Cleary Gottlieb × Slaughter and May: Two of the Most Selective Vacation Schemes in London. One TikTok Feed.

At a Glance

Source	Free TikTok content — no paid programme
Methodology	Commercial Fluency™ — firm differentiation framework
Outcome 1	Cleary Gottlieb Vacation Scheme
Outcome 2	Slaughter and May Vacation Scheme
Selectivity	Two of the most competitive VS programmes in the London market

Before

No structured approach to firm differentiation

Generic ‘Why this firm?’ answers

Unaware of the commercial thinking elite firms screen for

After

Cleary Gottlieb Vacation Scheme

Slaughter and May Vacation Scheme

Deep, differentiated commercial understanding of each firm

The Problem

Cleary Gottlieb and Slaughter and May do not have interchangeable vacation schemes. They are different firms, with different cultures, different client bases, different reasons to want to be there — and the people interviewing you know exactly when a candidate has understood that distinction versus performed it.

The failure mode for most applicants isn’t a lack of intelligence or effort. It’s a lack of a framework for thinking about what actually makes a firm different. Saying Cleary is ‘international’ or Slaughters has a ‘lockstep culture’ isn’t analysis. It’s noise.

The candidate needed to move from surface-level firm knowledge to the kind of commercial thinking that changes how you read a firm — and changes how a firm reads you.

The Solution

• Our candidate found ECS’s free TikTok content and applied it with genuine discipline. The content didn’t just surface facts about firms — it reoriented how he thought. It prompted him to ask different questions: not ‘what is this firm known for?’ but ‘what does this firm actually value, and how does that manifest in its deals, its culture, and its client relationships?’

• That shift in framing — from research to commercial thinking — is what the content is designed to produce. And it’s what the screening process at both Cleary and Slaughters is designed to detect.

• No paid support. No coaching. Just the right mental model, applied precisely.

The Result

Vacation scheme offers at both Cleary Gottlieb and Slaughter and May — simultaneously. Cleary is among the most selective US firms operating in London. Slaughters is Magic Circle. Together they represent two completely different ends of the elite law spectrum, and he cleared both.

Hard work paid off. The framework told him where to direct it.

ROI Snapshot

ECS Investment	£0 — free TikTok content only
Vacation Scheme 1	Cleary Gottlieb (Elite US firm, London)
Vacation Scheme 2	Slaughter and May (Magic Circle)
Content Applied	Firm differentiation · Commercial thinking frameworks
Conversion path	Both VS offers — TC pipeline at two elite firms

“The TikToks were good in terms of prompting me to do deeper research into what made each firm different — they’re helpful too in sort of exposing you to the right type of thinking.”

— Anonymous | Cleary Gottlieb VS · Slaughter and May VS

Why This Case Study Exists

Most firms only show you what happens when you pay them.

This is what happens when you don’t.

Cleary Gottlieb. Slaughter and May. Two vacation schemes at the very top of the London legal market. From a TikTok feed and the discipline to think differently about what a firm actually is.

He didn’t need more information about these firms. He needed a better way to think about them. That’s what the content gave him.

The question isn’t whether this works. The question is what happens when you go all in.

Privacy notice: All case studies use fictional names and anonymised details to protect client confidentiality. Where appropriate, and with the client’s consent, we may arrange an introduction for you and your parents after their offer has been secured.

Your Move

If you're facing rejection after rejection — the problem isn't you.

It's the system you're using.

• We work with just 30 clients globally per year across all programmes, with just 5 in the flagship programme.