7.45am: I arrive at the (subsidised) gym next door to work and meet one of the other trainees for a pre-work sweat.

8.50am: Leaving the gym there's just time to grab breakfast from the fourth-floor café before getting to my desk. There's an email from counsel on a big fraud action asking me to re-work the exhibits to an affidavit. Depositing the remains of my breakfast in the kitchen, I head for the photocopy room to get everything in order.

9.40am: My supervisor stops me and explains he has an urgent deadline to get a non disclosure agreement written for one of his biggest clients. It's a key part of a big shipbuilding deal which is closing next week and a draft is needed as soon as possible. I quietly park all the rest of my work and get stuck in.

10.45am: I drop off a first draft on my supervisor's desk for him to review. He's locked in a heated conference call to a foreign client, so I slip out again quietly and leave it for him to look at.

11.10am: A swift cup of coffee later and my supervisor calls me in. There's a few things that I've over looked in the draft, but thankfully nothing too fundamental. We discuss his suggested amendments and I head back to my desk to make the changes.

11.55am: One of the associates needs an urgent dash to court. A client has had a tanker arrested this morning in Milford Haven and we need to file a response. We've managed to secure a letter of undertaking from the P&I club in record time and, armed with this and our response to the affidavit, I make a dash for the door. Bursting into the sunlight on Moorgate and diving aboard a passing cab, I hurtle towards the Strand.

12.25pm: The RCJ successfully negotiated, I emerge onto the Strand and board the bus back to Moorgate. At my desk I fly through some emails then head up to seventh floor for a lunchtime talk. The problems inherent in enforcing judgments in offshore trust work have attracted a remarkable turnout; perhaps something to do with the accompanying buffet.

2.00pm: Having been briefed on some research I head upstairs to the library, hoping nobody has beaten me to that big green book on time charters which I'm convinced is hiding the answer deep within its pages. 90 minutes later I'm back down to discuss it with an associate. Remarkably it looks like I've hit the nail on the head first time around, leaving me a crucial half hour to get any findings turned around into a note to client.

4.30 pm: A partner for whom I do not usually work calls me over. He's got an arbitration tomorrow and the trainee who usually sits with him is down to attend a course off-site. He asks if I'd mind stepping in and runs me through the salient points of the case.

7.00pm: After a productive hour's prep, I think I've got everything in order for the arbitration. As I prepare to take bundles down to the print room my supervisor calls and asks if I fancy a drink. 15 minutes later I've polished off my timesheets, dropped the bundles off at the print room and head out. An hour or so on, I make my excuses and head across the road to catch the Met Line home.