Slaughter and May Employee Reviews about "long hours"

Pros

friendly people, good work, drinks

Cons

long hours, pressure, dodgy promotion

Pros

Friendly atmosphere, professional people who know what they’re doing. Great place to train and qualify

Cons

Heard of very long hours from time to time but characteristic of industry. Feedback from trainees saying that work was dull.

Pros

Everyday is different so you constantly have to be on your toes

Cons

Long hours and covering shifts

Pros

Good training. Great clients. No billable hours.

Cons

Demanding partners. Long hours. Pay not as competitive as other firms where you work similar hours.

Pros

Well paid Great culture Excellent quality of work No billable hours

Cons

Long hours but expected in a few-earning role

Pros

Pay is good; high profile work

Cons

Long hours; stressful; demanding work

Pros

- A good place to be a corporate lawyer: work on the biggest corporate deals making the news in the City - Work for one of the most elite law firms in terms of reputation - Involved in work with an international dimension - Pro bono opportunities - Strong brand to have on your CV

Cons

- Conservative culture and workplace: Can be formal, hierarchical and demanding - Work allocation is not transparent and you will probably either be overworked due to your proficiency or conversely, underworked because no-one sees any value in you - No sense of team spirit so you may be left to your own devices with a difficult task - Lack of dynamism: Lots of success built on the foundations of long-standing institutional client bases - Fail to do something perfectly and you may find yourself left out in the cold without any constructive criticism - Long hours and poor work-life balance: If something must be done, you will be there until it is done (No billable hours targets doesn't mean you work less) - The work can be particularly complex at times - There is also lots of low quality administrative work to churn through - Limited international secondment and client secondment opportunities at a junior level - With some exceptions colleagues are largely from the same backgrounds and universities - Similar hours to a US firm but lower pay - Limited client contact at a junior level - Old school shared private office workplace environment

Pros

Technical excellence for corporate transactions

Cons

Preference for home-grown associates, long hours

Pros

Generally a very friendly firm with lots of perks and staff benefits. The firm has a brilliant mentoring programme, which I’d highly advise new joiners to sign up to. Business services teams are quite small so you have a great exposure to work, projects and learning new skills. Excellent reputation and brand.

Cons

Sadly a tough firm to progress in - you can push and push yourself but the firm has a very flat structure and won’t consider progressing great talent. Suggesting new ideas/changes is quite challenging. This is particularly tough in business development where you have to go through many teams and you still have pushback. The firm isn’t big on letting its staff work from home - some people can work from home and others can’t, not consistent. Its a very high pressured environment - everyone (not just lawyers) work very long hours due to limited resources in the team.

Pros

Excellent training and high standard of work

Cons

Long hours so don't expect to have a consistent social life during the week