Slaughter and May - True Picture

Slaughter and May training contract review 2026 

The Firm 

Picking a training contract can be a shaky balancing act, and it always seems to require some pretty heavy trade-offs. Prestigious, big-name firms in particular carry with them age-old stereotypes: endless hours of facetime, prickly characters, and a button-up culture are all part and parcel… right? Well, at Slaughter and May (or Slaughters to its friends), our sources told us that assessment couldn’t be further from the truth.

For one, although the hours can be long, “they don’t do billable hours targets, so that was a real selling point;” partners, though “fierce,” don’t take themselves too seriously; and while the importance of the work is emphasised, it’s not “all-consuming.” All this, coupled with the added benefit of a top-of-the-line salary, meant that insiders were enthusiastic about joining Slaughters to say the least: “Obsessed isn’t the word… but I really wanted it!”  

“You never hear someone say something isn’t possible.” 

Another key issue people face when looking at training contracts is “you don’t know what part of corporate law you like” before starting, “or what specialism will apply to you,” so it can be a bit of a shot in the dark. Slaughter and May cuts down this issue, because “it’s an environment where they offer that variety of work,” so much so that one source even told us: “You never hear someone say something isn’t possible.”

That statement is reflected in the firm’s Chambers UK  rankings, which place it in the top band in London for banking & finance, competition law, corporate crime & investigations, corporate/M&A, and tax. Slaughters is also given props for its international practices, with our sister guide Chambers Global  giving it the highest honours in the UK for banking & finance, competition law, and tax… again! For trainees, this gave them a great platform to start with, as “over the course of two years, the multi-specialist approach definitely rings true…” 

The Seats 

Before starting at Slaughters, newbies get the opportunity to attend a seat selection event where current trainees speak about each of the seats, and also have a chance to put down their preferences. Then, “during your first seat, you have one-on-one meetings with HR to talk about what seat you want to go into next,” and the firm tries to match trainees with their preferred practice.

Like most firms, the majority of the seats last for six months, but there are a few where trainees can sit for three months: real estate, tax, disputes & investigations, sustainability and private equity. Trainees are also required to do a contentious seat, as well as seats in corporate and financing.

Once a trainee has completed their first year, they become eligible to apply for secondments, which typically last six months. On the international side, juniors have been known to go to Brussels, Japan, New York, Spain, and Hong Kong, although we heard that it’s not common for trainees to sit abroad – “maybe one quarter of trainees go on secondment.”

Even rarer are client secondment opportunities, where “you’ll get approached by a partner if you’re recommended.” So rather than apply, “it’s less formal where, maybe if you’ve worked with a client and they’ve asked for a secondee, they’ll ask you,” this interviewee elaborated, “so it’s based on a pre-existing relationship.”  

The first of Slaughters’ compulsory seats, corporate, gives trainees the chance to work on private equity deals, along with IEM and their growing ESG and sustainability practice. As is to be expected of a firm of its calibre, this practice works for a pretty stacked client list with household names like Direct Line, Nationwide, and INEOS. The group even advised Vodafone on the €8 billion sale of its Italian operations to Swisscom.

Trainees here aren’t leading matters, of course, but they are given the responsibility of managing workstreams. This involves some organisational work, and often, rookies take on a lot of cross-departmental work too. “You’re helping on corporate financings involves with tax, pensions, employment,” one source told us, “doing SPAs, and even working on projects with real estate, so it’s very cross-departmental.”  

“You get a considerable level of responsibility…” 

In the “fast-paced”  finance team, a “quick turnaround” extends beyond the work itself, as “three months into the seat, you switch supervisors” to experience the breadth of the practice. Juniors can work across a host of specialised groups including securitisations, leveraged and project finance, and financial regulation, with clients often including big banks like Barclays and Santander. The firm also advises Monzo on governance, structuring, and prudential matters.

Like in corporate, “you’re leading a workstream,” corresponding with local counsel, “thinking about what happens next, what we should do, what we should say…” We heard that “you get a considerable level of responsibility which puts you in good stead” to learn quickly in the practice, even within the first three months. Insiders spoke of drafting ancillary documents, working on board and shareholder resolutions, making sure deeds are executed properly, and conducting research on the mechanics of finding certain concepts – “the main thing is showing a willingness to learn and understand.” On the daily, “there is the unavoidable collection of proofing and bundling,” but our interviewees were very positive about their experiences here.  

Disputes & investigations is split into – you guessed it – disputes and investigations, with trainees generally taking on work on whichever side their supervisor’s focus was. “The firm does a lot of commercial litigation,” tying in with their other principal practices, but regardless of where your supervisor works, “you can seek out the work you are interested in.”

In typical disputes fashion, “the trainees do a lot more administrative tasks, helping with bundling and ad hoc research,” which a few mentioned “weren’t the most engaging,” but “although you don’t get a lot of responsibility, it is quite a novelty running off to court to deliver bundles and go to hearings – so it was quite enjoyable!”

We heard that as the seat rolls on, responsibility evolves quite quickly, to the point where “in the second half of the seat, you’re drafting, helping with letters to the other side.” Throughout, trainees are also “on calls learning about big cases,” which Slaughters has more than a few of; the group recently acted for the Premier League in its defence of a legal challenge against the League’s financial sustainability rules – a dispute brought by Manchester City Football Club.

“It is quite a novelty running off to court to deliver bundles and go to hearings – so it was quite enjoyable!” 

The quickly growing competition team gets trainees working on both transactions and investigations across some of the firm’s biggest clients. Much of the work involves interacting with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – the firm is currently advising ASDA in relation to the CMA’s first investigation into greenwashing following claims made by the company’s George clothing range. The group also works for lesser-known names like Google, Coca-Cola, and Meta… real small potatoes.

Although trainees in the practice do get involved in client calls, “they don’t let you loose on them” – instead, “there are a lot of research tasks,” we heard, alongside having a go at drafts of initial responses. Sitting in competition also gives trainees the opportunity to go on a three-month international secondment to work with the team in Brussels.  

Trainee Life 

In the typical manner, most of the learning for juniors comes from on-the-job responsibilities, but formal training helps to provide a solid platform for newbies to build on. Across the board, sources told us they felt “the training is phenomenal,” even to the point where “we’re pretty inundated with it… but you definitely don’t feel abandoned.” Newbies start off with “a lot” of general seminar-style training – “you’re sat in a room with 20, 30 people and a presenter” – and then department-specific training.

While the general sessions for all trainees take place “every few weeks, covering things like an introduction to tax and softer skills like working styles,” department-specific training happens more frequently, with experts like KCs going in to speak, so “they are constantly replenishing our knowledge.”  Mentoring at Slaughter and May follows this academic mindset too, because “everyone really has a love of learning, so people are always wanting to do new things and try something different! Everybody knows that nobody knows everything, so everyone has an attitude that it’s really exciting to learn,” an interviewee enthused.

Along with the usual mid- and end-of-seat reviews, trainees are in constant conversation with their supervisors who they share an office with most days, so “they really want to push you out of your comfort zone, but people are happy to chat about X, Y, and Z.” This source continued: “The main thing I’ve found is that everyone works very hard, but everyone is supportive of making sure everyone is comfortable.”  

“Everyone really has a love of learning…” 

By now, you probably have a pretty bookish view of the people at Slaughters, which is seemingly not too far off the mark: “Nobody is flashy,” one insider nodded, “people here are very understated.” Top law firms have a reputation for “scary and intense” partners, but while “of course there are tough moments and people get stressed,” our interviewees’ experiences were overwhelmingly positive.

On the social side, working hours can mean that at times, “there’s not much appetite for events,” but the firm does put them on “a lot, so it is what you want it to be – it’s what you make it.” Along with the welcome party and the traditional Christmas party, trainees get support from the firm to arrange events like pottery making, and partners will often organise drinks for after a closing, so “Slaughters is very good from a social side.”

Affinity groups also play a role in the firm’s social life. The LGBTQ+ network, Prism, was given particular praise, and we were told that other networks, including the social mobility and gender equality groups, have “solid membership.”  

Often a point of contention, hours shift by practice, but late nights were certainly not out of the question for any of the departments. They’re not a given, as “with no billables or facetime, you can be out at 5.30pm; partners are frustrated on your behalf if you have to cancel plans to work late.” But even on the occasions juniors have to work long hours, they felt as if the community shared with each other and the wider team softened the blow.

“Across the trainee cohorts, you form good relationships, so people don’t want you suffering in silence,” a source noted; as a result, “with late night work, you won’t just work until 2am alone – if you’re with another trainee, you’ll split it.” Those we spoke to shared the sentiment that “I’ve never resented working late because it’s always been clear that everyone in the team is busy; if trainees have to work long hours, associates will be working even longer hours. Trainees aren’t just viewed as the bottom of the pile,” an insider pointed out.

In addition to this, our interviewees felt the salary was definitely reflective of the hours and complexity of the work, particularly when moving to NQ level. First years start at £56k, moving up to £61k in second year and £150k for the newly qualified. So although expectations increase with experience, “you are being paid a lot more; if you’re struggling to live off what you’re getting, someone needs to give you a reality check!” 

Opinions on salary aside, trainees still need to get through the “murky”  qualification process. At the start of their fourth seat, trainees are expected to speak to the departments they are interested in, with groups expressing their own preferences a couple of months later. “You don’t have interviews like at some other firms, so the conversations with partners are a bit more natural,” one interviewee explained, “if you ask whether the department would want you to come back, they’ll be fairly direct.”

Our sources did caution that “it can feel a bit opaque because nobody knows how many jobs there are, but it’s in the firm’s interest to keep you because they’ve invested so much in you already.” Slaughter & May did not disclose its 2025 retention rate.

How to get a Slaughter and May training contract

See firm's website for application deadlines

Initial applications

Applications for both the training contract and work experience schemes at Slaughter and May begin with a straightforward online form, plus a CV and one-page covering letter. “I just wrote why I wanted to join the firm and why I wanted to be a lawyer,” one of the firm's trainees recalled. “Keep it short and sweet, though it does need to be formal of course.” Oh, and make sure you leave out the ampersand: it's Slaughter AND May.

“On academics, we are looking for both good A-levels and a strong 2:1 degree.” a source in recruitment says.

Vacation scheme

Slaughter and May starts receiving applications for its summer work experience schemes in autumn, and it's worth getting in there early as the firm schedules interviews on a rolling basis. The summer schemes are aimed at penultimate-year law and non-law students, as well as first year students on a two-year accelerated law degree.

The interview takes place virtually with a partner and an associate, and includes a discussion about a current affairs article.

Summer work experience students have the option of interviewing for a training contract during the last week of their placement. The firm informs us they aren't given special treatment over direct applicants, however, and are also required to do the written exercise direct applicants do as part of their interview process (see below).

The firm also runs a Spring Forward programme for first-year law students (and second year law students on a four-year degree) from lower socio-economic and/or ethnic minority backgrounds, three spring open days for law and non-law students in their first year or second year of a four-year degree, and two virtual insight afternoons for final year students and graduates.

There are usually around 25 students on each of the work experience schemes. All students sit in a single department for the duration of their visit, and take part in various workshops and case studies.

Training contract applications

The firm typically receives around 3,500 applications each year for 85 training contracts. In 2024 around 400 students were invited to an interview day, which included a written exercise, a partner interview, a chat with a trainee and a short interview with HR.

According to the firm's trainees, succeeding at interview involves “showing you can think laterally. They don't want you to repeat verbatim what you learnt at law school; they want new solutions and fresh ideas.” Our grad recruitment sources tell us the firm is particularly interested in those who demonstrate “the ability to show grit under pressure” and have “a range of interests outside the law.”