Our way of working

At Slaughter and May we don't pigeonhole our lawyers - all are trained to be multi-specialists across a broad range of legal matters. This is in sharp contrast to the experience that you might have at other City firms where, as a trainee or solicitor apprentice in, say, a finance group, you may well work in a very narrow area, repeating the same type of transaction many times over.

As a trainee or solicitor apprentice in one of our groups, you will work on the full range of transactions on which the group advises. In a corporate group, for example, one month you could help guide a client through the defence of a hostile takeover and the next you could be advising that same client on an equity issue. In dispute resolution, you could attend a hearing on a civil litigation matter in the morning, then meet a client to prepare for a mediation that afternoon.

In the short term, this will enable you to make a more informed decision about which practice group you should join on qualification.

In the long term, it makes for a far more fulfilling career. It provides challenge and interest, exactly what great minds need. It also allows you to develop deeper relationships with clients, because you get to know their businesses better. This level of insight can make an enormous difference for both parties and will help you play a guiding role in changing commercial and legal times.

That said, it is hard work. You have to cover more ground and we set exacting standards for our work and performance. But with our collegiate approach, the support is always there.  Although we record time, our lawyers have no billing or time targets, and they are not forced to compete with each other to find the jobs or clients that bill the most hours. This allows them to place greater emphasis on quality, efficiency and sharing expertise to support the multi-specialist approach. It means people have time to offer advice, which for a trainee and a solicitor apprentice is exceptionally good news.