Innovation Competition

The competition is now closed

About our Innovation Competition

We have a reputation for excellence built throughout our 130-year history. As the firm has evolved, we have consistently innovated to drive positive change for our clients, while upholding the highest of standards.

Today, challenging the norm and embracing new, disruptive technologies enables us to offer unparalleled services to our clients. Our lawyers are some of the brightest minds in the legal industry, coupling this with innovate approaches, gives our teams the tools and agility to embody the entrepreneurial spirit of Slaughter and May.

The practice of law at Slaughter and May, and across the legal market, is changing, with new challenges revealing themselves all the time. With this in mind, we invite future lawyers and legal operations professionals to join us in re-thinking legal service delivery by answering one of the following questions:

  1. Pick a practice area of your choice and explain a potential use case for generative AI, setting out how and why it will add value to the firm and its clients.
  2. What are the cultural challenges with integrating generative AI into a law firm? What are the best ways for Slaughter and May to approach these challenges to maximise the successful integration of generative AI across the firm?

The competition is now closed.

Background

For us, innovation may involve new technologies, process improvements, agile resourcing models or a combination of these and it can result in anything from a small, incremental change in a process to a fundamental shift in the way a project is managed. Our approach considers the whole picture, and by applying a range of service delivery methods we can meet our clients’ needs at the same time as improving the working lives of our people, making a big difference both inside the firm and out.

The Slaughter and May Innovation Competition is intended to help students develop their creative thinking skills by considering what the future may look like for our lawyers in an ever-changing technological world. Generative AI is the latest disruption in the legal market that has the potential to have an unprecedented impact on the work we do. It is vital that we understand how it can be used to add the most value to our clients.

The rules of the competition are set out below.

Eligibility

To enter, you must be enrolled as a current student at an educational institution in the UK on the deadline for submission of entries. Both full-time and part-time, law and non-law, undergraduate and post-graduate students (including Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course students) are eligible to enter.

Competition Questions

Applicants are asked to submit a response to one of the following questions:

  1. Pick a practice area of your choice and explain a use case for generative AI, setting out how it will add value to the firm and its clients.
  2. What are the cultural challenges with integrating generative AI into a law firm? What are the best ways for Slaughter and May to approach these challenges to maximise the successful integration of generative AI across the firm?

We welcome your response in any format you deem appropriate. Previous entries include podcasts, video games, animations, and app proposals.

Entries should:

  • Display commercial awareness.
  • Be imaginative, creative, and original in approach.
  • Be clear and concise.
  • Demonstrate attention to detail.
Prizes

A panel of members of our Innovation Network will judge the competition. The winners will receive the following prizes:

First prize:           

£1,000 and work experience*

Second prize:

£500

Third prize:

£250

*The first prize-winner will also have the opportunity to take part in a work placement within the Knowledge & Innovation team at Slaughter and May. To qualify for the work placement, you will be required to demonstrate that you have the right to work in the UK. Individuals who cannot provide evidence of their right to work in the UK will only be eligible for the monetary prize.

Apply

The competition is now closed.

Additional rules

Slaughter and May has the right to publish or reproduce at any time all or part of any entries submitted. Slaughter and May reserve the right to delete or omit from any published article anything that in their absolute discretion should not be published on editorial or legal grounds.

The decision of the judging panel will be final. The result of the competition will be announced on our website.

The entry must be the sole creation and original work of the entrant.

Only one entry per person is allowed.

Contact

Please email innovation@slaughterandmay.com if you have questions about the competition.

For more inspiration and to find out how generative AI is impacting the legal market follow the link to The Lens, our Digital Developments news hub.