My career journey to the firm

A summer work experience scheme was my first experience of the firm, where I was impressed by the calibre of the work and how switched on (and nice!) everyone seemed. Later that summer, I was lucky enough to have two training contract offers - and Slaughter and May’s multi-specialist approach ended up being the decider. As I didn’t really know anyone who had worked in the City or much about different practice areas, I wanted to ensure I had the widest possible exposure to different work areas before qualification.

I qualified into the Competition group in September 2023, after seat rotations in Competition, Corporate, Financial Regulation, and a secondment to our Hong Kong office where I spent an incredible six months working on a mix of competition and corporate matters (alongside eating immense quantities of dim sum and sampling Hong Kong’s famous cocktail scene!)

My day-to-day in Competition

In classic ‘multi-specialist’ style, I currently work across all of our key areas within Competition: merger control, antitrust investigations and - increasingly - digital regulation. The associate role is varied, and can be very different depending on the type and size of project you’re working on. 

One of my favourite aspects of the job is that you can’t always predict what you’ll be asked to do next! On one matter, acting for a national housebuilder, we supported the client through a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation into information exchange and I found myself responsible for drafting a new set of competition law guidelines for the UK housebuilding industry.

The job is also more than just the client-facing work that we do. One of the most rewarding elements of my day-to-day is co-chairing PRISM, our network for LGBTQ+ employees.

One of many highlights so far

I’ve been fortunate to work on so many interesting projects since I qualified, from investigations into the UK housebuilding sector to green hydrogen joint ventures and airline mergers. My career highlight so far, however, has to be our work for Google on the UK’s very first investigation under its new digital markets regulation, which came into force in early 2025. Learning more about innovative search technologies like AI Overviews and AI Mode directly from some of Google’s top engineers has been absolutely fascinating. 

Even as a junior associate I’ve had the chance to hold the pen on first drafts of key submissions to the CMA, explaining how Google’s technology works and advocating on behalf of our client.

Co-chairing our PRISM Network

The job is also more than just the client-facing work that we do. One of the most rewarding elements of my day-to-day is co-chairing PRISM, our network for LGBTQ+ employees. In the past year, in addition to providing a supportive space for LGBTQ+ colleagues within the office, I’m particularly proud of our efforts to support the wider queer community - including pro bono work for a range of LGBTQ+ organisations, and raising over £4,500 for Galop over the summer.

My advice to candidates

One of the things that makes law fun is that things never stay still. A major development currently shaping the industry is the increasing adoption of AI technologies. Having been closely involved in some of our most exciting legal tech initiatives, a highlight of which was interviewing Harvey’s CEO Winston Weinberg for a firmwide event last year, my one tip for candidates is to stay on top of key emerging technologies like generative AI and agentic AI.

Future lawyers have the valuable opportunity at the moment to become digital-native experts in these technologies, which requires cutting through the hype to develop a real understanding of how they work and the opportunities - and risks - that they present.