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- 📩 What to do to boost your chances of securing a TC
📩 What to do to boost your chances of securing a TC
Hey
The application cycle opens again in a few months. Most candidates will not spend the summer preparing.
However, the ones who convert tend to be the ones who used the time before the cycle opened to get ahead.
This summer, we'd suggest doing three things:
1. Understand the process properly. Not just the stages, but what firms are actually assessing at each one, and what separates candidates who get through from those who don't.
2. Build your commercial awareness. This is the thing most candidates leave too late. By the time applications open, you should already have a habit of following the market, understanding deals, and knowing how to talk about them.
3. Work on your applications before the window opens. The candidates who submit strong applications on day one of a rolling window are the ones who prepared in advance.
The Future Trainee Academy covers all of this, including applications, interviews, assessment centres, commercial awareness, and more. It's free, and it's the best use of a few hours this summer.
Support until you get a training contract
We're giving one person in our community full 1-to-1 support until they secure a training contract.
That means direct access to a recruiter's advice and future trainees, for as long as it takes.
You’ll get:
CV review
a strategy call
application feedback
interview prep and mock interviews
ongoing guidance throughout the process
One winner will be randomly selected and announced on 29 May via our socials and email.
Create video content for us
We’re currently looking for people interested in creating short-form video content for us across platforms like TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.
This is a paid opportunity, and you do not need a following.
We’re particularly interested in people who:
enjoy speaking on camera
understand the legal careers space
can create engaging, informative or relatable content for aspiring lawyers
If you’re interested, please complete the short form below and include links to any existing content.
Applications
Research for your applications
Access over 20 law firm profiles, complete with breakdowns, seats, secondments, and other requirements.
A 9-step law firm research checklist that shows you what to look for, where to find it, and how to use it.
This breaks down recent transactions and explains how to move beyond simply mentioning a deal, towards demonstrating real commercial understanding and relevance.
How to structure your answers, apply the rule of three and build a compelling narrative for your applications.
15 real application answers samples from major firms along with an explanation of what worked and why
What to do if your efforts still aren’t converting, despite trying everything.
Application tracker, CV & Cover Letter Guidance
Track your applications, access CV and Cover Letter templates, and more.
Psychometric Tests
A clear breakdown of the key skills tested in critical thinking tests, along with where to practice, mistakes and red flags to watch out for.
Interviews
Commercial Awareness Starter Pack
Guidance on how to develop your commercial awareness and a worked example showing what a strong answers looks like.
Over 80+ interview questions asked by leading law firms.
Covering common formats, how firms assess answers, and how to communicate clearly and confidently on camera.
Work Experience
How to gain Legal Work Experience
This covers six avenues you could explore to gain relevant legal work experience.
Explore free virtual internships and DIY vacation schemes. Build real-world skills you can showcase on applications.
80+ opportunities across law firms, chambers, early-careers programmes and paralegal roles.
Studying
Includes proven tips for managing time, revision, and exams.
First Class Problem Question Model Answer
How to structure a problem question answer and showcase your legal reasoning.
Covers how to open with impact, write clearly and finish with a focused conclusion.
Oscola Referencing Cheat Sheet
A simplified guide to OSCOLA referencing, covering how to cite cases, legislation, books, journal articles, and more.
James Watt, the co-founder of BrewDog, is launching a new beer business called Second Best. He is promising to give free shares to the retail investors that were wiped out when BrewDog was sold.
BrewDog’s brands, brewing facilities and UK pubs were bought out by a US firm earlier this year in what is known as a prepackaged administration sale, i.e. the business was sold off as a package to deal with debt liabilities.
Thousands of retail investors were left empty-handed, being referred to as ‘equity punks. ’ This is after their stake had already been diluted through an earlier sale of BrewDog to a private equity firm.
Analysis
BrewDog’s collapse signifies how rapid growth fuelled by retail funding can create unsustainable business models and leave smaller investors completely unprotected when things go wrong.
What makes this uniquely unfair on the retail investors is that they invested through a crowdfunding scheme, which means they received shares with fewer protections than if they had bought publicly traded stock the usual way.
Watt’s Second Best endeavour comes off as calculated reputation management. He had personally extracted £50 million from the private equity sale that diluted the retail investors’ protections, which created resentment. By framing this new endeavour as a redemption, James Watt seems to be trying to convert former investors into supporters.
What does this mean for retail investment and the beer industry?
Retail crowdfunding without proper investor protections creates pretty catastrophic losses when these companies fail
Private equity investments in consumer brands often benefit founders whilst retail investors bear downside risk, a win-win situation for both the founders and private equity investors
Rapid pub expansion creates quite a high cost base, which is a model that collapses when consumer spending weakens, which is currently what is happening with BrewDog
How to Use This In Applications
24 May 1689 — The Toleration Act is passed, granting freedom of worship to Nonconformists and granted them their own places of worship.
25 May 1871 — House of Commons passed the Bank Holiday Act, creating public holidays on Whit Monday, Easter Monday and Christmas Day.
26 May 1798 — Income Tax was introduced in Britain — a 10% tax on all incomes over £200 a year. A year later this was dropped to £60.
27 May 1679 — Habeas Corpus Act is passed, which makes it illegal to hold anyone in prison without a trial.
28 May 1842 — Britain’s first public library is opened on Frederick Street, in Salford.
29 May 1871 — Whit Monday became the first official Bank Holiday in Britain (see 25 May)
30 May 1536 — Eleven days after he beheaded his second wife, Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour.
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