A Day in the Life of a Corporate Lawyer

Life as a lawyer at Buckworths is unique. The following is an outline of an associate’s typical day:

07:30: I am awake, smartly dressed for my client meeting today and ready to have breakfast whilst catching up on today’s headlines.

07:50: Time to leave – I jump on the tube. 

08:23: After a short walk from Moorgate station, I arrive in the office. I like to be early as I jot down my daily tasks.

09:30: We officially start work at 09:30 which is half an hour later than most London law firms, allowing us to miss rush house and get an extra half hour’s sleep.

10:00: Having created a list of priorities and tasks for the day, I delegate some of the work I need help with to our trainee solicitors and paralegals.

12:00: I finish my morning’s work, drafting a shareholders’ agreement for a Series A investment round. My afternoon will be spent drafting some terms of business for one of our technology clients.  

13:30: Lunch time: there are plenty of choices in the area. Gunpowder – one of our clients – is today’s choice. 

14:30: Back to work, I prepare for a client meeting this afternoon.

15:00: I welcome the client and lead them to our cosy and professional meeting room. We are talking about EMI schemes (which are option schemes for employees). The client want to incentivise his staff to stay with the business to exit, and so is granting them tax efficient share options. 

16:00: The meeting has ended and I use my notes to create a summary of our plan of action. This business processes a lot of personal data, so I am going to ask Mike for help on their GDPR compliance policies.

17:30: I go over my daily to-do list and update the status of my tasks. We often hold team briefings towards the end of the day, so I want to make sure I am up to speed. 

18:30: With the day’s work done, a colleague and I go for a quick drink after work. 

19:45: Home…I am home for a night of my favourite Netflix series.

For available career opportunities at Buckworths, please visit our careers page or send us your covering letter and CV to [email protected].