Michael Thompson (LLB 2009, now Slaughter and May)

Having decided against attending university immediately after completing my A-Levels, I worked for several law firms over a number of years before deciding to seek to qualify as a solicitor. As a mature student, I was keen to obtain my degree as quickly as possible and this brought me to The University of Buckingham and its accelerated two-year LLB programme.

Buckingham’s small size and low staff to student ratio made for a supportive but challenging educational environment. I enjoyed the small class sizes, which enabled me to explore the law in depth with my tutors. Several tutors were aware of my career ambitions and with their support, and that of the University as a whole, I was able to work systematically towards obtaining a training contract with a leading law firm. This led to my securing a training contract at the eminent City firm Slaughter and May. During the two-year training contract, I worked in the following departments: Corporate; Competition (including a three-month secondment in Brussels); Dispute Resolution; and Finance. I qualified into the Dispute Resolution group in 2013. My work at Slaughter and May is varied and ranges from arbitrations to regulatory investigations, in both the domestic and international context.

The University of Buckingham and its Law School played a significant role in helping me to fulfil my ambition of qualifying as a solicitor with a leading international law firm.