Slaughter and May became the latest Magic Circle law firm to adopt Harvey firmwide in April 2026, selecting it following an extensive evaluation in which Harvey was chosen over Legora. The decision landed in a market that has spent more than two years debating how seriously UK elite firms would take AI adoption. That debate is largely settled; the more important question is how effectively their lawyers use it.
What matters now, particularly for lawyers at the start of their careers, is a different question. The issue is not whether a firm uses AI, but whether a lawyer can show they genuinely know how to work with it. Those are not the same thing, and the gap between them is getting harder to overlook.
Increasingly, many firms are asking about AI capability during hiring conversations, not just AI awareness. The question has shifted from “have you used it?” to something closer to “can you show me what you have actually done with it, and what you learned?” Lawyers who can answer that second question are having a different conversation from those who cannot.
Junior lawyers have traditionally built their skills by doing the foundational work including first drafts, initial document reviews, basic contract checks and so on. AI is now handling a growing share of that work under lawyer supervision. That creates two very different early careers. Lawyers who engage with AI tools and demonstrate they add value working alongside them will find opportunities. Those who wait for the traditional junior workload to arrive may find less of it.
NQ salaries at US law firms in London typically run from £165,000 to £180,000. Magic Circle rates sit generally around £125,000 to £150,000. Those figures are well understood. Less settled is the question that increasingly comes before them. Can this lawyer show, not just claim, that they know how to work with AI?
Slaughter and May’s decision to implement Harvey firmwide is a signal of how seriously London’s elite practices now treat AI as infrastructure. For lawyers at the start of their careers, the question is not whether they work at a firm that has the tools, but whether they can show they have used them well enough to matter.
AI Legal Recruitment works with lawyers in that part of the London market.