8.00am: I get into the office early as we are due to complete on a big deal that we have been working on with the corporate department. My current seat is real estate and I sit with my supervisor, who is an associate in the team. We are serving a notice to complete as the other side have not indicated that they will be completing on time. The partner I am working with calls me to discuss and tells me that he has never worked on a deal where a notice of this type has been served. It is tense but satisfying when we finally serve! I had a late night with my supervisor last night making sure that we had followed all of the correct provisions in the contract, as we know the other side will go through the document with a fine toothcomb.
10.00am: I attend a meeting in the client suite with the partner I am working on a residential sale with. We are meeting with our client's surveyor to discuss the sale and, following the meeting, I have some complicated land registry enquiries to do to ensure that we are fully aware of the covenants attached to the land our client is selling.
12.00pm: I grab a quick lunch and my suit jacket as I'm off to a client meeting to discuss a large portfolio sale we are working on. This is a really interesting project and I've been in charge of co-ordinating the documentation so I am able to assist with various questions which the client has. After two hours I've filled my notebook but I manage to get the important points and dictate a detailed minute when I get back to the office.
3.00pm: I've had a couple of emails asking whether I have capacity to assist on tasks this afternoon. I speak to my supervisor about the tasks she has asked me to do to establish whether I can assist the other members of the team. We decide together that I have time to complete a Stamp Duty Land Tax form today, but not the Land Registry application, so I send an email to one of the other trainees in my team who has capacity to assist. I'm starting to learn that the best way to assist is to let the fee-earner know what other work you have on and to give a realistic estimate of when you will be able to complete tasks, which allows them to find an alternative option if they need the work done more quickly.
5.00pm: I need to get out my Land Registry forms for the residential sale and I'm cutting it close to the wire to get to the post in time. I head downstairs to the post room and grab a coffee from the canteen on the way back up to power me through the next couple of hours. I review my to-do list and draft a couple of emails; one to the client attaching my note of the meeting from this afternoon and the other to our knowledge development lawyer to submit a piece of research I have completed which may be useful for the team.
7.00pm: I start to draft a licence for alterations on a shopping centre unit which I am working on. One of the advantages of this department is the level of responsibility you get at an early stage; you have direct contact with the client and often do the first draft of the relevant documents. I leave my marked-up version with the document support team overnight which will give me time to review it with a fresh head in the morning.
8.00pm: I head to the local bar where the trainees are meeting for a drink to celebrate two birthdays. There is a big group of us and we all talk shop for a while before moving on to discuss weekend plans.
, first-year trainee, Berwin Leighton Paisner