9.00am: I get to the office and check my to-do list for the day. I'm in the equity capital markets section of the corporate department and I share an office with my supervisor, Ian. He asks me to do some proofreading urgently; we have just got our circular (a document sent to the shareholders of a company to give them the necessary information to vote on a transaction) back from the printers and we need to make sure all the amendments are in before it is sent to the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) for approval.
10.00am: There are a few additional changes to be made so I send the circular back to the printers and ask them to make these urgently so we can submit it to the UKLA as soon as possible. In the meantime, I get started on my other tasks. First on my list is finishing a completion agenda. I started this yesterday but I've got more things to add in before I give it to Gemma, an associate, for her comments. The conditions and documents which need to be satisfied are listed in the share purchase agreement so I work through it and list all the documents and the signatories. This is quite a typical trainee task and we use the agenda to ensure that all the documents are ready at completion.
10.45am: I get the draft circular back from the printers and stop my work on the completion agenda to check the amendments. They are all in and so I let Ian know and he arranges for it to be sent to the UKLA.
11.00am: I finish the completion agenda and check it through. Once I'm done I give it to Gemma for review.
1.00pm: I go to Ampersands (our staff canteen) for lunch - it's great to be able to catch up with the other trainees there. We all went to BPP Law School together for the LPC so we know each other really well by now.
1.30pm: I know that I've got quite a lot to get on with today so I head back to my desk. Next on my to-do list are some completion board minutes. I print off a precedent and manuscript and mark the amendments which need to be made. Once I'm finished I give them to my secretary, Marie, to type up.
2.30pm: My next task is verification. This is a very time-consuming task and involves making sure that all the statements in the circular are accurate. I went to meet the general counsel of the client by myself yesterday to discuss verification with her. One of the best things about being a trainee in corporate is the amount of client contact you get. While I was at the client's offices the general counsel provided me with lots of documents which I begin to work through.
4.00pm: Marie comes back with the board minutes and I check that all the amendments have been made. I give them to Gemma; who says she'll review them and discuss them with me later. I get back to my verification exercise for the time being.
6.00pm: Gemma comes in and discusses the amendments with me, explaining why the changes need to be made. Everyone always takes the time to explain amendments so that you learn from each exercise and don't make the same mistakes twice. Once we've finished I get back to sorting out the documents for verification and going through all the information to find the parts which support the statements in the circular.
8.30pm: I've been taking advantage of the time when the office is quieter to make some headway with the verification. Now that I've made more progress, I go to meet some of the trainees who are on client secondment in the bar underneath the office for a quick drink.
, second-seat trainee, Simmons & Simmons LLP