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I am currently undertaking my third trainee seat within the Disputed Wills & Estates team (DWE) in the Firm’s London office. This team covers a variety of contentious private client matters, including Inheritance Act claims, estoppel cases, Court of Protection matters, executorship disputes, and more.
Despite having already completed two contentious seats (Agricultural Litigation & Commercial & Regulatory Disputes) the move up to London and going back to private client has been a big change, but it is one I am very much enjoying so far.
Below I have set out one of the interesting days that I have had in the DWE seat so far, to show a flavour of what trainee life in the team is like:
7:20-8:20 – My alarm goes off and I get ready for work. I am currently living in one of the Firm’s ‘trainee flats’ only a 10–15-minute walk from the London Office, which is handy for avoiding a busy London commute on public transport!
8:20-8:30 – I walk to the London office, set up my laptop for the day and make myself a coffee from the office coffee machine.
08:30-09:00 – I make a call to the Land Registry to request documents and information on a property which relates to a larger matter I have been working on. I find that calling the Land Registry (as well as other public institutions) as soon as they open means I am on hold for the minimum amount of time before getting through!
09:00-09:30 – I quickly draft a set of board minutes that a member of my team has requested, giving consent to act as a substitute personal representative for an estate.
09:30-10:00 – I go into a meeting room with my London based DWE colleagues for our bi-weekly full team meeting. The rest of the team are spread around the Firm’s Exeter and Bristol offices, and it is interesting to hear about how the rest of the team is getting on, the work they are doing and the clients they are working for.
10:00-10:30 – Following on from our team meeting, the fee earners in the team have a separate knowledge meeting to discuss legal updates that people wish to share with the team. Two members of the team shared their experiences of a recent conference abroad and updated us with some bespoke legal talking points that they picked up at the events.
10:30-11:00 – Following the meetings, my supervisor asks me to enter a caveat against an estate (a core activity in this seat). As this is my first time doing this, I do it with some assistance over Microsoft Teams from the newly qualified solicitor in the team, who helps to make sure that everything is correct before the caveat is entered.
11:00-11:30 – I take a quick break from substantive tasks, grab a tea, and review some general emails which have come in throughout the morning.
11:30-12:15 – Following a client meeting which had taken place the previous week, I was tasked with drafting a proposal letter to the other side in a dispute. It is interesting for me to see the process of taking instructions from a client and then replicating these into formal correspondence which is sent to another party.
12:15-12:45 – My supervisor has asked me to attend a counsel seminar at another firm’s offices today, and to report my findings back to the team. As the firm is located in another part of London, I pack up and hop on the tube before walking to the office.
12:45-13:00 – I have lunch at the other firm’s offices and do some light networking, gaining a new LinkedIn connection in the process!
13:00-14:00 – I listen to the counsel seminar talking about a recent development in contentious probate case law, following a high court case and appeal that he was involved with. I make sure to take enough notes that I can refer to later when typing up some key points.
14:00-14:30 – I leave the seminar and head back to the Michelmores’ London office.
14:30-15:30 – I settle back down and finish off the proposal letter which I started drafting before the seminar. I send the finalised draft back to my supervisor for review.
15:30-16:00 – My supervisor and I go to a private room in the office for our weekly catch up meeting. We discuss how I am getting on, how I am finding the work and whether there is anything more that my supervisor or the team can be doing to support me.
16:00-17:00 – Following the meeting, I take some time to make entries in my trainee diary about my previous experiences. These cover a range of things from work I have done, meetings I have been a part of and external training I have received.
17:00-17:30 – I wind down for the day by clearing up my email inbox, reviewing and updating my colour coded case tracker (my pride and joy) and noting down my to-do list for tomorrow in my notebook.
17:30 – 17:45 – I walk back to the trainee flat, picking up some ingredients for cooking a hearty green Thai curry on the way.