Edinburgh students win work experience with Slaughter and May
Tue 13 June 2023

Edinburgh Law School students Celene Sandiford and Holli Towers will be undertaking a work placement with Slaughter and May’s Knowledge and Innovation this summer after taking part in a competition.
The competition organised by the Law School and the law firm, challenged students to answer the question ‘Is there more to legal innovation than technology?’.
During their week-long placement, Celene and Holli will have the opportunity to work on a range of ongoing projects within different teams as well as some digital marketing tasks.
The team at Slaughter and May look forward to welcoming both students in June. Alex Woods, Director of Knowledge and Innovation at Slaughter and May said: “I am delighted that we have been able to join forces with Edinburgh Law School and offer two worthy winners of the innovation competition, Celene and Holli the opportunity to gain work experience with us in our Innovation team. The placement will give them a glimpse into the practical applications of technology in modern day legal service delivery, as well as insight into the potential that the latest technological advancements could offer for the practice of law.”
Professor Nehal Bhuta, Professor of Public International Law and Director of Advancement and Alumni Relations at Edinburgh Law School said: “Edinburgh Law School has long been a research leader in interrogating the role of the law in technological advancement and exploring the intersection of law, technology and society. The opportunity to partner with a leading global firm like Slaughter and May to provide our students with a work experience placement to learn more about the firm’s legal tech and innovation workstreams not only provided invaluable career development by putting knowledge into action, but is strong evidence of how law schools and law firms can work together for the benefit of future legal professionals.”
Professor Burkhard Schafer, Professor of Computational Legal Theory at Edinburgh Law School, said: “Coming on top of a very strong field of contenders, it was interesting to note that both of the winners chose a visual medium; short video files with animations and images, rather than the traditional essay style students tend to be more comfortable with. It was not only the content that was convincing - both arguing that while there is innovation in the legal services industry that is not driven by technology, technological change never works alone and to be successful it must be embedded in organisational structures, cultures and business models. They also showed that there is more to law than simply text - and that some of the most exciting applications of legal technology, such as visualisation of data or processes, is transformative precisely because they go “beyond text in legal education and legal practice.”