Route to qualify as a reputation law solicitor (training contract/SQE opportunities, 2024 start)
We are looking for talented candidates to join our team in September 2024 who want to become a reputation management solicitor - candidates can be at any point in their career or studies and we will offer a tailored progression plan to the right candidate and provide support to the right route for qualification for them.
About us
We are a specialist reputation law firm whose focus is on entrepreneurial clients and their business interests, wherever in the world they occur.
The firm’s client list includes some of the most exciting businesses in the world, as well as blue chip companies and sovereign assets; individual clients range from prominent investors and philanthropists to household name athletes. Our lawyers frequently work with clients and issues across continents. We believe in using the skills we hone working for the world’s elite to help those who would not otherwise have access to that advice, and campaign and advise on topics we believe in, particularly around online harms, intimate image abuse and social exclusion.
We set out three years ago to do things differently in how we work and how we advise, and clients see this in long-term relationships making better decisions to handle their problems.
Our work is recognised in numerous awards and nominations including the Gold Award for Reputation Management Law Firm of the Year (Magic Circle Awards 2023), Crisis Law Firm of the Year (British Legal Awards 2022) and Boutique Disputes Firm of the Year (The Lawyer 2021).
The role
We are looking for a talented candidate to join our team from Autumn 2024. Candidates can be at any point in their career or studies – we will offer a tailored progression plan to the right candidate and provide support to the right route to qualification for them based on performance.
You will support our fee earners and become involved in developing advice. Routine tasks will include conducting legal and factual research, preparing materials for presentations, drafting correspondence and working with our professional support lawyer on knowledge management.
What we offer
We offer unique training where you are given real responsibility from day one. We are not interested in churning out NQs and associates, we want to work with brilliant people who are capable of having long and successful careers at the top of the profession, and we give the skills and opportunities to do so. Our stated aim is for our trainees to have better careers than our partners.
Our trainees and junior lawyers are a valuable part of our team and given client contact and support from senior team members from the beginning. Our trainees feel comfortable putting forward ideas in a larger forum and are given encouragement to run with them with the support of the larger team. The nature of our work is international and therefore there are also opportunities for international travel at all levels.
We were shortlisted for Best Employer – Career Progression at the Citywealth Future Leaders awards, along with our first trainee being recognised at these awards as a nominee for lawyer of the year. Our stated aim is to develop lawyers who will go on to have better careers than the partners in the firm, by developing not only elite technical skills in the areas of law we cover, but elite skills in developing client and business relationships and learning adjacent skills that deliver more effective outcomes than clients can get elsewhere.
Our salaries are competitive in line with specialist boutique firms. We do not pretend that we pay magic circle rates, nor do we demand Magic Circle work patterns. You will be asked to work out of hours on urgent evening and weekend work when it is necessary due to the nature of crisis work, but we also work flexibly and pragmatically. Our lawyers frequently work from client locations across Europe, in Asia, the US and the Middle East. Reward is based on performance and stellar performance will be rewarded with outsize rewards.
You
You will be highly motivated by a career in law, you will likely take a keen interest in one or more of current affairs, international relations, business, sport and media. A desire to work for a fast growing challenger business is a must, and a willingness to take on the opportunity for rapid career progression and personal growth is essential.
Our advice is not like other media law firms: using the same old precedents and tactics will get the same old results. We need people who can think creatively about options and what will change minds and effect positive outcomes. Any prospective applicant will need to demonstrate that they possess such qualities.
We are seeking to make this role available to as diverse a group as possible, therefore our first review of candidates will be under a “CV blind process”. As such there are no minimum qualifications for the role save for the entitlement to work in the UK and pursue professional legal qualification, and we will support the right candidate with part time legal education while working where appropriate.
The application process
If you would like to work with us we ask that you submit a one page document setting out:
- What part of our work appeals to you most?
- What do you think is the most interesting “crisis” faced by either an individual or a company in the last 5 years – what went wrong and what would you have advised that they do differently?
- One idea or perception of the future of the legal profession?
- What would you like to change in the reputation management sphere?
The format in which you do so is entirely up to you. In producing this document please make no reference to your:
- age,
- socio-economic background,
- schools or academic institutions,
- race,
- gender,
- nationality or
- any unpaid work experience or internships.
Any application that fails to follow this process will be disregarded.
This document will be reviewed and candidates shortlisted before we look at the underlying CVs following the initial process. Please therefore also provide a CV alongside your application.
Applications should be emailed to talent@slateford.law by 30 November 2023.