Sally Ali

WHY SLAUGHTER AND MAY?

Completing the firm’s Commercial Law Virtual Insight Programme influenced my decision to apply as it exposed me to the firm’s unique and agile approach to work. As a law student at the time, I remember feeling that most corporate firms seemed very similar, but I was most intrigued by Slaughter and May’s multi-specialist approach and lack of billing targets. The multi-specialist approach means that trainees are encouraged to undertake a variety of work, which is helped by the variety of hubs and streams that we have internally, such as the private equity hub in Corporate and the Infrastructure, Energy and Natural Resources cross-stream. Similarly, the non-billable hours targets means that the firm focuses on quality, which has helped me become accustomed to efficient working and pragmatic solutions.

MY TRAINING CONTRACT SO FAR

I sat in Corporate for the first seat of my training contract, where I was mainly involved in Private Equity work. I enjoyed this transactional seat as it allowed me to see deals through from start to finish, such as being involved in the early stage of a due diligence exercise through to the later stages of a signing.

My second seat was a split seat, where I spent three months in the Real Estate and the following three months in Disputes and Investigations. Disputes and Investigations was completely different to my initial two transactional seats. The cases worked on are interesting and can go on for years, meaning that trainees dip in and out of the work when rotating seats. The work was varied, including taking several trips to court and preparing and attending witness interviews. I highly recommend the three-month seats for trainees interested in gaining insight into several different groups during their training contract.

DAY-TO-DAY WORK

I’m currently in my third seat, sitting in Competition. I spent my first three months in the Brussels office, which was both enjoyable and insightful. Home to the European Commission, the work completed by the team there is varied and exciting. Some responsibilities included preparing merger control analyses, contributing to the firm’s competition newsletter and getting involved in the Business Development side of work, such as assisting with preparing pitches. During my time there, I was also given the opportunity to attend some webinars and conferences hosted by members of the European Commission, which I wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to attend.

I’m now back in London for the final three months of my Competition seat and no two days are the same! Examples of some of the work that I have been involved in include attending client calls, preparing notes of advice to clients and taking the lead on key workstreams, such as conducting foreign direct investment (FDI) analyses and updating our regulatory filings trackers which is crucial from a perspective of keeping on top of and meeting deadlines set by regulators, especially when several jurisdictions are concerned.

All trainees have the opportunity to apply to go on secondment in your third or fourth seat. I will be going on an international secondment to Mannheimer Swartling in Stockholm. I’m looking forward to experiencing a new work culture, including the Swedish tradition of fika, as well as sampling the city’s cinnamon buns outside of work! The firm provides trainees going on international secondments with the opportunity to take language lessons, which I know will be challenging but a great opportunity for character development.

HIGHLIGHTS SO FAR

A key highlight for me so far was being a trainee buddy to work experience students at the firm last summer. It was a full circle moment, as I had been submitting training contract and vacation scheme applications not long before that. It was a reminder that I had come a long way and refreshing that I was able to share my advice and insights with these students.