How to Convert a Vacation Scheme Into a Training Contract Offer: The 5 Things That Actually Matter
Getting a vacation scheme ("VS") is insanely hard nowadays.
For those who have recently secured a VS, you should be proud of yourself: you successfully competed against over thousands of other job applicants, passed online tests / video interviews, survived assessment centres, and impressed lawyers you had never met. You finally earned your place at your dream firm.
But here is what most VS participants do not fully understand until it is too late: the vacation scheme is not just a reward, it's also the final round. The competition hasn't ended yet - if you fail to impress the law firm during the VS, all your past efforts will be in vain and you may be back to square one again. And that's absolutely brutal.
When I was a corporate lawyer at BigLaw in London, I was asked to give feedback to vacation schemers (and trainee solicitors) all the time. One of the most critical questions is, "Would you recommend him/her a training contract offer?"
Quite frankly, I almost never put "No" as the answer unless there is something really wrong with a candidate's work performance, personality or attitude. That's why a lot of people tell VS participants that you just need to be "normal" during a VS.
Based on my observations, the training contract offer is not given to the most impressive CV in the room. It is given to the person who, over two or three weeks, made the partners, associates or trainees around them think:
"I would love to work with this person when pulling an all-nighter at work..."
That is a vastly different question from, "does your CV look good?" You already proved that to get the VS. The question now is whether you can demonstrate the qualities that actually matter in a practising lawyer — and most candidates have no framework for doing that deliberately.
After coaching over hundreds of aspiring lawyers in the last application cycle, I have seen the same patterns repeat. Here are the five things that can help determine whether you can convert the VS into a training contract offer.
1. Quality of Work Over Volume of Work
One of the most common mistake VS participants (or even trainee solicitors) make is trying to do too much, too fast, to impress everyone.
Many candidates are under the impression that they must show proactivity by taking on as much work as they can during the VS. Thus, they volunteer for every task and say "Yes" to almost everything. They simply want to demonstrate enthusiasm through sheer busyness.
Yet, the problem is that rushed, low-quality work at a law firm sometimes is worse than no work at all. An associate who has to substantially redraft your research note, second-guess your thought process and approach, correct your formatting, or re-read your email because it was unclear has not been helped — they have in fact been given extra work.
At a busy law firm, time is currency. Your supervisors and other associates assign you to do something because they want you to help them save time. If they end up doing even more work, they may as well work on it themselves in the first place...
Hence, what actually matters during the VS is the quality of the work you produce. One well-researched, clearly written, carefully proofread memo that helps an associate save even 30 minutes is worth ten rushed tasks. It signals that you understand what the work is actually for — not just that you're keen to be seen doing it.
I remember a partner once gave me this piece of advice, which has helped me massively in my entire law career:
"Every piece of work you submitted attests to your reputation, and your reputation at the firm means everything to you."
Practical rule: before you submit anything, ask yourself whether you're making the life of your supervisor or another associate easier. Have your added some footnotes, comments or internal notes throughout the document (addressed to your supervisor) explaining the underlying rationale or how you reach certain conclusions? Have you provided a very good structure when writing memos or emails? If the answer is no, your work is probably not 100% ready.
2. How You Handle Not Knowing the Answer
Every VS participant will inevitably be asked to do something they don't know. A technical legal question they have not studied. A deal term they have never encountered before. A client industry they know nothing about.
How you respond in that moment is one of the most revealing signals you send during the entire VS.
The wrong response is to guess, bluff, or give a vague answer that sounds like you know everything. Your supervisor and other associates can spot this immediately, and it destroys trust faster than almost anything else.
The right response is simple and almost counterintuitively powerful:
"I haven't done this before, but I will find out and come back to you."
"Are you free for a quick call? I'm not too familiar with the background of this matter and there are a few questions I want to ask."
Then actually go find out and understand the context. Come back with a clear, accurate answer. Do it quickly.
That sequence — intellectual honesty followed by diligent follow-through — is exactly what partners and lawyers want to see in a VS participant or trainee solicitor. It demonstrates the two qualities that matter most in a junior lawyer: knowing the limits of your knowledge, and being reliable enough to figure out an answer to something new and challenging.
I have seen some candidates lose TC offers because they tried to sound more knowledgeable than they were. I have never seen a candidate lose an offer for saying "I don't know, but I'll do my best to find out."
3. Your Genuine Curiosity About the Work
What law firms are looking for is genuine intellectual curiosity — the candidate who asks a follow-up question because they actually want to understand, not because they think it will look good. The candidate who reads the background materials on a deal before the meeting, not because they were told to, but because they wanted to understand the context. The candidate who, when given a research task, thinks about what his team is actually trying to achieve rather than just answering the literal question asked.
If you're curious about a specific type of work, be proactive and ask whether you can get involved in matters like that during your VS.
If you drafted certain legal documents at your previous internships before, volunteer to help with a first draft of similar documents during your VS.
Curiosity cannot be faked consistently over two or three weeks. The only way to demonstrate it authentically is to actually be curious — which means choosing firms and practice areas where you have genuine interest, not just prestige.
If you're on a VS at a department whose work genuinely does not interest you, that is still important information. It is better to know that now than to spend two years as a trainee wondering why you feel disengaged.
In addition, even when you're asked to do a "boring" task (e.g. proofreading a long document, compiling legal documents), you should always take it seriously. More importantly, you should never casually "complain" to anyone at the firm that you're working on some boring stuff. That kind of casual conversation or remark can easily be spread across the firm and it may cast a negative light on you.
Be friendly and personable, but always remain professional as a vacation schemer.
4. How You Treat "Everyone" — Not Just the Associates and Partners
You may think this one is simple, and yet some candidates underestimate how important it actually is.
Law firms have long institutional memories. The associate who was a paralegal three years ago. The partner who was a trainee when the current managing partner was an associate. The PA who has been at the firm for over 20 years and knows almost everyone at the firm.
How you treat support staff, paralegals, and other trainees during your VS is observed, discussed, and remembered. Partners ask associates how VS students behaved. Receptionists and PAs notice. The new trainee who sits next to you for two weeks may be asked for their opinion.
The candidates who convert are consistently the ones who are the same person in every room — equally respectful, equally engaged, equally professional whether they are talking to a partner or asking the IT team for help with their laptop.
This is not about being performatively nice to everyone in a way that feels calculated. It is about being a decent person who treats colleagues as colleagues regardless of seniority. That quality is genuinely memorable, and it stands out.
5. The Final Interview: Many Candidates Underestimate It and Lost Their TC Offer...
Almost every VS ends with a formal or semi-formal final interview. This is the moment where the firm crystallises its view of you and decides whether they should offer you a training contract — and it's also one of those moments most candidates are least prepared for.
By this point, you may feel like the work speaks for itself. You have been in the office for two to three weeks. They have seen you. Everyone else in the firm has been reassuring you, "you'll probably get the offer, don't worry". Towards the end of the VS, you're probably tired too and you may feel like the hardest part is over.
It is not over.
The final interview is where you make the explicit case for yourself — and where many candidates who performed well during the scheme lose the offer by under-preparing for that interview, or being too vague and disorganised in their responses.
What you need to do in the final interview:
Reference specific work you did during the VS and what you learned from it — not in a self-congratulatory way, but to demonstrate that you were genuinely engaged and reflective
Express a specific, informed view about the firm's culture and work based on what you experienced during the VS — not generic praise, but something you observed that confirmed or deepened your interest in that firm
Ask a forward-looking question that signals you are already thinking about what it would mean to train there — something about the firm's direction, the practice area you spent time in, or what the transition from VS to trainee looks like
Prepare a detailed master interview document and draft all of your proposed interview answers in advance. Structure them properly, make them concise and keep practicing them, over and over again.
The final interview is not the time for modesty. It is the time to be clear, specific, and direct about why you want the TC offer and why you believe you are ready for it. Firms want to give offers to people who want to be there. Make it obvious that you do and show your passion!
Conclusion
Everything on this list comes back to the same thing: the VS is an extended assessment of whether you think and behave like a lawyer and someone others want to work with on a daily basis.
Not whether you know the law — you will learn that. Not whether you are intellectually smart — they already know you are. Whether you are the kind of person who takes every single piece of work seriously, treats colleagues well, is honest about what they know and do not know, and is genuinely engaged with the problems in front of them. More importantly, don't let your interview techniques cost you a Training Contract at the end.
That is what the law firm is assessing. And it is entirely within your control. You're just one step away from getting your dream job, don't waste this chance and give it your all.
Do you want to land a BigLaw Offer that can completely change your life?
P.S. Whenever you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you land a training contract or job offer at an elite law firm:
1. Free — Application Templates & Interview Master Sheet. Some of the frameworks I use with every 1:1 client. Download it here → [link]
2. Self-study — Part-Time BigLaw Academy. My complete online course covering every stage of the BigLaw application process — from writing standout answers to walking into your final interview fully prepared. Many aspiring lawyers have used it. Enrol here → [link]
3. 1:1 Coaching Programme — BigLaw Academy™. If you want personalised coaching on your specific applications and interviews, book a free 30-minute strategy call and I will tell you exactly where you stand and what to fix. Book your call → [link]
Hope you all have a good rest of the day!
Gordon Chung
