Join me for this episode with Elizabeth Huang, an associate in Slaughter and May’s Competition and Regulatory team, who discusses her path from studying law and completing the BCL (focused on law, technology, and society) to joining the firm as a trainee in 2021 and qualifying into the Competition group in 2023.

She shares advice for vacation schemes and training contract applicants, emphasising seeking university careers support, prioritising quality over quantity, tailoring applications, and giving personal, genuine reasons for “why law” and “why this firm.” Elizabeth explains Slaughter and May’s multi-specialist approach, her varied training contract seats (including a secondment to the firm’s Hong Kong office), and how seat changes build skills.

She outlines competition work across merger control, antitrust/behavioural matters, and the emerging field of digital regulation, describing the work lawyers do in advising clients on regulator-facing strategy, investigations, and compliance.

She addresses work-life balance realities, noting it can get easier after qualification, and highlights a major project advising a big tech company in the UK’s first investigation under the new digital markets regime.

00:12 Legal Career Journey and Choosing the BCL

04:07 Vacation Scheme Advice

07:33 Why Slaughter and May

10:10 Vacation vs Training Contract

11:41 Training Seats Explained

17:16 Competition Law Overview

22:54 Why Competition and Project Variety

25:50 Client Relationships Over Time

27:46 Work Life Balance Reality

32:18 Memorable Digital Markets Case

35:27 What Prepared Me Most

This episode is sponsored by LawPods, a podcast marketing agency that services some of the biggest brands in law.

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