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<blockquote data-quote="j.s.cox" data-source="post: 216103" data-attributes="member: 20454"><p><strong><u>Update</u></strong></p><p></p><p><u>August</u></p><p>August is a bit of a strange time as lots of people are suddenly on holiday. This includes plenty of people who we work with on the continent who seem to take the entirety of August off for their holidays. On the one hand, this meant that everything slowed down significantly as we didn't have access to the people we needed to get deals done. On the other hand, it meant that my levels of responsibility absolutely sky-rocketed. This included having an entire matter handed over to me by a partner who was going away for the week, and I am not ashamed to say that this really panicked me. Initially, I was able to send some excellently crafted holding emails, but after 3 days where questions were continuing to be asked (that I couldn't answer), I reached out to one of our counsel who had worked with this client in the past to help me out. It was a huge relief to have that weight off my shoulders, and whilst I was grateful that the partner trusted me that much, it was way out of my comfort zone!</p><p></p><p>On a separate matter, I was working with a senior associate on something linked to a previous matter I had been on. Due to absences, she was actually covering for another colleague and my knowledge of the matter and my previous relationship with local counsel that we needed to advise on this matter was incredibly useful. I really felt like I contributed strongly to the teamwork required to get this deal done and I felt like this pushed me to take responsibility without completely overwhelming me.</p><p></p><p>Due to absences, I also did a bit of work for BT4, which is NRF's general banking team. It was just a small matter, but it was still great to be involved with the team on a wider scale.</p><p></p><p><u>Pro bono</u></p><p>It was my turn on NRF's trainee pro-bono rota for the South West London Law Clinic (SWLLC) this month. This is compulsory for all NRF trainees and involves attending a client telephone interview, followed by writing the client a letter of advice under supervision within 10 days. It always involves housing issues and NRF trainees get additional training on this to support</p><p></p><p>I went to the client interview thinking that it may be a simple matter, but it ended up being quite complex with a lot of moving parts, so I got my supervisor involved as I didn't know where to start with my letter of advice. We also hadn't been sent through any of the documentation that the client has received, so I requested this be uploaded to SWLLC for me to use in my letter of advice. Just as I was finishing my letter of advice, I got a notification that further documents had been uploaded, so I began to check through them. I soon realised that the client had been served a section 8 notice (a notice for eviction) and that the hearing was the next day! If a section 8 notice has been served correctly on ground 8, this is a mandatory eviction, so this was a very serious matter. We did not have access to see which ground this had been served on, but worked on a worst case scenario basis. I immediately phoned my supervisor who contacted NRF's head of pro-bono and we pulled together an emergency letter of advice with a lot practical steps for the hearing. A few days later we heard that our client had been successful and had not been evicted. It was a big relief and made me feel like I had made a real impact.</p><p></p><p><u>Annual leave</u></p><p>I had lots of annual leave left for the end of my seat, so I ended up taking a week off to relax. This was much needed after being in such a busy seat and I was really able to unwind. I drove through France to Italy and returned via Germany and just had such a great time. I don't think I realised how important taking time off was for recovering.</p><p></p><p><u>Seat transition</u></p><p>My final week of the seat was so odd. Everything was winding down and I was trying not to take on any more work even though I could see people working furiously around me. One of the associates told me that it can be hard to move on especially when you have left halfway through a matter, so when the seat ends, you should just stop being involved full stop. This is something I've tried to do, even though I have found it pretty challenging. The only action I have taken is to monitor emails and flag them to a more senior colleague if they haven't been replied to in a long while.</p><p></p><p>The other thing I was unprepared for was how sad I am to be leaving my seat. BT10 was hard, but I absolutely loved it. The sector and work that I did was so interesting, and I loved the people I worked with. I think it is definitely a place I will consider for qualification because I enjoyed it so much, and I will definitely be popping in to say hello to everyone.</p><p></p><p>Finally, it has been such a joy to start at bp on my client secondment! The team I am in has been rebranded to the "Gas and Low Carbon Energy Team" and I will be able to work on some hydrogen and CCS projects amongst other things. The bp office is so close to where I live, which is such a blessing, and the team are lovely. I can't wait to see the differences between in-house and private practice and to see how I can bring the lessons I learn into my future career.</p><p></p><p>Thanks for following my journey!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="j.s.cox, post: 216103, member: 20454"] [B][U]Update[/U][/B] [U]August[/U] August is a bit of a strange time as lots of people are suddenly on holiday. This includes plenty of people who we work with on the continent who seem to take the entirety of August off for their holidays. On the one hand, this meant that everything slowed down significantly as we didn't have access to the people we needed to get deals done. On the other hand, it meant that my levels of responsibility absolutely sky-rocketed. This included having an entire matter handed over to me by a partner who was going away for the week, and I am not ashamed to say that this really panicked me. Initially, I was able to send some excellently crafted holding emails, but after 3 days where questions were continuing to be asked (that I couldn't answer), I reached out to one of our counsel who had worked with this client in the past to help me out. It was a huge relief to have that weight off my shoulders, and whilst I was grateful that the partner trusted me that much, it was way out of my comfort zone! On a separate matter, I was working with a senior associate on something linked to a previous matter I had been on. Due to absences, she was actually covering for another colleague and my knowledge of the matter and my previous relationship with local counsel that we needed to advise on this matter was incredibly useful. I really felt like I contributed strongly to the teamwork required to get this deal done and I felt like this pushed me to take responsibility without completely overwhelming me. Due to absences, I also did a bit of work for BT4, which is NRF's general banking team. It was just a small matter, but it was still great to be involved with the team on a wider scale. [U]Pro bono[/U] It was my turn on NRF's trainee pro-bono rota for the South West London Law Clinic (SWLLC) this month. This is compulsory for all NRF trainees and involves attending a client telephone interview, followed by writing the client a letter of advice under supervision within 10 days. It always involves housing issues and NRF trainees get additional training on this to support I went to the client interview thinking that it may be a simple matter, but it ended up being quite complex with a lot of moving parts, so I got my supervisor involved as I didn't know where to start with my letter of advice. We also hadn't been sent through any of the documentation that the client has received, so I requested this be uploaded to SWLLC for me to use in my letter of advice. Just as I was finishing my letter of advice, I got a notification that further documents had been uploaded, so I began to check through them. I soon realised that the client had been served a section 8 notice (a notice for eviction) and that the hearing was the next day! If a section 8 notice has been served correctly on ground 8, this is a mandatory eviction, so this was a very serious matter. We did not have access to see which ground this had been served on, but worked on a worst case scenario basis. I immediately phoned my supervisor who contacted NRF's head of pro-bono and we pulled together an emergency letter of advice with a lot practical steps for the hearing. A few days later we heard that our client had been successful and had not been evicted. It was a big relief and made me feel like I had made a real impact. [U]Annual leave[/U] I had lots of annual leave left for the end of my seat, so I ended up taking a week off to relax. This was much needed after being in such a busy seat and I was really able to unwind. I drove through France to Italy and returned via Germany and just had such a great time. I don't think I realised how important taking time off was for recovering. [U]Seat transition[/U] My final week of the seat was so odd. Everything was winding down and I was trying not to take on any more work even though I could see people working furiously around me. One of the associates told me that it can be hard to move on especially when you have left halfway through a matter, so when the seat ends, you should just stop being involved full stop. This is something I've tried to do, even though I have found it pretty challenging. The only action I have taken is to monitor emails and flag them to a more senior colleague if they haven't been replied to in a long while. The other thing I was unprepared for was how sad I am to be leaving my seat. BT10 was hard, but I absolutely loved it. The sector and work that I did was so interesting, and I loved the people I worked with. I think it is definitely a place I will consider for qualification because I enjoyed it so much, and I will definitely be popping in to say hello to everyone. Finally, it has been such a joy to start at bp on my client secondment! The team I am in has been rebranded to the "Gas and Low Carbon Energy Team" and I will be able to work on some hydrogen and CCS projects amongst other things. The bp office is so close to where I live, which is such a blessing, and the team are lovely. I can't wait to see the differences between in-house and private practice and to see how I can bring the lessons I learn into my future career. Thanks for following my journey! [/QUOTE]
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