8.00am: I cycle into work and after a quick shower, I head up to my desk.
9.00am: I check my emails and plan the rest of my day.
9.10am: I am currently in the litigation department and am supervised by Nitej Davda, a senior associate who specialises in property litigation. This morning, Nitej, David Darvill (a partner in the property department) and I are meeting with a new client whose flat has recently been damaged by a fire in the block in which the flat is located. She is seeking our advice about how best to ensure that her landlord cannot assert her tenancy has come to an end by virtue of the damage to the flat, that her flat is repaired and that she can move back in. I take a detailed note of the meeting which I later dictate.
11.30am: Nitej asks me to prepare a notice under s25 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 in order to bring an existing business tenancy to an end and commence negotiations for a new one. I check the service provisions contained in the 1954 Act very carefully (the notice will be invalid if it is served incorrectly) before sending the notice to the tenant.
1.00pm: Often there are lunchtime training seminars to attend but today I meet some of my fellow trainees for lunch in a local café.
2.00pm: The firm assists a well-known charity and social landlord with its possession claims in the London area and the litigation trainees are heavily involved in this. I review my various ongoing matters and prepare the claim form, particulars of claim and bundle in a matter which is ready to go to court.
3.30pm: I am assisting Elizabeth Neale, a partner in the private wealth department, and Simon Weil, a partner in the charities department, with a contentious probate matter involving complex issues about the income and inheritance tax payable on a trust set up in the 1980s. I attend a telephone conference with Elizabeth, Simon and the client, an offshore trustee, in order to discuss the next steps. I take a detailed note of the conference which I dictate on returning to my desk.
5.00pm: Richard Langley, head of litigation, tells me that we have been instructed to prepare an application to impose an interim order on a health professional who is the subject of a fitness to practise allegation. I review the paperwork that the client has already sent, identify the missing information and then begin to prepare a draft witness statement.
6.45pm: I check my Outlook calendar for tomorrow and then head down to reception to meet the other members of the 'BDB Belles' netball team. We walk over to Pimlico Academy for a match against 'The Demonette Dragons'.
, trainee solicitor, Bircham Dyson Bell LLP