I am a first year Legal Apprentice at Michelmores LLP, based in the Exeter office. My apprenticeship started in September 2023, so my first seat is now coming to an end. I have spent this year within the Commercial and Regulatory Disputes Team, working closely with the Legal Support Assistants to support the wider team and provide administrative assistance on legal, non-legal, and client related tasks. This seat has allowed me to get settled into the firm, whilst getting stuck into and familiarising myself with all of the policies, software, processes, and getting used to balancing studying and working full-time. I have been able to experience the fast paced day-to-day environment of the legal profession whilst working alongside the Partners, Senior Associates, Associates and Trainees in the Team, who hold a vast variety of knowledge, and which has given me exposure to the different areas of law and legal issues they deal with.
09:00 – My working day starts at 09:00, I log on and read any emails I have received the night before, add any new tasks for the day to our software ‘Big Hand’ and look through my tasks already in there. I then plan for my day and start with the higher priority tasks.
10:00 – This week was month end billing, I received instructions back from the Lawyers I support on which matters to bill. This process includes billing matters, writing off time, writing down time, closing files, updating fee estimates and generally keeping all financial records in professional order. I raised several pre-bills and drafted covering letters, which were then sent to the matter Lawyers for approval, before being processed by our cashier’s department and sent to clients.
10:30 – I had a quick 30 minute break from billing to join the weekly team meeting where we catch up on team marketing updates, people news, finance updates, IT queries, and Risk & Compliance notices.
11:30 – Whilst actioning my billing tasks, an urgent request to finalise and send a letter to the ‘other side’ on behalf of a Lawyer in the team came through. I picked this up straight away, with it taking priority over my current task. This reflects how my day can change quickly, and tasks are pushed back in accordance.
13:00 – The rest of my morning was spent completing the billing processes, so I logged off at 13:00 for lunch. I spent my lunch hour in the Exeter office conservatory, which is a communal space. Its always great to chat to other apprentices and the trainees, so I often sit with them and catch up.
14:00 – I had a new file opening request to complete, this was for an existing client so I completed the new matter dashboard with all of the information provided by the matter Lawyer, saved all emails from the Lawyers’ inbox into the system for the new matter, checked the rates and client contact were set correctly (this can differ between matters). Lastly, I generated the Scope of Works, Guide to Litigation and Terms of Business. I then completed a draft of the documents, which I then sent to the Lawyer.
15:00 – Another Legal Support member of the team had been tasked with naming and dating a bundle of documents sent in from a client, in preparation for the Lawyer to be able to review efficiently. We split the documents between us and saved them into the systems with the correct names and dates, all following the same naming protocol to provide consistency. This can be seen as a tedious task, but it allows an insight of the work being done for the client, so it is very interesting too!
16:00 – The last hour of my working day was spent finishing off my tasks in preparation for the next day. This included emailing clients on outstanding bills, requesting remittances of monies received, and finalising and sending letters on behalf of Lawyers.
17:00 – My working day typically finishes at this time, so I finish off my tasks and log off for the day, ready to head home.