Slaughter and May
Knowledge Lawyer - Disputes & Investigations
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Role overview
We are looking for an experienced solicitor to join our Disputes Knowledge team. The Disputes and Investigations practice is central to the firm’s reputation for providing clients with high-quality, strategic and commercially focused advice on complex contentious matters.
The Disputes practice advises on a broad spectrum of contentious matters, including major commercial disputes, investigations, competition litigation, group and class actions, regulatory disputes and risk management issues. The team is regularly involved in high-profile, complex and cross-border matters for leading corporates, financial institutions and other major clients.
Based in the London office, this role would suit an experienced disputes solicitor, possibly with some prior experience of working in a PSL/Knowledge Lawyer role. Strong experience of complex commercial litigation is essential, ideally including knowledge of contentious data disputes and investigations. Broader experience of group and competition litigation would also be a significant advantage.
Reporting to the Head of Disputes Knowledge, you will join a collaborative team of Knowledge Lawyers, supported by knowledge specialists and the firm’s central Knowledge and Learning group. The role will involve working closely with partners and fee earners at all levels of seniority across relevant contentious practice areas, as well as our central business services, Innovation, Technology, Learning and Development, BD and Marketing teams.
Key responsibilities
Our Knowledge Lawyers respond to the needs of the practice from time to time, applying a practical, commercial and client-centric approach to producing timely and insightful content, know-how and training. Roles in our Knowledge teams suit lawyers who are flexible, collaborative, self-sufficient and proactive, with the confidence and ability to operate independently and prioritise multiple demands on their time (albeit with appropriate support). Key attributes include curiosity and the ambition to become an expert practitioner, with the ability to build and influence both internal and external networks.
Key responsibilities are set out below but there may be others which are not listed. You may be required to work outside our normal working hours of 9:30am to 5:30pm.
External knowledge, client publications, client training, consultations, pitches and committees
- Identify issues which may affect our clients, producing market leading thought leadership content, including client briefings, training or blogs, on topical issues of relevance.
- Designing and delivering, and supporting fee earners in the preparation and delivery of, impactful client training.
- Working closely with partners and fee earners to support the firm’s disputes and investigations work, including complex commercial litigation, investigations, competition litigation, disputes relating to data and technology, class actions and group litigation.
- Participating in and building relationships with relevant industry, professional and thought leadership groups in litigation, investigations, competition law, data law and procedural reform.
- Replying, or contributing to replies, to industry or legal consultations.
- Attending, or supporting others’ attendance at, external committees and conferences (e.g. City of London Law Society Litigation Committee).
- Contributing technical content to firm-wide pitches, directory submissions and relevant sections of our website.
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Internal knowledge, know-how and training
- Keeping up to date with legal and commercial developments that affect the practice, producing insightful articles, analysis and updates.
- Supporting and developing the firm’s expertise in disputes matters, including civil procedure, litigation strategy, data disputes and competition litigation, group and class actions across all sectors and markets, investigations, privilege, disclosure, settlement and enforcement trends.
- Responding to queries from fee earners, offering guidance, support and counsel as required.
- Working with our internal knowledge systems and central Knowledge function, engaging in knowledge projects, supporting the organisation, capture, review and creation of know-how, including precedents.
- Creating, maintaining and commenting on standard documents, practice notes, matter toolkits, checklists and procedural guidance, tracking matter activity and reviewing documentation to identify legal, regulatory, procedural and market trends.
- Working with the Learning and Development team to design, deliver and evaluate engaging technical legal training programmes for trainees, junior associates and other fee earners, ensuring training is practical, timely and aligned with practice needs.
- Working with the firm’s central Knowledge, Innovation and Technology teams to embed legal technology and AI-enabled tools within the Disputes and Investigations practice, including identifying appropriate use cases, championing best practice, supporting adoption and helping fee earners use technology responsibly to improve knowledge delivery, matter efficiency and client service.
- Taking responsibility for the maintenance, organisation and updating of the relevant practice pages on the Intranet.
Candidate profile
Candidates for this position must
- Be an experienced litigator with a strong background in disputes and investigations, with demonstrable technical expertise, knowledge and experience of litigation strategy, civil procedure and market practice across a variety of contentious matters (which may include class actions, group litigation and competition litigation).
- Have experience of complex commercial litigation, with demonstrable expertise in contentious data protection, privacy disputes and related regulatory investigations. Knowledge of data enforcement actions (including those by the ICO) and the interaction of data regulators will be a significant advantage.
- Demonstrate the ability to be the go-to person for fee-earners with queries about law and market practice, scanning the horizon for legal, regulatory and market developments.
- Be able to identify opportunities to produce timely and insightful knowledge, client content and training material, and has experience of designing and delivering structured technical training programmes for trainees, junior associates and wider practice groups.
- Have strong familiarity with, and enthusiasm for AI, automation and legal technology in a disputes, litigation and knowledge-management context, including the ability to identify practical use cases and support responsible adoption by fee earners.
- Bring a forward-looking mindset and actively drives engagement in areas such as legal tech, AI, innovation, compliance, data collection and best practice knowledge capture, curation and dissemination.
- Be comfortable speaking with authority on technical topics to a wide range of audiences.
- Demonstrate effective project management, stakeholder engagement and leadership skills.
- Be able to build strong relationships with fee-earners at all levels, other Knowledge Lawyers and Business Services teams.
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Knowledge Lawyer Development
We offer a variety of learning and development opportunities to our Knowledge Lawyers, including firmwide legal updates, and professional development support on topics ranging from personal impact and presentation to strategic thinking and project management. We also run a series of development programmes for supervisors and managers, as well as various bespoke team and one-to-one sessions.
Culture of the Firm
One of the distinguishing features of the firm is that we do not operate an “hours” culture; we have no targets set by reference to time recording or billing. Associates frequently comment on how liberating this can be; it rewards efficiency and enables them to focus on providing the best possible service for the client regardless of how long that might take. It also helps foster a collegiate and non-competitive culture in which you will feel comfortable both asking for advice and offering support to your colleagues. Our work is notorious for its “peaks and troughs” and that will be your experience with us. However, during the quieter periods, we will expect you to make the most of your downtime - to get away on time in the evenings, take the opportunity to use the gym a bit more or simply allow yourself the luxury of taking more time on the work you have. We simply don’t have a culture of “face time”.
We are committed to ensuring that our recruitment processes are barrier-free and as inclusive as possible for everyone. This includes making adjustments for people who have a disability or long-term condition. If you have any questions or require any adjustments to be made to one or both of the application or interview processes, please contact the Recruitment Team.
We are a Disability Confident Committed employer and will offer an interview to applicants with a disability or long-term condition who best meet the minimum or essential criteria for our Business Services roles. If you would like to apply through the Disability Confident 'Offer An Interview' commitment, please apply via our online application form and not via LinkedIn. You are disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. For more information about the Disability Confident scheme, please see the government website here.
We welcome applications irrespective of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, belief or marital status.
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