firm, went to firm events, kept up with commercial awareness etc) consistently and still not succeeded? If so, perhaps it is a good idea to do the SQE to boost your candidate profile - since there would not that much you can do independently of such a boost to significantly improve success chances. If however your application cycle efforts have not quite been up to the (quite high) standard I was describing above, perhaps it is worth another shot; particularly as if you do not do the SQE you would have a lot more time to invest to ensure you do everything right and maximize your chances to score well in every assessment criterion.
  3. Would there be anything else I can and want to do besides applications if I do not self-fund the SQE, or would this just be a 'gap year'? Of course, another job/do a postgrad would clash with the idea of not doing the SQE to have all the time in the world for applications. However, if you could take on a part-time role or enroll in a course that is not very demanding (at least during the main application cycle months), this could serve the SQE's function to boost your candidate profile.
  4. What firms are you targeting? Apparently, different firms care to a different extent whether you have already completed the SQE. While the cost-saving involved would likely be a benefit in the eyes of any firm, the level to which this will increase your chances will vary. Anecdotally, US firms in particular but MC firms as well tend to care less about it; whereas more mid-market firms tend to care more. The reason would be that the former category simply have a significantly stronger financial position, and as such, the savings involved in not having to sponsor your SQE would be more of a drop in a bucket than for the latter.
As a bonus point

Self-funding prevents you from doing GSA’s which is how most in-house “TC’s” are arranged
 

Chris Brown

Legendary Member
Jul 4, 2024
562
2,014
Would it seem weird to schedule """coffee chats""" (as people call them) and then drink water/another non-coffee beverage?
I completely second @Jessica Booker on this although I wish I knew it back in the day - speaking from personal experience, you do not want to end up having drank your 5th coffee of the day at 4pm 🥲
This might sound like a very dumb question but is there any kind of template or ideal structure to use in an email when scheduling “coffee chats” with lawyers in a firm during a VS? Would it change depending on whether it’s a trainee, associate or partner (i.e., more formal if it’s a partner)? Is there an expectation for people on the VS to know this type of stuff already? I don’t know how this process works at all. 😅

Also, how would a vac schemer know whether it is appropriate to try schedule one in the first instance? What if a situation arises where a coffee chat was scheduled, but due to a sudden change, it had to be postponed or cancelled? How should someone go about explaining this to the associate or partner who was invited? I guess this is me overthinking all the small things lmao. Any advice would be appreciated! Please help. 🥲

@Andrei Radu, @Amma Usman, @Ram Sabaratnam, @Jessica Booker.​
 

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