Slaughter and May

Slaughter and May

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Slaughter and May

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(also see Slaughter and May interview questions)

Slaughter & May is considered to be the most prestigious magic circle law firm in London.

Areas of work

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.

Training Contract

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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.

Application Deadline

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Applicants are advised to apply sooner rather than later. Slaughter and May take on staff continuously, stopping once they've reached their yearly limit.

Start Dates

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Hired trainees will start in September or March each year.

Salary

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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.

LPC

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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.

Seats

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Trainees are offered 4 or 5 seats during their training process, some of which may be secondments abroad.

GDL vs Law Degree

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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.

Training Contract Academic Requirements

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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.