Mixed race office people working at meeting with clients. They are sitting, talking and using wireless technology. Blurred people walking in the foreground.

A typical day as a Trainee Solicitor in Banking

06:45 – After waking up, I enjoy my porridge while watching BBC News before setting off for the Exeter office.

08:45 – I arrive at the Exeter office. I sit down at my desk and scroll through my emails on my phone while my laptop turns on. I can see it is going to be another busy day as we near completion on an amendment and restatement facility agreement which will be used by a corporate group to purchase some solar assets.

09:00 – I familiarise myself with the steps paper which sets out what companies are acting as the special purpose vehicles for the purchase of the solar assets. I am tasked with drafting the shareholder resolutions for the companies in the group and the steps paper will help with this.

09:15 – I start drafting the shareholder resolutions using a template provided by the lender’s lawyers. I see from the board minutes of some of the obligor companies involved that the directors are conflicted. The shareholder resolutions must therefore approve the director conflicts so the lender can see that the directors lawfully entered their companies into the finance and security documents.

10:30 – I am starting to get hungry so I eat my Mini Rolls. They give me the extra energy required to finish drafting the shareholder resolutions.

11:30 – I finish drafting the shareholder resolutions and move on to preparing the director certificates which usually have the board minutes and shareholder resolutions annexed to them. The certificates are produced by directors of the obligor companies under a facility so as to reassure lenders that the board minutes and shareholder resolutions are accurate.

13:00 – After finishing the director certificates, I place them in a zip file and send them with the board minutes and shareholder resolutions over to the lender’s lawyers who will review them. I have now got time to go on my lunch break – I eat my lunch while having a quick scroll through the Market Data page of the Financial Times.

14:00 – I receive an email from a colleague asking if I can prepare notices of assignment for some insurance policies which the lender wants security over. The assignment of any benefits deriving from insurance policies is just one way a lender may take security. Alongside the assignment of other rights under a range of agreements, lenders may also want fixed and floating charges over the assets of the obligor companies and for a range of quasi security to be in place.

16:00 – After preparing my notices of assignment, I receive an email from the lender’s lawyer with comments on the shareholder resolutions I prepared. I make the necessary amends before sending them back for approval.

17:45 – I am nearly finished for the day so I start to prepare my task list for tomorrow. I can see that I will be drafting the finance and security documents for a smaller matter.

18:00 – I log off.