7.00 AM

I wake up and begin the morning ritual of getting prepared for the day ahead. By 7:30, I am out the door and making my way to the light rail stop at Central Station.

8.00 AM

I am well and truly in the city and coming into Circular Quay. I meet up with a couple of other graduates for a quick coffee before heading up to the office.

The view from the Restructuring and Insolvency Team Corner

8.30 AM

I arrive at the office and set up my computer. As part of the Restructuring and Insolvency team, we enjoy a prime spot overlooking the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and out towards the heads. The working day usually begins with a perusal of any correspondence that has come in overnight or actioning any items from the day before. In the unlikely chance that I have no immediate work, I peruse the Australian Financial Review for any interesting restructuring or insolvency articles and forward them to the team.

10.30 AM

It’s time for a coffee break! Fortunately, the Sydney offices at Hamilton Locke boast their own barista, so it’s time to head upstairs to Level 37 and grab a couple of the grads to catch up with on the way. These coffee catchups are a great opportunity to discuss matters we are working on with different teams and to give us an insight into what other practice groups do. These chats are invaluable to our consideration of what practice group we may want to rotate into next.

10.50 AM

It’s time to prepare for an 11:00 am client call. Before the call, it is important to familiarise yourself with current action items and the status of the file.

As a graduate, your role is to be the “Fountain of Knowledge” for any matters you are on and relieve pressure on your seniors. During the meeting,  my role is to take accurate file notes of everything said, so it is vital to have reliable shorthand or fast typing skills. Generally, these meetings give you a good opportunity to directly interface with clients and partners, so it’s a great way to get yourself vested in matters and become an invaluable part of the team.

12.00 PM

The meeting is over – so it’s time to finalise the file note and discuss with seniors the next steps for the file.

12.30 PM

Lunch! Luckily, Salesforce Tower has an amazing selection of different cafes and restaurants beneath it – from Korean to Malaysian to Persian, there is something for everyone, including a barber!

1.30 PM

I am now back at my desk, and over lunch, a client has emailed requesting advice on a specific point of law that has come up in their administration. It’s my job to prepare a research note and take a first crack at writing advice back to the client, including our recommendations.

3.30 PM

It’s time to attend my team’s belated team meeting. Since our team has won a lot of work, there is always something to do and a new thing to learn. The meeting is a good opportunity to catch up on what the team is working on and think about capacity.

4.00 PM

An external administrator has requested our team assist with a court application. Due to my previous experience as a graduate in litigation, the team lead tasks me with coordinating the preparation of the application, including its initial drafting, and acting as a middle-man between the litigation team, the Restructuring & Insolvency team and the client.

6.00 PM

The application is reaching the final stages – to finish it, we will need some information from clients. Whilst I have been drafting the application, I have prepared a Request for Information for the client to fill out. Once sent out, the working day is done while I wait for the client to review.

6.30 PM

The Graduate Committee has organised a dinner in Surry Hills. I head down with the rest of the graduate cohort to catch up and relax! May not be true but generally prefer grads to “junior team members”