‘A day in the life’
Trainee Alex Ricketts shares his experience of a typical working day in the Commercial & Regulatory Disputes (CRD) team.
07:30 - 08:30 : I wake up and begin my morning routine. It’s Thursday today and I’m working from the London office. 08:30 - 08:45 : It’s a ten-minute walk from the trainee flat to the office at Liverpool Street. I pick up a coffee from my favourite café and listen to a podcast on the way in. On arrival, I check my emails, calendar invites and plan for the day. 08:45 - 09:00 : My seat supervisor is at her desk, so I pop over to discuss a few new matters received yesterday to be actioned for early next week. 09:00 - 10:00 : I begin working through my emails and actioning smaller tasks. It is also a nice opportunity to catch up with colleagues in the office today. 10:00 - 10:30 : I receive an enquiry call from a potential new client. In my team, trainees are responsible for taking new enquiry calls and summarising the key issues for partners to consider.
10:30 - 13:00 : Next up is a meeting with our client and counsel. Trainees are often invited to attend client meetings to take a note and feed into the conversation. We have a court hearing listed in a few weeks and the purpose of the meeting is to discuss immediate next steps, including logistics and preparation. I take a detailed note of the call and identify several action points for the Michelmores team, counsel and our client, which I circulate shortly after. One of the follow-up tasks for me is to conduct research on a set of procedural steps. 13:00 - 13:30 : I decide to head out for some lunch. Central London has a huge variety of places to eat so I’m always spoilt for choice! 13:30 - 15:00 : Much of the afternoon is spent attending a meeting with an expert witness for an upcoming trial. We work through a draft version of the expert’s report, flagging technical questions and hearing from our expert.
15:00 - 16:00 : Next up is our monthly full CRD team meeting, with colleagues in the team joining from across all offices. This is a good opportunity to hear about the matters the team is working on, as well as hearing about upcoming BD events, team socials, and knowledge sharing sessions. 16:00 - 17:30 : I have been asked to prepare a bundle which needs to be filed at court tomorrow. I am familiar with the matter and the documents, so I collate the papers and prepare the hard- copy and e-bundles. I will file at the Royal Courts of Justice tomorrow morning. 17:30 - 18:00 : I close out the day by picking up on a few discrete follow-up tasks after our call with our expert witness, including identifying points for client input and formatting amendments.
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