Slaughter and May

Seats

Briefly tell us about the seats at your firm - flexibility, structure, compulsory ones, choice, international or client secondments, etc.
2012 Reviews

  • You tend to do at least one corporate and one financing seat. Most trainees spend at least 3 months in dispute resolution to fulfil their contentious training requirement. The secondments are popular as a fourth seat. I found that HR were really accommodating about seat choices where they could be.

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  • Compulsory corporate, and contentious (a choice of three to pick from) and then one of your own choice. Large range of international secondments but not everyone gets to go on one.

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  • One seat in corporate and one seat in finance are compulsory, though some trainees manage to not do a financing seat. The rest is at the trainee's discretion, subject to spending at least 3 months must be spent in a contentious department. There are a surprisingly broad array of places to do an international secondment, though some gripes about how places are allocated (basically, does a partner like you enough to recommend you). HR is also willing to put you into a specific corporate or financing group if you have good reasons for wanting to go to a specific group (such as one that focuses on restructuring or one that works with financial institutions).

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  • Everyone has to do one corporate seat. Seats are broken up into six month blocks but there are some three month seats available - Tax, Commercial Real Estate, Pensions and Employment and Dispute Resolution all offer three month seats. International secondments vary as you are usually seconded to another firm overseas - this also means your choice is widened and not limited to where Slaughters have an office. The one down side is that client secondments for trainees are rare and often ad hoc.

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  • There is a great deal of flexibility - you have to choose all four seats at the beginning but these are not fixed - you can swap throughout the training contract. There is a good choice. There is the opportunity to go on international secondments and client secondments as a trainee.

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  • Trainees can do four or five seats (with one six-month seat being split into two seats of three months). We have to do at least one corporate seat and one finance seat. We also have to do at least three months' contentious work, which includes Dispute Resolution, IP/IT and Pensions and Employment. The other seat options are Tax, Financial Regulation, Real Estate and Competition.

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  • It is compulsory to do two seats in either corporate or finance. Beyond that, the choices are fairly flexible and HR are very good at accommodating requests to change once you are at the firm. I got every seat choice I wanted, which is extremely rare in a big City firm. International secondments are limited.

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  • HR are really good at talking to you about what you want to do and where you want to sit and do their best to accommodate it. Not everyone gets what they want and there are some things we have to do - due to SRA requirements and the fact that Slaughters is primarily a corporate firm so people should experience corporate. Secondment opportunities aren't massive. There are very few client secondments but the range of international secondments is much better. Just because they don't have offices all over the world doesn't mean they don't have relationships with overseas firms that facilitate secondment.

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  • Good opportunities for second-year trainee secondments. Around 19 or so trainees get to go on secondment during any six-month block.

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  • It's compulsory to spend at least two seats in corporate or financing departments. The firm is quite good at accommodating requests to switch seats, if you ask far enough in advance. There are opportunities for international secondments to other firms.

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  • HR are very flexible if you change your mind about seat preferences once you're at the firm.

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2011 Reviews

  • Typically, trainees sit in four seats, though I am doing six (one seat is split between tax and dispute resolution). Slaughter and May has a multi-specialist approach, which means there are no sub-divisions within the corporate groups. Groups are arranged around lead partners and named after their initials rather than around a particular practice area so it is not uncommon to find people from the same group on a small M&A and a huge IPO at the same time. There are a number of specialist groups: IP/IT, tax, DR, commercial real estate, employment/pensions, competition and financial regulation. Before you start your training contract, you are asked to rank your preferences and you find out your seats on your first day at work. This means that if you have landed with something you didn't want, or in the order you didn't want it, you can request a change. We have to do at least two corporate seats, and there's now a move to ensure that one of those seats is in financing. If one of your seats in your second year is a corporate/financing seat (CoCoFin as it is called), you can request a secondment. These are quite competitive but the network of best friend firms means that there are quite a few options to choose from – I know people who have gone to New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris, Milan, Auckland, Stockholm and Sydney! But the secondments are really very competitive and you can't presume you'll get one. If you're sitting in competition, then you might be sent to Brussels for three months.

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  • Trainees typically do around five seats, comprising of three six-month seats and two three-month seats, which are in the more specialist departments (for example, dispute resolution, tax, pensions and employment). However, most of these specialist departments also allow six-month seats. Trainees must do at least two corporate, commercial or financing seats. The rest can be done in specialist departments, which include (in addition to those mentioned above) financial regulation, competition and dispute resolution. Specialist seats can be requested, although there are some restrictions on combinations. Corporate, commercial and financing seats are allocated by HR, but this doesn't normally cause any problems as the groups are very diverse due to the multi-specialist approach and trainees will usually get a mix (i.e. They won't get two corporate seats and no financing seat). It is possible to do a seat abroad, although only around 15 trainees go at a time, so the opportunity is not as great as at other firms.

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  • Trainees do four to five seats – most seats are six months long but some departments allow three month seats, and in the case of tax you can only do a three month seat. At least two of your seats must be "Co/Co/Fin", i.e. Corporate or finance. Choice is quite limited as several departments are incompatible with each other on the form so if you want to do a seat in Dept A then that means you can't do one in Dept B, and you must choose your seats whilst still on the LPC. However, requests for changes are entertained and accommodated where possible and preference/likely qualification options are taken into consideration. There is plenty of opportunity to go abroad for any third or fourth seat corporate or finance seat, or to Brussels in competition.

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  • Trainees typically do four six-month seats. However, there are a number of three month seats available as well, which means that you may end up doing six seats in total. In terms of departments, you can sit in corporate and finance (we have numerous groups for each), dispute resolution, competition, intellectual property, commercial real estate, pensions & employment, tax and financial regulation. There is a fair amount of choice. You have to spend 12 months in either corporate or finance, although six of these can be abroad or in financial regulation. You can then choose how to divide your remaining 12 months up. There are a wide range of opportunities for secondments abroad. Additionally, if you do a competition seat, there is a chance to spend three of the six months in Brussels.

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  • Four seats. Have to do at least a year in corporate/finance (6 months in each), and obviously one contentious seat, but other than that you have freedom of choice. Good choice (had to number the specialists seats in order of preference). Additionally, the way the firm is structured the corporate and finance seats offer a broader learning experience than at other firms.

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  • Every trainee will do six months in a corporate seat and most will do another six months in a finance seat and you choose before you start you training contract. You are allocated all your seats before you arrive, but these can be changed. You can do a seat abroad. There is a big choice. Seats abroad will be with one of the firm's best friend firms and there are three competition trainees at any one time in Brussels.

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