TCLA's New Podcast: Trainee Talk

[Jaysen]

The Corporate Law Academy is delighted to announce its new podcast: Trainee Talk. The podcast is run by @Yee Rou Quah, a member of the TCLA team and a future trainee at DAC Beachcroft.

Episode 1: An interview with Laura B., a trainee from CMS. In this episode, TCLA talks to Laura about her application journey, from graduating from university into the recession, to being crowned CMS UK Trainee of the Year in 2019.

Episode 2: Our first interview with Lewis Malkin, who secured six vacation schemes and is now a trainee solicitor at Baker McKenzie.

More episodes coming soon!

Check it out here: https://soundcloud.com/traineetalk

 

[Kelvin]

Awesome idea! Perhaps users here could suggest questions for you to discuss with the trainees in the future?

 

[Yee Rou Quah]

Awesome idea! Perhaps users here could suggest questions for you to discuss with the trainees in the future?

Great idea! Please let me know if there are any areas that you especially want to know with trainees/ future trainees and their journeys. I will be keeping an eye on this thread

 

[Kelvin]

Great idea! Please let me know if there are any areas that you especially want to know with trainees/ future trainees and their journeys. I will be keeping an eye on this thread

Competition, restructuring/insolvency and admin/public law would be my top 3, thanks

 

[Yee Rou Quah]

Competition, restructuring/insolvency and admin/public law would be my top 3, thanks

Thanks Kelvin! As in if they've done seats in those practice areas and what the experience of that was?

 

[Kelvin]

Thanks Kelvin! As in if they've done seats in those practice areas and what the experience of that was?

Yes the usual, but perhaps: (i) a brief overview of the area (i.e. the purpose of competition law, how law firms fit into the picture, the role law firms play in the process), (ii) typical trainee tasks for that area (and perhaps an indication of how this evolves with progression through the law firm hierarchy) and (iii) general comparisons of life as a trainee in those areas vs other areas (e.g. on level of responsibility, level of client interaction, typical working hours/patterns etc).

Thank you

 

[Jaysen]

The next podcast episode will be released this week. I spoke with our previous guest Lewis Malkin, now a third seat trainee at Baker McKenzie, on how to make the most of your training contract. He's an exceptional trainee and I think there's a lot to learn from this one. Details coming soon!

 

[Daniel Boden]

The next podcast episode will be released this week. I spoke with our previous guest Lewis Malkin, now a third seat trainee at Baker McKenzie, on how to make the most of your training contract. He's an exceptional trainee and I think there's a lot to learn from this one. Details coming soon!

Really interested in this one @Jaysen! Your first podcast together was really interesting so will be good to know how Lewis is finding his TC!

 

[Jaysen]

Here you go! https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/making-the-most-of-your-training-contract/

 

[Yee Rou Quah]

Episode 4 of Trainee Talk is out!

In this episode we interview Nasteho Muse, a future trainee at Clyde & Co. We talked about the importance of developing a clear strategy when applying for training contracts, what the application process for Clyde & Co was like for her, and how she used her experience as paralegal to demonstrate passion in the insurance industry that Clyde & Co is a key player of.

Have a listen here: https://soundcloud.com/traineetalk/episode-4-nasteho-muse-clyde-co

 

[Jaysen]

We're delighted to announce episodes 5 and 6 of Trainee Talk. Our interview with Kishan Mathy, a first-seat CMS trainee, was so insightful that we've split them into two parts!

Kishan came to the UK from Sri Lanka at the age of 8 without knowing a word of English. He was state-school educated and the first in his family to go to university. At university, he balanced seven part-time roles and he has recently launched a startup.

In these episodes, Kishan spoke with our podcast host Yee Rou Quah about:

- How he leveraged his experiences in his application
- What to do if you lack commercial work experience
- How he used LinkedIn to find alternative ways to demonstrate his commercial awareness
- The power of being "unapologetically yourself" through the application process

Listen on SoundCloud: https://lnkd.in/gsTwzfE
iTunes: https://lnkd.in/d-eVp7B
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dRepsSd

If you want to hear more from Kishan, you're in luck! He has teamed up with All About Law to share his time as a trainee and the lessons he learned along the way. For more information, you can follow his dedicated Instagram account: @SqBrkt: https://lnkd.in/gHf6Mke

 

[Jaysen]

Hi All,

I'm interviewing a former recruiter/stockbroker for a new podcast episode tomorrow. The focus of the episode will be on improving your commercial awareness ahead of interviews/assessment centres (as this is what he works on now).

If anyone has any particular questions they'll like me to ask in the interview, please feel free to let me know.

Best,

Jaysen

 

[Helena]

This is a bit worrying!
https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/06/...LvKw-VOwYdGcPcha-KankWuSOUCimxRb1iGsHucNXrd4k

Any thoughts?

 

[Jaysen]

This is a bit worrying!
https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/06/...LvKw-VOwYdGcPcha-KankWuSOUCimxRb1iGsHucNXrd4k

Any thoughts?

It could be just an anomaly. That's magnified when a firm takes on few trainees, which often makes it seems worse than it really is. It could just be the case that too many trainees applied to the same department and one or two didn't quite cut it. If that's the case, it's not a big deal.

Equally, it could be that the firm is having budgeting issues, took on too many trainees and departments can't afford to take on trainees. If that's the case then it is an issue and reflects poorly on RPC.

Unfortunately, it's hard to find out the real reasons without insider knowledge, so I'd just keep an eye out on what happened in previous years and what happens in the future.

 

[Helena]

It could be just an anomaly. That's magnified when a firm takes on few trainees, which often makes it seems worse than it really is. It could just be the case that too many trainees applied to the same department and one or two didn't quite cut it. If that's the case, it's not a big deal.

Equally, it could be that the firm is having budgeting issues, took on too many trainees and departments can't afford to take on trainees. If that's the case then it is an issue and reflects poorly on RPC.

Unfortunately, it's hard to find out the real reasons without insider knowledge, so I'd just keep an eye out on what happened in previous years and what happens in the future.

Thanks Jaysen - it would appear from the article that as you say too many applied to the same department. In those instances though is there never a second choice? Do you only ever apply to one department once qualified?

 

[Jaysen]

Thanks Jaysen - it would appear from the article that as you say too many applied to the same department. In those instances though is there never a second choice? Do you only ever apply to one department once qualified?

I don't know much about how it works in practice (I didn't get that far and it's often quite hush-hush), but I imagine you can. I think it just depends on whether you're happy to go to a different area, whether they have space and whether they want you in their team.

 

[Yee Rou Quah]

Hi Helena

I understand from friends who are going through the qualification process and also from working in law firms that normally you can submit more than one choices (I.e. apply for an NQ position in tech and media and an NQ position in corporate- of course this means you will have to prepare for more interviews). Some trainees do do that but actually I find that a lot choose to only submit one as they are set on that practice area, and if the firm doesn’t offer an NQ role to them they will just go to another.

Hope this helps!

 

[Jaysen]

Trainee Talk Episode #7: How to Develop your Commercial Awareness - is now live!

In this episode, I spoke with Peter Watson who worked as a stockbroker for 13 years in London and Tokyo, and advised some of the world’s largest financial institutions on investing in the UK, European and Japanese stock markets. He also worked across four recruitment agencies.

In this episode we discuss:

• where candidates typically fall down in commercial interviews;
• what strategies you can start implementing today to develop your commercial awareness;
• the key issues to know for your interviews in sectors like technology and retail; and
• how you can leverage your commercial awareness to stand out during vacation schemes and law firm events.

If you want to learn more about Peter, check out his daily commercial awareness briefing called Watson's Daily: https://watsonsdaily.com. His daily newsletter is now free as of the release of this podcast!
https://soundcloud.com/traineetalk/episode-7-how-to-develop-your-commercial-awareness

 

[Jaysen]

Two new episodes have been released:

Trainee Talk Episode #8: Bringing Confidence to the Application Process

In this episode, we spoke with Ayaz Saboor, a current paralegal and a future trainee at DWF.

Ayaz explains how he turned around his applications, leading to an 80% application to interview conversion rate.

We also discuss:

• how to write an application that stands out from the crowd;
• how to handle challenging video interviews;
• how to demonstrate confidence in interviews and vacation schemes;

and much more!

Trainee Talk Episode #9: Sweat Equity

In this episode, we spoke to Kwasi Yeboah, a future trainee solicitor at Ropes & Gray.

Kwasi discusses:

• The value of attending open days and events
• How simplicity can get you ahead in the application process
• How to prepare for the Watson Glaser test and case study exercises
• The principle of sweat equity and how it helped him reach his goals

This episode was hosted by @Milambo who is a new addition to our podcasting team!

Links:

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/traineetalk/tracks
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/trainee-talk/id1466748526
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ROfpRAP7zZXNjd1gKs12W

https://soundcloud.com/traineetalk/episode-9-sweat-equity
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[Yee Rou Quah]

Trainee Talk Episode #10: How to Stand Out as Trainee Solicitor- Passion and Proactivity is now live!

In this episode, we spoke to Rahul Gandhi, a second-seat trainee solicitor at CMS with a passion for esports. Further to this conversation, Rahul was awarded 'Best Trainee Lawyer in the TMT Sector 2019' by CMS (even though he is yet to complete a TMT seat!).

Rahul discusses:
- How his interests and proactiveness led to new opportunities
- The benefits of building a personal brand within a law firm
- How candidates can draw upon their existing experiences in their applications

Links:
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/traineetalk/episode-10
iTunes: https://lnkd.in/d-eVp7B
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dRepsSd

We've also recently joined Instagram. Please follow our page for the latest updates! https://www.instagram.com/trainee.talk/