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Congratulations [USER=10438]@esther18[/USER] on this outstanding achievement! You are in an amazing position to have offers from two top Magic Circle firms which are also quite different from one another... it demonstrates that your background must be both broad and absolutely stellar

You seem to recognise all the major ways in which the firms and their training programmes are different, which is a great start! First of all, [USER=4782]@SLKEJRWOI97[/USER] has provided you with some excellent insight into the ways that you can go about choosing between the two.

I am just going to add some informal and anecdotal information from Wikipedia about the general perception of both firms (which you probably already know) in this article on the Magic Circle. Clifford Chance is considered a member of the 'Global Elite' whilst Slaughter and May is considered to be a 'Super Boutique' law firm. As the legal market has become increasingly globalised, these represent two different models - global powerhouse vs highly prestigious and geographically focused.

So in response to the points that you address, I think the main things to consider are:

• The extent to which you are looking for international work (Slaughter's 'best friends' secondments are an excellent opportunity but my sense is that more of CC's work is cross-border and that there will be further opportunities to move between offices later on in your career)
• Whether you want to try disputes/regulatory seats (it sounds like CC's training contract gives you less opportunity to explore these)
• The extent of hands-on training that you want (I don't know enough about the two firms to opine on this but it is really a matter of personal preference

I would not worry so much about work/life balance. You would be working very hard at either firm and it will vary by practice area. I do not think that billable hours have much relation to whether or not there is a face time culture, to be honest.

I hope that this is helpful and congratulations once again