The Corporate Law Academy (TCLA)

This post has been three years in the making, and with disbelief, I’m overjoyed to announce that following an enjoyable vacation scheme, I have accepted a Training Contract Offer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, commencing in 2025. This achievement feels especially meaningful as Weil was the first law firm I visited during an open day in my first year of university. It's a truly fulfilling full-circle moment. I am deeply grateful to everyone at Weil who made me feel welcome and pushed me to deliver my best. Special thanks to my supervisor Anthony Nwokenna, trainee buddy Tallulah Young, alongside Alex S. and the incredible graduate recruitment team Philippa Wilson, Lizzie Arthey and Ciara O.. While starting my career at such a prestigious firm is a dream come true, the highlight is being a part of Weil's inclusive, friendly, diverse, and supportive environment! This journey is not mine alone. It has taken a village to achieve this dream. I am grateful for: My mother, who raised me by herself to be a strong, independent woman, made tremendous personal and financial sacrifices to ensure that the sky was never the limit for my ambitions. I aspire to be half the woman she is and can never thank her enough. My GROW Mentoring mentor, Arthur Ddamulira who has guided me for over three years, well beyond our initial six-month mentorship. Arthur has consistently pushed me to rise from my failures and his wisdom and belief in me remains a great source of motivation. Aspiring Solicitors, SEO London Corporate Law and particularly Jaysen Sutton and The Corporate Law Academy (TCLA) for the TCLA scholarship, all of whose support has been immensely helpful in bridging the knowledge gaps of being a first generation law student. My wonderful friends and mentors, whom I will reach out to personally with gratitude. As an international student with limited finances, the odds always felt stacked against me. There were days when I felt like giving up on my dream while adapting to a new country. At university, working until 3 am most nights in hospitality jobs, alongside managing two other jobs, volunteering, maintaining my extracurricular pursuits, going through the intensive application processes and adapting to an entirely new and challenging education system has been an arduous but rewarding journey. Despite the challenges, reminding myself that, "I’m going to be a lawyer one day” has given me the strength to keep going. This journey has reinforced the belief that every rejection is a redirection and that perseverance and hard work can get you anywhere you set your mind to. To every international student and little girl from India (or anywhere) who dreams of becoming someone in this big, uncertain world: if I can do it, so can you!

Last week, Carlsberg (🍺) agreed to buy Britvic (🧃) for £3.3 billion. But a single line in a contract with PepsiCo (🥤) nearly tanked the whole deal. Let me explain. People didn’t understand why Carlsberg (known for, well… beer) wanted to buy Britvic (known for Fruit Shoot). Young people *are* drinking less alcohol nowadays — so maybe Carlsberg wants to diversify. But diversify into Robinsons orange squash? Maybe... I'm not sure. Some people think the real reason Carlsberg wanted to buy Britvic was this: Britvic holds the exclusive license to make PepsiCo products in the UK and Ireland. If you're in the UK and you buy Pepsi, 7up, Mountain Dew or Lipton Ice Tea, Britvic made it. Now, that’s a *super* valuable contract for Britvic. But here's the issue — the agreement between Britvic and PepsiCo contains a "change of control” clause. This is how the clause works: if Britvic is bought by another company and undergoes a significant change in ownership (or “change of control”) then PepsiCo can terminate the contract. Why does this clause exist? It’s to protect PepsiCo — if a company it doesn’t trust takes over Britvic, PepsiCo might not have confidence in the new owner maintaining the quality it expects. So, if Britvic were to get bought, the clause gives PepsiCo the option to leave the agreement and find a new UK partner. So, technically, if Carlsberg buys the company, PepsiCo can leave. And that’s why PepsiCo was key to this deal — unless they agreed to keep the contract going with Carlsberg as the new owner, Carlsberg was *never* going to do the deal. So what ended up happening? Carlsberg convinced PepsiCo to waive their right to terminate the agreement! 🎉 PepsiCo agreed not to leave, Carlsberg made a £3.3 billion offer, and Britvic accepted it. In any acquisition, the buyer’s lawyers spend ages checking the target company’s big contracts for “change of control” provisions. Now you know why they’re so important. Found this post interesting? 💌 Sign up for LittleLaw (it's free): https://lnkd.in/e_PbNmmm

Posts and comments on LinkedIn like the one below are just one of the reasons why I love my work with The Corporate Law Academy (TCLA). From posting advice on the forums, with close to 14,000 public posts and 2000 private message conversations over the last five years, and over 250 1-2-1 coaching calls in the last year alone, I am really proud that my advice and guidance helps some people with their journeys to and within legal careers. A big thank you to Jaysen Sutton for trusting me with this work with TCLA!

Super excited to be welcoming our 2024 GCO Summer Interns to the London/Spanish teams on Monday - it is going to be a great Summer! Mackenzie F., Ahmed Harold Bah, Kemi Kareem, Dhruvika Talati Laura L. and Elizabeth Awa - can't wait to have you on board. The next 8 weeks will see a jam-packed schedule of real legal work, introductory sessions, collaboration with our US/APAC Interns and a round table with our Chief Legal Officer. We have been lucky this year to have some great legal firms on board with hosting our Interns, to include Baker McKenzie, Shoosmiths,Eversheds Sutherland, Slaughter and May and CMS UK - a huge thank you in advance. A final thank you to Jaysen Sutton for bringing us all together. #teamamex, #summerinterns, #workexperience

Finding a legal community that could help with my applications to law firms has not been an easy journey. Although there are many amazing organisations and opportunities available, I unfortunately do not meet the relevant requirements to join. However, I recently came across the The Corporate Law Academy (TCLA), who offer online training and advice, and immediately became a member. Over the past month I have particiapted in their Commercial Awarness Bootcamp, logging on from England, Portugal and France. The scheme ran for four weeks, with each week dedicated to a single topic; Mergers and Acquisitions, Finance, Law Firms as a Business and Current Affairs. We covered each topic in-depth, whilst also applying our knowledge to assessment centre style exercises. As somebody who finds commercial awareness challenging, having the topics broken down into simple terms was invaluable. Yesterday, I attended the graduation of the Commercial Awareness Bootcamp. It was lovely to meet lots of participants from the scheme in-person for the first time. We heard from guest speaker Giulia Peluso, who gave us an insight into how Clifford Chance structures its departments and how this affects the role of a trainee at the firm. I will now always include department structure as part of my research into a firm as it hugely affects the training contract experience. The moment that stood out to me most, was when we were showed past examples of individuals that had passed through the TCLA. It is hard to stay motivated after an unsuccesful application cycle, especially when you start to compare yourself to others. Seeing the number of rejections each individual faced before landing their training contract was so refreshing - demonstrating resiliance truly is the most important skill needed for any future lawyer. I would like to say a massive thank you to Jaysen Sutton, Shahana Yusuf and Vera Mekhonoshina for organising the scheme and graduation - it has been an invaluable experience!

TCLA is hiring 5 people – A range of roles this year - including remote, in-person, part-time and full-time. Ideal for a future trainee. Our forum is the largest in the legal profession - during the application cycle, we get 1,800 posts a week and 60,000 monthly active users. In September to April alone, we reviewed 850 applications, delivered 570 1-2-1 calls, and 330 mock interviews. We also taught the financial world to aspiring lawyers through our weekly classes, fully funded 85 scholars, and blew up Instagram from 12k to 141k! BUT we’re so far from being done - maybe 1%? We have really big goals at TCLA. ‘Khan Academy for the working world’ means giving anyone, no matter their background, location or circumstances, the skills and knowledge to do what they want to do.  We can't do any of this without great people. People who work hard, have big ambitions, and like to be pushed outside their comfort zone. The coolest thing about working in a startup is you get to create things that never previously existed - and you'll get to see the day-to-day tangible impact. We actively hire *kind* people because the legal journey is tough, and it’s only made easier if you’re surrounded by people who lift each other up. During my time at TCLA, we've been lucky enough to work with truly incredible people - Jessica, Shahana, Aks, Vera, Axel - and many many others who are now trainees and associates at all the big law firms. If any of this speaks to you - you can read more and apply via the link In the comments by 31st July to start in September 2024.

The Corporate Law Academy Graduation !!! I had the pleasure of attending a couple of sessions over the last couple of weeks enhancing my understanding of the role of a commercial lawyer and the business of law firms! Every session turned out to be motivational and the team honestly made the content engaging and simple to understand! I would like to thank Jaysen Sutton, Shahana Yusuf, Aks Khurana and Vera Mekhonoshina for taking their time to help us succeed!