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Message: <blockquote data-quote="j.s.cox" data-source="post: 213458" data-attributes="member: 20454">Update:I realised that this might be a good place to update my thoughts on the TC as I progress through my seats, so I'll try to post more regularly here again.A2 Associate GuidanceMy first few months of BT10 (Asset Finance) were very quiet. Then, at the end of May, an A2 associate (one level below a senior associate) reached out to me to see if I had any capacity. I was eager for the work and gladly agreed to help on a deal. It turned out that the deal I was put on was a mega asset finance deal in shipping with a value in the billions and extremely complex documentation. Having been pretty quiet before, I was now very busy and completely thrown into the deep end.Initially, the associate who gave me the work was quite harsh and I struggled with the workload, but soon she realised that I was behind because I had been very quiet before. She took time out of her very busy day to walk me through everything I needed to know and gave me detailed feedback. She also gave me general tips and said that I could always take the desk next to her if the office was quiet. I have learnt so much from this associate and I am deeply grateful for the time she takes out of her day to explain things to me. As time has gone on, she has now trusted me with various workstreams associated with this deal and others which means I am able to work more independently and assist more effectively. She is absolute gold dust - I hope I find more people like her in my other seats and that I can stay in contact with her throughout my training contract.OfficeIn my team, the floor is divided into several office spaces with 3-6 desks per office. Technically we're supposed to hot-desk, but everyone is assigned an office and most people use the same desk every day. In my office, we have 7 people assigned and 6 desks (people are always working from home so this works fine). I love how friendly and supportive everyone has been. When there have been late nights, people in the office have said they will talk to other members of the team on my behalf if my workload is too much, and there has been a good level of banter. At the same time, the office is small enough that it's easy to get down to work when needed. I'll be really sad to leave this office when I have to change seats.Late NightsThese have made an unwelcome regular appearance in the past two weeks. I keep buying return tickets, then missing the last train, so getting the firm-paid-for taxi has become a regular occurrence. This is due to several deals all closing at once and being absolutely enormous. Obviously I can't go into too much detail, but it has been very exciting to work on these deals which makes the late nights worth it. I also noticed that when late nights became more regular than the odd day, the team in my office were incredibly supportive and offered help wherever they could. I also had the special counsel on the deal message me on Teams to say that he heard I was having a shocker and he wanted to know how grateful he was for the help. None of this changes the fact that I was knackered, but it did make it a lot easier to get through because people acknowledged I was working hard and working late. Things have calmed down a bit more now and I managed to get home whilst it was still daylight on Friday, but this is the nature of transactional work - either busy or quiet.CP ChecklistsI have had to do so many of these recently that I thought they deserved their own segment. A CP Checklist is a "Conditions Precedent" Checklist. These are the conditions that must be fulfilled before a party is obligated to perform their contractual duties. These range from "know your customer" checks to having copies of signed legal opinions from legal counsel. Usually, these can be found in a schedule at the back of the contract you are working on. Every associate seems to have a preferred way of doing a CP checklist and no way is right or wrong, but you have to be able to adapt to what you are given. In aviation, I've found they prefer for the CP checklist to summarise what is required (e.g. Certificate of Airworthiness), whereas in shipping, I've found they prefer the CP checklist to match the wording exactly as it is written in the schedule. I've also found that some associates prefer for you to include a docs list as part of the CP list and some prefer for these to be two separate documents. For context, a Docs List outlines all the documentation that must be prepared ahead of closing and who will be drafting that documentation. For the work we have been doing, we also include the laws the document will be governed by as we work with a lot of international entities.It can take a while to set up a CP checklist, but the key to having a useful CP checklist is to update it constantly. One partner told me that he expects the person in charge of the CP list to always have it open so the moment there is an update, the list can be updated. The key is that it is always ready to be sent to other parties if they are asking for a copy. Another way I have managed this is by making all changes in track changes, then sending a copy to the associate on that matter every evening. They will then review and accept changes, or explain why they haven't accepted a change.In the status column of the CP checklist, you should put as much detail as possible. For example, if you are waiting on a document from party X, write that down. I have also found colour coding is useful to note where a CP has been satisfied, so you don't have to read every status in detail. A lot of the associates on my deal team prefer to only use green to show that a CP has been satisfied, but I've seen other firms use a lot more colours to indicate whether there is a first draft, negotiations etc.The other important thing to note is that we actually do have specialist software to help us with the CP checklists, but in my team we don't use it because our clients prefer tables in Word. Next SeatI've found out that my next seat will be a client secondment at BP in their Hydrogen and CCS business. I'm very much looking forward to this as it aligns with my broader goals. Everyone in the team has been very helpful in telling me about their experiences with BP, client secondments, and with connecting me with people who it would be good to know ahead of my secondment. Hopefully it will be a valuable experience.Thanks for following my journey!</blockquote>

Verification: Our company is called, "The Corporate ___ Academy". What is the missing word here?

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