Who we are 

Slaughter and May is a leading international law firm, recognised throughout the business community for its exceptional legal service, commercial awareness and commitment to clients. We advise across a broad spectrum of legal matters including high-profile, ground-breaking and complex transactions, contentious matters and all aspects of risk. We deliver innovative and bespoke solutions to our clients, domestically and internationally. We provide clear legal advice that spans the globe whilst tackling the cultural nuances between jurisdictions. Our lawyers understand how to coordinate and manage matters in the jurisdictions most relevant to our clients. 

We have a leading competition practice, as well as an extensive corporate, financial institutions, commercial and financing practice. We also have strong practices in disputes and investigations, intellectual property, financial regulation, tax, real estate and pensions and employment. The firm is organised into Groups, which undertake a broad spread of work and thereby encourage lawyers to work on an extensive range of matters. 

Whilst our work is generally challenging and sophisticated, we still aim to give associates as much responsibility and client contact as they are ready for. Junior associates may take the lead on either the matter as a whole or a smaller part of it. We recognise that all individuals benefit from developing at their own pace, so our associates’ progress and workload are continually monitored and reviewed with their mentoring partner. 

At Slaughter and May, with over 1,300 partners and staff worldwide, everyone's contribution is valued, and we all enjoy an open, friendly and supportive environment. We have an underlying sense of pride in who we are and what we do, and our inclusive culture gives rise to a unique diversity of thinking, which is critical to our success and helps maintain our position as a true market leader. To support our employees in achieving their professional development objectives, we offer an unrivalled variety of learning and development opportunities to everyone, as well as a highly competitive salary. 

Would you like to join one of the world’s most prestigious law firms? 

We are offering a competitive salary for an ambitious individual to join our highly regarded Competition team in London. 

ROLE OVERVIEW 

Our Competition practice has a reputation for being one of the world’s leading, ‘go-to’ competition law practices, and our associates have regular involvement in much of the leading edge work in this space. We handle cartel and other antitrust investigations and many high profile cases, including advising Google in relation to various competition investigations around the world; the European and international merger control aspects of major deals (such as Facebook’s acquisition of Kustomer and IAG’s acquisition of Air Europa); and multijurisdictional follow-on litigation. 

The Group handles a variety of work types across the competition and regulatory fields. In contrast to many other firms, we encourage associates to maintain a broad caseload (across both contentious and non-contentious matters) rather than overspecialising. As a general guide, we would expect about 50% of your workload to relate to merger control matters, with the remaining 50% comprising a mixture of cartel investigations, abuse of dominance matters, state aid, public procurement, regulatory and other contentious matters. In our experience, this leads to greater involvement in clients' broader business interests, and deeper, more fruitful relationships with them, which stand the test of time. 

As one of our Competition associates, you can expect to be working with a number of partners in the group at any one time, giving you the opportunity to build relationships across the whole team. Depending on the scale and complexity of any given project, you may find yourself operating as the single associate on a matter or working as part of a larger team. You will also have the opportunity to develop contacts outside the immediate team; for example, our Competition associates regularly work alongside Corporate, Disputes and Investigations and Intellectual Property lawyers, providing clients with unparalleled integration when it comes to legal advice. 

With the Competition Group operating out of our London, Brussels and Hong Kong offices, there are often international secondment opportunities available to associates, all of whom are encouraged to spend time working at one of our other offices at the appropriate time. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

The key responsibilities of this role are set out below and there may be others which are not listed. 

• Advising on a range of competition law and commercial issues 
• Drafting, reviewing and amending the legal and commercial aspects of documentation 
• Developing professional relationships with clients 
• Supporting the wider team in developing business and raising the profile of the firm 
• Managing/supervising the work of others including trainees 

CANDIDATE PROFILE 

Candidates for this position must have: 

• Appropriate level qualification (0-4 PQE, preferably developed in a City or leading international firm, but we will consider all applicants) 
• Ability to draft, advise and negotiate in relation to complex transactions 
• First rate legal/commercial knowledge 
• Strong academic background and a demonstrable high level of intellectual analysis 
• Excellent client relationship skills 
• Excellent efficiency and transaction management skills 
• Ability to develop and work in a fast paced, intellectually challenging environment 
• Resilient under pressure with the ability to manage multiple deadlines 
• High level of professionalism and integrity 
• Exposure across a range of high value commercial and corporate transactions or similar (e.g. advising companies in regulated sectors such as telecoms, energy, broadcasting etc.)