A day in the life - Guylaine, Trainee Solicitor

Book open Reading time: 3 mins

Lifts the lid on what life is really like at Eversheds Sutherland.

Working in the office - Corporate

7:00am – I wake up and do a 30-40 min at-home workout. I then get ready and leave for work around 8.45am.

9:00am – I arrive at work and grab myself a complementary bagel for breakfast. I log on and check my emails to see if anything has come in overnight that I need to pick up. I then check my diary for the day and make my to do list.

9.30am – I join the team capacity management call. This is a weekly call the team has so that everyone knows how busy everyone is. This is a great way to make sure that no one is too busy and is also a chance for people to find out who is able to help with work if they need it.

9.45am – I start my first task of the day which is to draft some ancillary documents. This is a common trainee task in the corporate team and involves reviewing a documents list for a transaction then drafting all the documents listed in it, other than the main transaction documents. I like to do my drafting in the morning when I am most productive, because it requires a lot of attention to detail.

11:00am – I take a coffee break and have a chat with one of my colleagues in the kitchen. There is a great collegiate atmosphere on the floor because the office is open plan meaning there is always someone around to chat to if you want to take a break!

11:15am – I start on my next task for the day which is carrying out some corporate due diligence. This is a great task because it involves reviewing important company documents and looking for anything which could be a potential issue for our client who is buying the company. I like the investigative nature of this task and the insight it gives you into the transaction you’re working on.

1:00 pm – I attend a completion lunch for a project I worked on which completed last week. There were 6 members of my team working on the deal. We firstly get together for a debrief about what went well and what could have gone better during the transaction generally. This is a really useful conversation for everyone to pick up some learning points. The partner on the project then takes us out for lunch to San Carlo – a lovely Italian restaurant just 5 minutes’ walk away from the office!

3:30pm – I return to the office and check my emails for anything urgent that has come in while I have been at lunch. An associate has asked me to file some documents at Companies House today, so I prioritise getting this done in time for today’s post. I draft a letter to Companies House, fill out the relevant forms and collate the documents to send by post.

4:30pm – I join a client call in an observation capacity. The purpose of the call is to discuss some issues in the share purchase agreement on which we need the client’s input. I really enjoy attending these calls to observe the interaction with clients.

5:15pm – I finish off my drafting task that I started this morning, and send all the documents to my supervisor for supervision. It is useful to look back at the documents with fresh eyes after taking a break from them, as this helps me to notice any errors I have made.

6:15pm – I check my emails and send out any quick replies that I need to. I make sure I’ve recorded all my time for the day and close my time down.

6:30pm – I log off for the day and meet with some of the other trainees, before heading home to make dinner around 8pm.

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