6th March 2023
Day in the Life of a Trainee Solicitor at Buss Murton
My name is Amy and I am a trainee solicitor at Buss Murton. I have been at the firm for four months. I am approaching the end of my first seat which is in company/commercial and commercial property. I have two supervisors, Alex who does company/commercial, and Dal, who does commercial property. No two days are the same as a trainee solicitor but here is how this day in the office looked for me.
9.00am I arrive in the office. I log on and look through any emails that may have come through overnight. If I can answer them without any input, then I will do so. If not, I make a note about what I need to raise with my supervisors so I can answer the emails effectively.
9.30am I go to speak to Dal to discuss a client’s voicemail which was left over the weekend. The client’s tenant is leaving the property and they want to know how to respond to this. The tenant has a lease under the Landlord & Tenancies Act 1954. Therefore, the tenant has certain rights in relation to security of tenure. After the tenancy comes to an end in accordance with the lease the tenant has the right to remain there unless a notice is served on them by the landlord. We run through the various options the client has and Dal asks me to phone the client back.
9.45am I phone the client back. He informs me how he wishes to proceed. I then send the client a follow up email outlining what we discussed on our call.
10am I attend a client meeting with Alex. The meeting is about a business in which one of the directors, who is also a shareholder, wishes to leave. Alex discusses with the client how to go about this, and gathers further information about the company. My job is to make notes during the meeting so I can then write up an attendance note.
11am The client meeting has finished. I return to my desk and write up the attendance note. I note down the main points and the items that need actioning both by Alex and the client. Once I have finished the note I send it through to Alex.
11.30am A commercial property enquiry has been sent through to the firm through the website. Another solicitor at the firm forwards it to me and asks me to deal with it. I get in contact with the potential client and set out a series of questions that need to be known so provide the client with a quote for our fees.
11.45am I am assisting Alex in a matter regarding a sale of shares. He asks me to draft a letter to the target company to notify them that the buyer is a relevant legal entity. In order to do this, I locate the document on PLC and read the drafting notes around this. I then get to work on drafting the document.
12.45pm A client of Dal’s needs to have their lease registered. All the necessary documents have now been received. I log on to the Land Registry website and register the lease. This involves answering a series of questions and submitting documents which support the application.
1.00pm It’s lunchtime! I head out to have lunch with a colleague at the firm.
2.15pm I get back after taking my lunch break. I catch up on any emails that have been sent over my lunch break. I have a catch up with Dal about a matter I am assisting him with. Our client is a developer who is looking to purchase some land. Prior to the purchase there are a few legal matters that need to be dealt with. My supervisor asks me to draft a deed of variation of a right of way to address one of them. This document enables a right of way to be changed in comparison to how it is set out in property’s title.
3.15pm I have just finished my draft deed of variation so I email it across to Dal for him to make comments and provide feedback. In the meantime, I’ve just received an email regarding a matter I am working on for Dal. We are acting for the seller who is selling a property that used to be their shop. The buyer’s solicitor has asked for a statutory declaration relating to a piece of unregistered land that is part of the seller’s property. They are asking for this so that when the seller buys the land they can prove ownership to anyone who may attest that the unregistered land belongs to them. In commercial property statutory declarations are relatively rare so I send an email to the residential property team asking if anyone has any examples I can use to base my drafting on.
3.30pm A couple of solicitors in the residential team email me back examples of statutory declarations. I use this as basis to begin my drafting.
3.45pm Dal emails me back about my deed of variation. He has a couple of suggestions that I incorporate into the document. I then send the document to the relevant party for their approval.
4.15pm I have finished drafting the statutory declaration. I send it to Dal for his approval. In this free moment I continue drafting a report on title for another matter. Reports on title set out what benefits and burdens the land as well as outlining search results. This is for the client to read and for them to raise any further queries.
5.00pm I do my time recording for the day. I keep track of this by noting down what I have done throughout the day and how long I spent on each activity.
5.15pm It’s the end of the work day! Before leaving I write up my to do list for tomorrow.