9.15am: I arrive at the office, grab a cup of tea and sit at my desk to catch up on emails and check my calendar. One of the matters I've been involved with has progressed to trial and we have been at the high court every day over the past two weeks so I have plenty to catch up on back in the office. I jot down a to-do list of tasks for the day, which is a particularly useful habit to keep up when you're working for a number of different people in the department.

9.30am: I head down to a weekly departmental meeting where I hear about developments in the work all the fee-earners are involved with. It's a good way to find out what everyone else is occupied with.9.45

am: Back at my desk I notice I have a message from a pro bono client I am advising. I call up the client and get an update from her, taking down a note of the call. After the call I make a few changes to a letter I was working on before sending it to the client for her approval. The firm is keen to encourage trainees to get involved with pro bono work and it's an excellent way for trainees to gain first-hand experience of advising clients as well as all the ancillary tasks like managing a file.

10.15am: Writing articles and pieces for the blog is a regular task for trainees and other fee-earners, something I didn't appreciate until I started working at EAPD. It's a useful way of increasing your knowledge about particular areas of law, some of which you may not have come across before. I have a deadline coming up for my article on anti-corruption enforcement so I start researching the topic in detail and draft an outline.

12.00pm: An associate asks me to assist her with a task. She gives me an outline of the matter - our client is settling a debt claim - and asks me to have a go at drafting a settlement agreement and consent order.

12.30pm: Lunch is usually spent down at our canteen with the other trainees, but today we have a trainee workshop on competition law. Trainee workshops are a good way to learn about an area of law we have yet to work in. The added bonus is the free lunch!

1.45pm: After the workshop I continue my research before moving on to draft the settlement agreement and consent order. I have a few questions that I ask the associate before finalising the agreement for her to review.

3.00pm: The evidence stage of the trial is complete but closing submissions are to be filed tomorrow, and delivered the day after. I attend a conference call with my supervisors and counsel. We discuss closing submissions and our strategy for weakening our opponent's case whilst presenting ours in the best possible light, based upon the evidence we have heard over the last two weeks. I have been involved in numerous calls and meetings with counsel and the client, culminating with my attendance at the trial. This has been a fantastic experience for me.

3.45pm Following the call, I receive an email from counsel asking me to complete the cross-references in his submissions and tidy up the document. As I was responsible for putting together the core bundles of documents for the trial, as well as managing all the inserts and amendments across all the trial bundles, I am very familiar with the documentation relating to this case. This is usually a trainee role, and if you're not organised it can be very embarrassing in front of the judge if anything goes wrong!

7.00pm: I send the finalised document back to counsel, then head to a local bar with a couple of the trainees for the day's debrief over a glass of wine before heading home.