Ceinwen Rees

Before becoming a lawyer I worked for a professional services company and ran my own merchandising business. Looking back, gaining that commercial experience before entering the world of law was invaluable as it gave me good, practical knowledge of how businesses operate.

I joined Slaughter and May soon after qualifying as a solicitor at a medium sized London firm. The recruitment process was very thorough and, in addition to two formal interviews, included lunch with some of my future colleagues, which was a great opportunity to meet the people I would be working with and to learn about the type of work that I would be doing once I joined.

As a tax lawyer I get to work with lawyers across all of the firm’s practice areas. This, together with Slaughter and May’s multi-specialist approach and exceptional client base, means that my role is incredibly varied. The wide spectrum of matters with which I am involved makes the job both challenging and interesting, requiring me to develop a broad range of expertise without compromising on my technical understanding.

One thing that has really impressed me since joining is the supportive culture of the firm; although the work is indisputably demanding, Slaughter and May’s open door policy and lack of billing targets means that knowledge sharing is rife. People are always popping in and out of each other’s offices and, if you don’t find someone who has come across a similar issue before, colleagues are always willing to take the time to sit down and work through the trickier issues with you.