Hola! Does anyone know if TT&A accepts non-contact/non-NLU law students ? My friend is extremely crestfallen after being given a “regret to inform” response despite being in a top Mumbai law college, scoring first class honours in all sems and interning for almost a year with the transactional team of an investment bank,,,they cannot figure out what went wrong/was lacking. Any insight would be appreciated. TIA!

They have a very structured internship programme. If you manage to attract their interest through your CV and cover letter, they send you a long SOP-style questionnaire. The favourable outcome in the favour of the candidate is usually on the basis of their answers in this questionnaire. Back in 2019, it took me almost two weeks to complete the answers and share across for review. A couple of weeks later, I got the confirmation mail.

It seemed to me that they try to assess candidates the same way those magic circle firms do. So, to secure a TTA internship, it is essential that you showcase strong commercial as well as legal sense vis-a-vis the specific practice area of your liking (ofc, this must be an area of law for which they have a team in place). Another point that you should focus on is clear articulation. Do not be verbose. Send crisp answers. As a student, it is quite difficult to develop a commercial sense to interpret the law, but they know this too and you only need to show them that you have some idea of it. If you can somehow showcase a genuine interest for commercial law, they'll most likely take you in.

I work as an A1 for another firm.

@DU Grad - Thanks a ton for your reply. I asked my friend about the questionnaire on their website, they seemed to have filled it out in the way you’ve mentioned. Commercial law interest was tried to be conveyed via the multiple internships picked up by them that showcased their interest in commercial transactional law (in-house deal financing team > 2 years in disputed transactions litigation > 12 ish months in derivative transactions law with an investment bank.) As for the the question which asked for a commercial event that would affect the firm they chose to lead with how a sanctioned Russia would affect TT&A (advisory to clients to offload/lessen exposure to rubble based business(es) parri-passu local acquisitions for Russian dependent commodity based clients etc). The questionnaire was further sent across for review to a professor and a few (non-TT&A) alum to gauge if it was flowery/pointed and well structured. The friend in question also secured a vac scheme for a silver circle firm but could not go as they chose to go offline for this year and were not keen to sponsor a visa.

TT&A is quite famous for being the firm with among the best work cultures, they do take Non-NLU interns and do so quite regularly, and pay them the same. Once you get in you will be greeted with very welcoming associates who are actually willing to work with you to improve your work.

If you've applied and not able to get in, these could be few things holding you back:

- Unstructured CV (it matters and quite frankly a good CV will help you far ahead than simply getting an internship, so spend some time on it!)

- Cutting corners in their application form (they're very vigilant about this, and they really do mean every subject you've had in college and school (10th and 12th))

- Simply bad luck (They run out of internship slots quite fast so apply ahead and if possible apply for a longer tenure and choose whichever month you get. Fairly easy in 4th and 5th year, understandably difficult in 3rd.) eg. rather than applying for May, 202X, simply write your preferences (May - July; August - December; January - March)