Slaughter and May Employee Reviews about "work life balance"

Pros

Working with very intelligent people; respect for work life balance; great training

Cons

Pay is one of the lowest amongst magic circle firms

Pros

Good work life balance with exposure to M&A deals

Cons

Not as much IPO experience as other MC/US firms

Pros

Excellent work, great client, collegiate atmosphere

Cons

Relatively lean teams means it can be difficult to mantain a work-life balance

Pros

Salary, environment, interesting work, good facilities

Cons

Work times, work life balance, food

Pros

Good salary and good perks

Cons

Not good work life balance, not well supported during covid

Pros

People are very nice and open

Cons

Challenging to manage work life balance

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

Exposure to good quality work Opportunity to work with biggest clients Good infrastructure and resources within the firm Decent training

Cons

No opportunity to develop the business Robotic work culture Extremely heirarchical People are extremely cold and tight-lipped Work allocation is not transparent and very biased No work-life balance at all Salaries and incentives do not match to the work extracted from associates

Pros

High quality, serious and ethical work environment. The firm respects work-life balance and no one is expected to work extra hours, except for when it is REALLY needed.

Cons

The highly formal environment of the law firm does not allow for exceptional staff to advance faster than the formal career plan.

Pros

Cutting edge and challenging work Interesting clients and deals Working with top legal minds Pay is equivalent to other Magic Circle firms

Cons

Pressure and high expectations can be stressful Very traditional, not particularly embracing of change Work life balance sometimes difficult to achieve Culture is quite formal