A Day in the Life of an HFW Trainee

Georgina Suttie

09:15

 I arrive at the office, check my emails and submit my time recording for the previous day. 

09:30 

I catch up with my supervisor about a case I am currently working on with him. I am asked to draft an arbitration notice to the other party so I start working on this straight away. My supervisor then checks the letter and makes a few amendments before I am asked to send it to the other side's lawyers then write a quick email to our clients informing them that the notice has been sent.

10:30 

I attend an online webinar on international trade sanctions, with a focus on the shipping industry.

11:30 

I am involved in writing the introductory article for HFW's Freeports series. I do some research and write a few paragraphs. I also liaise with partners and senior associates in the department who have offered to contribute to the article series.

13:00

I break for lunch and meet some fellow trainees in the café downstairs. We catch up about our experiences of our seats so far and which department we'd like to work in next.

13:00 

I am assisting the HFW Piraeus office this afternoon with attending and taking a note of a Case Management Conference (CMC) at the Business and Property Courts. The supervising partner and I depart from the office to be in good time for the hearing that starts at 14:00. I have time beforehand to receive an update on the developments in the case and what to focus on when note taking. The attendance note will assist the rest of the Piraeus team who cannot attend the hearing in person.

13:45 

I am involved in a disclosure exercise in which we are reviewing clients' documents using an online review platform. I spend a few hours reviewing documents and deciding whether they are relevant or not to the issues in dispute, as well as whether they are covered by legal advice or litigation privilege.

16:00 

I spend a few minutes reading through the pleadings for a new case I have been asked to assist on. There are quite a few parties involved so it's important to know who's who and what the main issues are. I then start compiling PDF bundles of all the key documents we have received from the clients, including charterparties, novation agreements and invoices. These will be sent to counsel in due course.

17:45 

I grab a tea and read the shipping case law update in preparation for a presentation I will be doing next week in the weekly team shipping meeting. I will need to choose an interesting case and summarise it, then discuss how the judgment is likely to impact our clients e.g. shipowners and charterers.

18:30

 I finish sending a few final emails and then meet some other trainees for a drink at a nearby pub.