|
Editorial - DLA Piper
 PDF downloads:
|
Ania Lipinski - DLA Piper, Manchester
Office. Litigation (Second Seat)
8.30am - Check emails, diary and to-do list
to remind myself of what needs to be done
today, what issues are outstanding and what
tasks need to be given priority. Working on
several matters simultaneously, all with their
own different deadlines and demands, means
it is vital to maintain a diary.
8.45am - Having organised my tasks for the
day, it's time for a quick coffee and a catch-up
with the other fee-earners in the department.
The kitchen is always the hub of activity at
this time of the morning!
9am - Dictate a letter to a process server
giving instructions to carry out investigations
into a defendant in a matter where we represent
the claimant. Spend a few minutes beforehand
reviewing the file and familiarising myself
with the facts of the case and what it is we
require the process server to do.
9.20am - Return to a short research task left
over from the previous day, where I was
asked to look into the process of serving a
claim form, that had been issued in the
English courts, on a defendant based outside
of the jurisdiction. Finalise my research
notes, and take these over to the solicitor who
requested the information. Talk though my
findings, and we discuss the next steps that
need to be taken. Need to apply to English
courts for permission to serve the claim form.
Next task: prepare the application and
associated documents for this.
9.50am - Courts have opened by now. Time
to ring court to chase up on a matter: has the
court received our request for judgment in
default? Turns out there is a backlog of work
at the court. Diarise to ring back and chase on
this again in 2 days time.
10am - Return to application for permission
to serve out of jurisdiction. Need to draft a
witness statement supporting our application.
Find a precedent from the DLA Piper
knowledge database and use this as a starting
point. Consult Civil Procedure Rules for the
grounds we can base our application on.
10.40am - Pop over to court to file a bundle
for a Case Management Conference which
will be taking place the following day, and to
get some claim forms issued.
11.50pm - Urgent email in from one of the
associates. Instructions to counsel need to be
sent out by 4pm today, and a set of
accompanying enclosures need to be
prepared. The list of documents referred to in
the instructions is extensive. Make a start on
this immediately.
12.15pm - Accompany a solicitor to a Case
Management Conference (CMC) held by
telecom. Having organised the conference
with an external teleconference provider,
after a last minute request by the solicitors for
the other side, I keep my fingers crossed and
hope all parties dial in successfully. They do!
Take down a detailed note of the conference.
1.25pm - The CMC has finished.Time to grab
some lunch and run a few personal errands.
2.15pm - Return from lunch. Turn my
attention back to the documents required for
the instructions to counsel. I get the
documents copied and sorted into order and
pass them over to the associate who would
like to see them before they get sent out.
Draft a cover letter and they are ready to go.
3.15pm - The letter to the process server that
I dictated earlier has been typed up. Make a
few amends and then forward this on to my
supervisor to read through. No further amends
need to be made and the letter is dispatched
after a copy has been taken for our file.
3.30pm - The solicitor who attended the
CMC and I compare our notes of the hearing.
Having checked there are no discrepancies in
what we have recorded, I prepare an email to
the client updating them of the outcome of
the hearing.
4.15pm - We have received instructions on a
new matter, a straightforward debt recovery.
We are acting for the creditor. Carry out
searches on the debtor company on
Companies House website, specifically to
check status of company. Draft a letter before
action to be sent to the company.
4.45pm - Consult my to do list and start work
on collating documents for an appeal bundle.
Arrange to have documents copied and paginated.
5.40pm - Carry out various administrative
tasks; file away documents, write up
attendance notes and prepare my to do list for
the following day.
6pm - Time to unwind with a few post work
drinks in the bar under the office with the
other trainees. We seem to find ourselves
here quite a lot in the evenings! |
Login to TopEmployers 