A day in the life of a trainee solicitor at Bowling & Co
My name is Sebastian Jakubowski. I started working at Bowling & Co Solicitors as a Paralegal with the Property Litigation team in February 2020, just before the Covid pandemic. For everyone, the challenge was real, however, I worked in a great team, so the transition to working from home was not difficult.
Later in the year, I was very lucky to have been offered a trainee contract with Bowling & Co, which I started in December 2020. Every day is a learning day at Bowling & Co, we are fortunate to have a very experienced and expert team, with a long history of looking after clients. Here is a typical day in the office for a trainee solicitor.
6:00 am
An early wake for me as I prepare to start my day. Aside from my commute, my day in the office also begins early.
8:00 – 8:30 am
I like to be in the office between 8 and 8:30 am (even earlier in the summer when the weather is not gloomy and dull) ahead of everyone else. I find that this short period of time, when the office is empty and quiet can be incredibly productive in planning out my day.
9:00 – 10:00 am
The first thing I do after logging in is to check my emails to ensure nothing urgent has arrived overnight and then check my calendar. I tend to check my calendar daily, looking ahead by at least 5 days. I then make a list, being old-fashioned, I do this with pen and paper, to set out what I need to do on the day.
Once this is done, I tend to respond to any emails that can be dealt with quickly so that they do not impact me further on in the day.
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Between 10 am and 12 pm I tend to have a sit-down or telephone call with my direct supervisor and then with Huseyin Huseyin, the head of our Property Litigation team, to see if there is anything that I can assist them with, updating my to-do list as necessary.
1:00 pm – 5:30 pm
As I do not drink tea or coffee, apart from a lunch break, the rest of my day is spent by ticking off and dealing with the list of issues I prepared first thing in the morning in order of urgency, with the most pressing matters being dealt with first.
The early start and good planning really do help to ensure my day almost never runs over as I am in control of what I need to do throughout.
If you would like any more information about what our Trainees do, then please feel free to contact us on Telephone – 020 8221 8000.
This is not legal advice; it is intended to provide information of general interest about current legal issues.