Tuesday 30 June 2009

Patient partner

The firm has a big case about to start, and I asked the partner about it. He sent me details of the action, which I then read and fired back a few Qs. Was very surprised (and more than a little pleased) when the partner came to my desk this afternoon and went over my questions. I know it's not a very big thing, but it was great that he did so!

Monday 29 June 2009

A case load

Have finally reached that stage... I have my own caseload. Now I'll need to juggle priorities, watch deadlines, keep track of my files, remember which client is which. It's slightly daunting. The powers that be have clearly decided that I'm up to the task. Yes, I now have my own files, my own case load. I can hold my head up high with the solicitors in the canteen, each with their caseloads of 100+ cases now that I have one too. Err... except that mine comprises 3 cases so far :)

Actually I'm rather pleased about it. It will give me a proper chance to work out exactly what it is you do with files. It's all very well looking at a statement and working out this was breached, liability sits there, or whatever. The less fun part is the important bit - dealing with the client, sending letters, working out how to make entries on the computer system, and combining that with other tasks (I still have my mountain of tasks to do, statements to take, that kind of thing). Plus I still get to do the fun bit of working out if there is a case there and intimating it to the other side... with the secret hope that I'll get to raise it in court. On the other hand, unless it takes 11 months from now to get that far, it won't be me in court doing the fun bit!

Friday 26 June 2009

what a day!

Am on the blackberry to type this. Has been some day. First of all had mocking number 1: it was dress down day and of course newbie trainee turns up in a suit - the only one in the office.

Then I announced (in shock) Michael Jackson is dead! Tumbleweed moment of silence before the laughter and mocking number 2. That was last nights news and I'm the only person in the world not to know.

We had our team meeting today, where troubled cases are discussed. Got put on the spot for that: the partner opened with let's hear what the trainee has to say about liability on this one. Luckily hadn't fallen asleep yet so at least I sounded coherent.

Finally had a chat this afternoon with one of the solicitors. She agreed that everyone here is really friendly and the place is just nice. So what's the catch? I've seen the film "The Firm"!

Wednesday 24 June 2009

The library

Thought I'd have a look at the "library" today. Which is a collection of useful (and expensive) books shoved on some metal shelving. "Shoved" is a kindly term, masking the complete mess that was there. Most of the books were hidden under masses of updates for the loose-leaf volumes, many still in their wrapping. And handily for historians there were loads of Law Society directories going back years, to the Blue Book directories before the white books now used.

It was all too much so I spent a while tidying and sorting. It's now in some kind of order and looks neat. It still looked neat a few minutes later when I finished up and went home. I don't rate the chances of it still being tidy this time tomorrow though!

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Blackberry day

Got my office Blackberry today. It's very nice. I love how the calendar and email match whats on my office PC. They talk to each other (what are they saying about me though).

The downside is that now I'm officially on the office leash. Client calls can follow me home. I'm never away from email. I've seen everyone else habitually checking their Blackberries - at lunch, in court, probably in the toilet too!

On the plus side there's no network coverage at home, provided I stay in the kitchen. Which is beginning to sound appealing.

Meeting a client

Took my first in person client precognition today - the client came to the office. Was very careful to make sure I didn't miss anything out.

Got back to the my desk after to hear about the search party that had been sent for me. Tales about how complicated his story was, the infinite complexities of necessary detail, all fell on deaf ears. Still, would have felt worse if I had rushed it and missed out something vital!

Friday 19 June 2009

Interesting day in court

Got to spend the morning in court once again. Tagged along with a reluctant solicitor, as she was worried about her motion. (In court, not a stomach related thing).

It was a great morning of options hearings. Everything possible came up. The sheriff was clearly very experienced and not one to take fools gladly. One party litigant appeared and didn't understand when the sheriff asked him if he opposed a motion which had been put forward. Sheriff wasn't impressed. It transpired that the next diet was going to be a debate. Sheriff asked him if he would be seeking the services of a solicitor. He said no, he'd represent himself. Stunned sheriff shouted incredulously "AT THE DEBATE?". Loud hint of sarcasm, sneer, surprise and shock from the direction of the sheriff.

Noted another agent sitting waiting for her case. For some reason she sniggered at every party litigant. Some of them were quite reasonable so not sure why!

Finally our case was called, right at the end. My mentor stood up, slighty nervously, and was about to say "Agent for the pursuer" when another agent stood up and said "Agent for both parties, m'lady". Looked like there was going to be an argument, except there had been some agreement beforehand about today's motion. As the other side put each point, my mentor meekly said "I agree" or "not opposed". She hadn't needed to worry at all.

Thursday 18 June 2009

My own client!

A very exciting day. I have my own file... and my own client. I've spoken to the client already, and it's a fair enough case. The defender is well known for being pig headed, so it will be a tough one. Am looking forward to it a lot!

Also faced a small demon today. Had been dreading a witness calling to explain a complicated industrial process to me, and what happened to his friend. Spoke to him finally and it was (of course) fine. As the partner says - "build a picture in your head".

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Meeting an advocate

Quite an exciting day... got to behave exactly like a solicitor today. It was a consultation with a client, and I was there with the solicitor and an advocate. The advocate did all the talking, and just like a real solicitor, I got to sit there... and listen :) It was actually quite impressive, as the advocate was very clear and good to listen to (as you would hope!).

Am also slightly excited, as I seem to be progressing a case from the start. We'll see how it pans out. I did the initial statement from the client, and it has given me the chance to assess the legal merits of the case. Which might sound dull, but it was quite satisfying to work out that there was a sound basis to proceed. We'll see what happens next.

Tuesday 16 June 2009

The case report

Tried to get hold of a case report today from a rural court 5 years ago. Couldn't track it down, so gave the court a call. Sure, they can provide a copy... for £20. Yikes. Is it a public document? What about a freedom of information request? (that would only wind them up!)

Anyway a while later was chatting to a colleague. Turns out it was one of our cases... and there are plenty of copies floating about. He even had one in his drawer!

Monday 15 June 2009

Monday morning...

The office felt empty today - most of the people around my desk are on holiday or away on a conference. It was so quiet... and so dull! Definitely missed the banter.

Gave me a chance to catch up with the pile of work on my desk. Didn't take long to amass a proper sized bundle of things to do, with priorities to juggle.

Friday 12 June 2009

Hilarious day... in court

Went with one of the solicitors to court today. Turned into a full proper legal debate citing cases and McPhail. Decent sheriff will think about it for a week. Was good to be there for some proper legal stuff!

Most of the hilarity came before that though. Spent the afternoon waiting for our turn, so got to hear some classic stories about a work experience girl from school and an agent who had both tried to leave the courtroom through the wrong door, the girl going into the sheriff's chambers (!) and the agent going into a cupboard. Mental note to self - DONT DO THAT!

The solicitor I was with confessed that she'd had a small incident last week when leaving court - her gown had caught on the back of one of the swivel chairs which had whipped round and whacked an agent. Oops.

The difficult bit in court was to avoid guffawing out loud. Would be bad to face a complaint to the law society before I've even qualified. So it was a relief to escape for lunch into the canteen.

That's where the real comedy was going on, thanks to a couple of seasoned, comical and more than slightly riské criminal agents sitting at the table with us, jumping on any innuendo possible, and forcing another well known seasoned but less comical criminal agent to storm out moaning about the content of the conversation. Oops!

Am looking forward to going back next week for the outcome. But I'm not sure if I'm hurrying back for the legal content or the comedy circus. Laughter is the best medicine after all!

Thursday 11 June 2009

Long distance precognition

Spent most of today getting a precognition from a police officer way out in the country.  Left nice and early.  Decided to go by train and avoid any hassle.  Arrival was no problem.  Policeman was very nice and helpful, and even gave me a lift back to the station in a police car.  

Arrived at the station 5 mins too late for the last train for 2 hours, so got to sit and soak up the sun.  Being a tiny village there was nothing else to do.  Not even a pub!  It wasn't until I got home that I discovered that I'd been sitting relaxing on some paint.  So my nice old suit, with its carefully sewn on buttons, is now a write off.  It's a sign.

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Real trainee work

It's all very well precognoscing clients and dictating medical reports... but today I finally got some real old fashioned trainee work.  Yes, I was sent to the library to photocopy a case.  And luckily I had some cash with me as the firm's photocopier card had expired!

Sat in on a client consultation this afternoon.  Hope I'm not the only trainee who has almost fallen asleep in front of a client and a solicitor.  Well, it was so hot, the sun was streaming in, and the details of his case were quite detailed and not entirely scintillating!

Tuesday 9 June 2009

First taste of trickiness

My mentor asked me to attend a useful consultation between him and a client this morning.  He was keen for me to come as it's quite a tricky case on liability.

10 minutes before it was due to start the partner dropped by my desk, handing me a file.  "I want you to do a detailed precognition of this client.  Take 2 mins to read the file, then call her immediately, as she's on her break now."  That was the tricky part - reading the file plus getting to grips with the relevant questions for this particular type of industrial accident.  Plus the client liked to chat... while Mr Mentor looked on impatiently, then gave up and headed on to the consultation.  

More trickiness later when my computer flagged up a new case for me to take on.  One of the urgent ones involving calling the client immediately.  Blimey, that would have been fairly in the deep end, had it not been a mistake.  It was meant to be assigned to someone else (obviously more experienced) with the same first name...  

Have a choice of things to do on Friday - 3 invitations to court.  Cool!  Which one to pick...

Monday 8 June 2009

Back to school

I thought I'd left essays behind... and essays about cases long gone since 1st year.  However today's new task is to write a case report for an online journal that the firm contributes to.  

I can console myself with it being a job that the partners do too, so it's not just a lowly trainee task.

A few people have been concerned about whether I'll be able to sift through a 40 page House of Lords judgment.  No problem, said I... having seen a million in mooting.  We'll see!

Friday 5 June 2009

The end of the week!

So have managed a whole week.  Today got stuck into a variety of incomprehensible medical reports, from bad writing, through mad jargon, to craziness.  For example a physio report on a client with a knee injury had a little diagram with his knee marked, and a line pointing to it marked "toothache, patella (r)".  I guess i have much to learn.

Work is now piling up on the desk.  I'm also being introduced to making sure I'm time recording properly.  That's what it's all about!

It was a very sociable day.  Firstly it was home baking day (for charity) and lots of people baked.  Fantastic!  Then was taken to lunch by the partner to see how the week had been.  Nice.  And after work went for a quick drink - would have loved to have stayed longer but had to dash home.

So the verdict after week 1 is definitely very positive.  It's been great.  What was I so nervous about!

Thursday 4 June 2009

Real live clients

Only a couple of files sitting on my desk when I arrived this morning.  No clue about what to do with them though!  Spent a good while examining them (and recording the time under 'training' - now's the time to start time recording).  Worked out what they needed.  Later on got an email asking if I had received the instruction for what to do with them, which hadn't come in and would have saved me all that time!

Today's highlights involved real clients in the flesh - one interview at the office and one at the home of an injured elderly lady.  I went with one of the solicitors, who had permission to use a partner's car to get there.  He made a big fuss about getting his car out of the car park, and even offered to do it for the solicitor in case he scraped it.  I knew one of the partners has a new Jaguar, and from the fuss I imagined it would be something really fancy.  The car park was full of expensive metal and skipped straight passed the new Porsches and BMWs to... a Honda Civic.  Which turned out to be remarkably the most complicated car in the world ever - with more digital displays and buttons than the helm of the Starship Enterprise!  

As I mentioned, the time has come to time record work on all files, making sure I don't take too long on each (and too much of the fee, not that it comes to me!).

Tomorrow will make a whole week - I can't quite believe it, or how great it's been!  

Wednesday 3 June 2009

Big day!

Lots of big things happened today.  Wonder which is the most exciting?

First was my first trip to court (tagging along as the trainee of course).  It was great, apart from having to queue with the criminals (humiliation!) because I let it slip that I was a trainee (will look out for that guard in future to blag my way straight in).  First 2 hours was vaguely interesting - not for the sorting out of the days business - which definitely wasn't - but for the ongoing negotiation between our firm and the other side.  Sadly for us they wouldn't cave and insisted the Sheriff decide.  Happily for us it was a big mistake and the sheriff - clearly a fan of reasonableness - went with our args.  Highlight of the morning was one agent's call for decree on an unpaid debt, with no defender present.  There had been an offer to pay the £1200 outstanding at £150 a month- not good enough for the finance company who wanted the lot.  Despite no defender, the Sheriff took the initiative and said "Thats a bit mean ... you're not getting it".  Nicely said.

Next big thing was getting my fill of stationery.  The girls in that department must like me because I got good stuff that nobody else has!

Spoke to my first witness too, taking a phone precognition.  The tricky bit was remembering to do the attendance note for my 24 minutes :) 

Following on from it was one thing I had been dreading - doing my first dictation.  Actually it was easy!  And it led to... my first feeing!  The firm makes plenty off each page of the precognition.  Suspect today will be enough to pay my weeks wages.  Thats assuming the dictation was as easy as I thought.  I'm half anticipating a testy note from the typists.

May have made a slight error of judgement.  In my enthusiasm I emailed my department offering my services just now to do precognitions.  Various people have now told me to watch out as I'm likely to be utterly overwhelmed!

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Day 2...

Even more fun today.  I discovered that my firm likes to litigate.  And everybody knows that.  So if my firm contacts you, settle or be prepared to go to court.  Simples, no?

The computer system seemed slightly less daunting today.  I had a look at a couple of files.  The first was in preparation for a precognition, which I tagged along to.  Plenty interesting stuff.  The second is part of a more tricky case (which is code for possibly not a winner).  Looking forward to the client interview on that one.

Incredibly everybody seems nicer and even happier today.  But was introduced to the undercurrent of performance indicators - its OK to be happy, just make sure the fees are coming in!

Monday 1 June 2009

Day 1...

Set off nice and early.  Decided to catch the bus and arrive nice and relaxed, in time to pick up a new tie from tie rack.  Great plan batman, except that an old picture house caught fire last week and the main road into town is still closed.  I knew that already and thought I was prepared by taking a bus that didn't use that road.  What did Baldrick not think of here?  If the other road is closed... all of the traffic will be stuck on the road which is open instead.  Genius!  So a huge traffic jam.  Packed bus emptied as everybody got off to walk instead in the sweltering heat.  Luckily for me the driver was impatient and soon decided that red lights were not for him. 

Arrived with just enough time to nip to tie rack.  Foiled again - it had gone!  Instead picked up a new tie from a major department store for a major price.  At least it looked good.

Then the grand moment.  Walking in to the office.  First chat in the corridor with the HR head who was markedly sociable and cheerful.  Good start.  The morning involved a basic induction with the training person, a chat with the partner heading my department - he was especially friendly and seemed open - and then a grand tour to meet everybody.  Lots and lots of people, whose names I'll try to remember, honest.

The big event for the morning was joining in a big training meeting about the funding scheme used.  First hour for newer people, second hour for the pros.  Lots of info, lots of people there, and most of the presentation seemed aimed at... me.  Maybe I imagined it but the partner giving the powerpoint seemed to be looking directly at me through the whole thing.  At least it was interesting, and his dry sense of humour definitely helped.

After lunch was introduced to the firm's impressive and complicated computer system.  Scary!  I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.  Help!

The best part is everybody there is very friendly.  And they're all falling over each other to tell me how nice a place it is to work.  

Mental preparation

In a few hours I'll be getting up and going to work like a normal person.  Still nervous and a bit anxious.  How much should I know?  How much do I know?  What exactly will I be doing?  Or will they expect me to know nothing?  And is that any better?

So tonight's preparation is... a bath and spa (with the bubble machine).  Have set my alarm, and checked it twice.  Suit is sitting out, new shirt, slightly doubtful tie.