Slaughter and May is considered by some to be the most prestigious magic circle law firm in London.
Slaughter and May take on 85 - 95 graduate trainees each year (40 - 45 in September and 40 - 45 in March) and currently employ 182 trainees altogether. The graduate recruitment team tend to interview a higher percentage of applicants than many other law firms, up to 25% of the 2000 - 2,200 annual applicants.
Slaughter and May do not work on a quota basis regarding recruitment. They can take on more or indeed less candidates each year than they aim for if they feel candidates are particularly strong, or weak.
The average age of trainees when they start working at Slaughter and May is approximately 26 - 27. Every year there are several trainees aged well over 30.
Slaughter and May are not looking for one type of person. They want to hire many different types of people. Above all they want to see people with strong personalities, independent thought and individuality. They will teach how to be a good lawyer, and are more concerned that you are highly academic and able to become truly extraordinary, after their rigorous training.
The best advice to give potential interviewees is to just be yourself. If you are right for the firm, they will jump at the chance to take you on. And if they say no, you shouldn't be disheartened. If you have enough drive and determination, another firm will certainly take you on.
Applicants are advised to apply sooner rather than later. Slaughter and May take on staff continuously, stopping once they've reached their yearly limit.
Hired trainees will start in September or March each year.
The Slaughter and May starting salary for trainees is £38,000, rising by approximately £5,000 to £43,000 in year two. Salary upon qualification is £65,000 + benefits + bonus.
The five leading City law firms who make up the City LPC Consortium - Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Lovells, Norton Rose and Slaughter and May have selected BPP to continue working with them in developing the Legal Practice Course (LPC) in readiness for the regulatory changes that are expected to come into effect in September 2009.
The announcement follows a tender process conducted by the Consortium firms. The five firms envisage that there will be significant changes to the framework within which the LPC operates as a consequence of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s review of the content and structure of the LPC. The firms therefore decided to seek a range of views on the potential impact of the proposals in order to allow them to consider the options for their future trainees.
While the Consortium firms were impressed by the quality of proposals that were put to them by a number of LPC providers, they have decided that the best option is to continue working exclusively with BPP in preparing for the next phase of change.
The Consortium firms have worked successfully with BPP over the last two years in developing a new and innovative LPC that was launched in September 2006. This course will continue to run at BPP until June 2009.
In January 2009 Slaughter & May adopted a new accelerated LPC programme- provided by BPP- which will last 7 months rather than the previous 10. LPC students begin this course in either August or February.
Trainees are offered 4 or 5 seats during their training process, some of which may be secondments abroad.
50% of Slaughter and May's graduate intake is made up of non-law graduates who have converted to law by studying the GDL/CPE.
Employee benefits at Slaughter and May include:
Slaughter and May specialise in: Arbitration, ADR, Aviation, Aerospace, Banking, Commercial Litigation, Commercial Property, Company & Commercial, Computer & IT, Construction, Corporate Finance, Corporate Tax, Defamation, EC & Competition, Employment, Energy, Environment, Insolvency, Insurance/Reinsurance, Intellectual Property, Mergers & Acquisitions, Sports & Leisure, Telecommunications.
The Graduate Recruitment Personnel Managers at Slaughter and May are:
For further information on Slaughter and May read Slaughter and May Interview Questions and Slaughter and May Vacation Placements and Open Days.
The Application procedure for a Training Contract at Slaughter and May is as follows:
Use a simple, intelligent and straightforward writing style on your application form. Whoever will be reading your application is likely to read several hundred (if not thousand others). For this reason, keep your writing style and thought process clear.
Make sure you grab recruiters attention by focussing on your achievements.
Unlike interviews at other law firms, Slaughter and May do not use assessment centres, aptitude tests or modern testing techniques during interview. Instead it seems that interviewers just want to hear you talk and see what kind of person you are.
Interviews are more relaxed than most candidates expect, but despite the relaxed atmosphere, you must remember to remain professional and confident at all times. Remember, you are being assessed on how you would potential come across to the firm's clients if you were hired.
Slaughter and May interviews are more like conversations. The direction of the conversation is dictated as much by you as by the partners, and this cannot be planned or prepared for.
Tip: Work through your CV and think through all the pro/cons and issues associated with each experience or achievement so you know what to talk about if these come up in your interview.
There are no time limits to interviews at Slaughter and May but most last between 45 minutes and 90 minutes.
Slaughter and May do not use tests as part of their Training Contract recruitment process. You will normally be interviewed by two partners.
There have been cases of the following debate topics come at interview, the purpose to demonstrate your analytical and argumentative skills.
Expect to have your ideas and beliefs challenged and be prepared to stand up for yourself. Make sure your argument is balanced; you do not want to appear as one-sided, narrow minded or argumentative.
You may wish to send a short and simple email to each partner that you talked to, but only one each. if you do, thoroughly check your wording and spelling to make sure there are no errors. Your subject header should be simple too: e.g. "Thank you". Don't try to be witty or smart, just be gracious and thanks them for their time. This shows good people skills and sensible client management. It will also help to keep you on the partners' minds at decision time.
It is worth noting that Slaughter and May always call your referees and do not hold much regard for written references. Consequently, you should make sure you submit your strongest referees.
Slaughter and May offer 100 vacation placements each year. Slaughter and May is possibly the only law firm prepared to admit that Vacation Schemes are of limited value, both to students (who won't really be able to work on anything important) and to the recruitment team (who will be too busy with their own work to oversee most of the tasks Vacation Placement students complete).
One candidate was told in a recent interview with a partner at Slaughter and May that vacation schemes are almost entirely for the student's benefit, so that they can see what life in the firm is like and whether or not the Law is the profession for them.
Spending time on a vacation placement will certainly not be detrimental to your CV and many firms will find this experience proof that you are committed to a life working as a solicitor. What Vacation Schemes do is demonstrate that you've made an effort to find out about a legal career by taking the time to apply to several companies, interview and eventually spend holiday time wearing your suit and tie in an office. This demonstrates commitment to career.
Some firms tend to regard the presence of a vacation scheme on a CV as part of the filtering process. For example, if a candidate has been offered a vacation scheme at Herbert Smith, then he/she has effectively been given the "thumbs-up" from another major city law firm. This adds value to the candidate, and consequently other firms may be more interested in interviewing them.
Although every potential lawyer will know someone (or know of someone) who has either interviewed for a training contract or been offered a training contract without a hint of a vacation placement on their CV, this is the exception rather than the rule. Some students, such as non-law graduates, may be able to explain why they have not applied or partaken in a vacation placement and in this case, the lack of a vacation placement may be less important, particularly if you have experience working in a commercial environment or for a large non-law company. A first class law student has less excuse for failing to secure a placement, especially as many Universities offer excellent help and advice to their law students.