Why did you apply to Slaughter and May?
One key feature of Slaughter and May which stood out to me, and which led me to apply to the firm, is their multi-specialist approach; having studied law at university, there were multiple areas of law that I knew I wanted to experience and the broad practice areas at Slaughter and May appealed to me as an opportunity to explore my interests and work on a wide range of matters. I was fortunate enough to have been able to speak to some current trainees when I was applying, and they agreed that the multi-specialist approach allowed them to find areas of law that they really enjoyed and gain a unique type of training.
How did you find the application process?
The application process was straightforward as it primarily involved submitting a CV and a cover letter. Whilst I did initially find it hard to keep the cover letter to one page and strike a balance between sufficiently explaining my interests and yet keeping it concise, the ‘top tips’ section of the Slaughter and May website was particularly useful at telling me exactly what I needed to include.
My training contract interview consisted of a written exercise and two interviews, the first with two partners and the second with a member of the Early Careers team. Whilst I was nervous, I found the interviews to be far more conversational than I had expected and we discussed my academics, legal and non-legal work experience and my wider interests. There was also a news article discussion during the partner interview which was initially daunting but the partners were friendly and made me feel comfortable, despite challenging me on my points. Overall, it was a positive experience!
What’s a typical day like as a trainee solicitor in your current seat?
I am currently in my first seat in the Financing team and have been fortunate enough to work on a range of deals already within my first four months at the firm, so my day-to-day tasks have varied a lot. For example, one of the first tasks I did for my supervisor was drafting the first version of a Facilities Agreement. Whilst I found this challenging, it was also a great learning opportunity and led to other opportunities to contact the clients myself to confirm certain aspects of the Agreement. It was great to see how much responsibility you can be given just off the back of one task!
I have also been working on a large acquisition project, reviewing key documents and feeding this into the Due Diligence Report. This transaction has allowed me to work closely with the Corporate team and, although it has occasionally required a few late nights, it has been exciting to watch the deal progress - I am hopeful I will get to see it sign before I change seats.
What part of your job do you enjoy the most?
One aspect of my job that I really enjoy is working with a range of people every day, whether that's other trainees, associates or partners within the Financing team or other people across the firm. There are lots of different people here at Slaughter and May, all of whom are incredibly friendly and supportive.