Magic Circle
Slaughter and May
A Magic Circle firm with a deliberately small Hong Kong office, built around corporate, M&A and capital markets work, where roughly eight training contracts a year make it one of the market's most selective routes in, usually entered through the summer vacation scheme.
- Category
- Magic Circle
- Origin
- London, founded 1889
- HK presence
- About 55 lawyers and 14 partners in Central, led by senior partner Benita Yu
- HK strengths
- Corporate, M&A, capital markets, financing, disputes, competition
The Hong Kong practice
What does Slaughter and May's Hong Kong office actually do?
Slaughter and May runs its Hong Kong practice from Jardine House in Central with a compact team: Legal Cheek puts it at about 55 lawyers, including roughly 14 partners, led by senior partner Benita Yu, who took over the office in October 2022 and is one of Hong Kong's best-known corporate lawyers. The office practises Hong Kong, English and US securities law, and it is built around corporate work: HKEX listings, M&A, capital markets and financing, with disputes and competition alongside.
The office punches well above its headcount. In 2025 alone it sat on the roughly US$3.2bn Zijin Gold spin-off listing, the largest gold-mining IPO in the world, and it keeps advising on the sponsor and underwriter side of big Hong Kong flotations as well as public M&A (all below). Slaughter and May's model is multi-specialist rather than pigeonholed early, and because the trainee intake is a fraction of London's, juniors here tend to get more responsibility and closer contact with partners than they would in a large office.
Trainees complete four six-month seats over two years, with at least two spent in the Corporate and M&A and the Financing groups and the rest across practices such as disputes, competition, tax or real estate. All trainees do an international secondment to London, and most newly qualified associates spend time on secondment in Beijing. Much of the work is China-facing, so Chinese language skills are useful on a lot of the deal flow, though the firm recruits first on academics and aptitude.
Trainee & vacation scheme programme
How do you get into Slaughter and May Hong Kong?
There are two ways in, both set out on the firm's Hong Kong careers page: the Hong Kong vacation scheme and a direct training-contract application. The scheme is not a formal prerequisite, but the firm strongly recommends it and says many of its trainees did one first, so treat it as the main route. Schemes run in the Hong Kong office over the summer (June and July) and sometimes at winter and Easter, taking around seven students each. They are open to law and non-law students who have finished at least one year of a first degree, and you spend the time working with associates and trainees on corporate, commercial and financing transactions, plus seminars and social events.
The training contract is two years across four six-month seats, with at least two in the Corporate and M&A and Financing groups. Intake is small, around eight trainees a year, against a London intake more than ten times the size, which is exactly why the firm can promise more responsibility early. The firm covers PCLL tuition plus a maintenance allowance for students who join and complete the training contract, and it says trainee pay sits at the top end of market rates, though it does not publish figures, so ignore any precise number you see quoted.
On selection, the bar is a good 2:1 or better (the firm frames it as three strong A-levels and the equivalent of a good 2:1 or above), plus intellect, genuine enthusiasm, commitment, common sense and the ability to get on with clients and colleagues. Applications go in by CV with two referees (one academic), a covering letter and academic transcripts. Overseas students are typically interviewed around September and local students from November to February.
Watch out
Deadlines move every cycle, so check the Elite Pathfinder deadline tracker instead of trusting last year's date. If you land the scheme, the Vacation Scheme Academy covers how to convert it into an offer.
Recent matters worth knowing
Which recent deals has Slaughter and May's Hong Kong office run?
These are the matters the Hong Kong office has publicly led or advised on, and they cluster where it is strongest: marquee HKEX listings and public M&A, on both the sponsor-underwriter and company sides. They are the raw material for a good interview answer.
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FS.COM Limited's HK$1.66bn HKEX IPOMar 2026
Slaughter and May advised the joint sponsors, overall coordinators and joint global coordinators on the roughly HK$1.66bn (about US$213m) Main Board listing of the networking-products group FS.COM. Source: Slaughter and May recent work. Source ↗
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China Shengmu mandatory general offerOct 2025
The Hong Kong office advised the financial adviser to China Modern Dairy, part of the Mengniu group, on its move to a controlling stake in HKEX-listed China Shengmu Organic Milk and the mandatory general offer that triggered, a roughly HK$2bn (about US$264m) purchase of the additional shares. Source: Slaughter and May recent work. Source ↗
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Zijin Gold International's US$3.2bn spin-off IPOSep 2025
Slaughter and May, led by corporate partner Clara Choi, advised the joint sponsors and overall coordinators on Hong Kong and US law for the roughly US$3.2bn spin-off listing of Zijin Gold, the largest gold-mining IPO in the world and the second-largest global offering of 2025, which began trading on 30 September. Source: Slaughter and May. Source ↗
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Dmall Inc's HK$778m HKEX IPODec 2024
The firm advised the joint sponsors and underwriters (UBS, CMB International and China Merchants Securities) on Hong Kong and US law for the roughly HK$778m (about US$100m) listing of the retail-technology group Dmall. Source: Slaughter and May recent work. Source ↗
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Dekon Food and Agriculture's HK$994m HKEX IPODec 2023
Slaughter and May advised the issuer, pig-farming and agriculture group Dekon, on its roughly HK$994m (about US$127m) global offering and Main Board listing, an example of the office acting company-side rather than for the banks. Source: Slaughter and May recent work. Source ↗
Insider tip
In an article-led interview you have to say what a deal means, not just name it, so build the framework in our commercial awareness guide. Weekly deal breakdowns like these, what happened, why it matters, and how to talk about it in an interview, sit at the core of the paid Weekly News Digest.
Interview & selection intel
What does the Slaughter and May Hong Kong selection process look like?
Most public detail comes from candidate accounts and graduate-recruitment guides rather than the firm, so read it as indicative rather than gospel.
Unlike some Magic Circle firms, Slaughter and May leans on interviews rather than a battery of psychometric tests. Candidates report two interviews plus a written assessment, including a discussion of a news article with two partners, where you get around 15 minutes to read the piece before defending a view on it. Partners run these interviews themselves, and the firm is known to interview candidates on campus at overseas universities such as Oxford, so expect to be in front of decision-makers early.
Strip out the specifics and the pattern is clear. The article discussion tests whether you can read a piece of commercial or legal argument, form your own view and defend it in real time in front of partners, and the written assessment checks that you can put a clear position on paper under time pressure. There is no aptitude-test shortcut to hide behind, so what you say and how you think in the room is the assessment.
How to stand out
How do you stand out for Slaughter and May Hong Kong?
This is an interview-led process with no psychometric shortcut, so your edge is genuine commercial reading you can defend out loud, clean writing under the clock, and motivation specific to a small, corporate-heavy office. Here is where to put your preparation.
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1Prepare for the article discussion and written assessment, not a psychometric test. This process rewards reading a commercial problem, forming a view and writing it up cleanly under the clock; it helps to know how firms mark case studies before you sit one. Drill that exact skill in the Online Case Study Centre and the Mock Assessment Centre.
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2Bring real commercial awareness you can defend out loud. A partner may put an article in front of you, so you need genuine views on live Hong Kong matters, like the Zijin Gold listing or the Shengmu offer above, rather than memorised buzzwords. Weekly deal analysis built for exactly that sits in the paid Weekly News Digest.
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3Make your motivation specific to a small, corporate-heavy office. With around eight trainees a year and at least two seats in Corporate and M&A and Financing, generic Magic Circle answers fall flat, and our guide to the top mistakes on HK applications shows the ones to avoid. The Law Firm Application Academy shows how to evidence real motivation, and coaching pressure-tests your answers before you sit in front of partners.
Quick answers
Slaughter and May Hong Kong, in five questions
How many training contracts does Slaughter and May offer in Hong Kong?
Intake is small, around eight trainees a year, against a London intake more than ten times the size, which is exactly why the firm can promise more responsibility early.
How do you get a training contract at Slaughter and May Hong Kong?
There are two routes: the Hong Kong vacation scheme and a direct training-contract application. The scheme is not a formal prerequisite, but the firm strongly recommends it and says many of its trainees did one first, so treat it as the main route. Schemes run over the summer, in June and July, and sometimes at winter and Easter, taking around seven students each.
Does Slaughter and May use the Watson Glaser test in Hong Kong?
No. Unlike some Magic Circle firms, Slaughter and May leans on interviews rather than a battery of psychometric tests. Candidates report two interviews plus a written assessment, including a discussion of a news article with two partners.
What does the Slaughter and May Hong Kong training contract look like?
Two years across four six-month seats, with at least two spent in the Corporate and M&A and the Financing groups and the rest across practices such as disputes, competition, tax or real estate. The firm covers PCLL tuition plus a maintenance allowance.
What does Slaughter and May look for in Hong Kong applicants?
A good 2:1 or better, which the firm frames as three strong A-levels and the equivalent of a good 2:1 or above, plus intellect, genuine enthusiasm, commitment, common sense and the ability to get on with clients and colleagues.