Charis Almond

Departments to date: Commercial Property; Client secondment; Litigation; Real Estate Finance
University: City, University of London
Degree: Law (with Study Abroad), First Class Honours

9.00am: I arrive at the office, having taken a detour on my way in to pick up a coffee, and catch up with my colleagues about the evening’s events. It is ‘Dogs in the office’ day, so I make my way around the office to meet the dogs and catch up with colleagues from different teams. When I return to my desk, I check the property news update for any articles of interest and review the to-do list I prepared yesterday.

9.30am: I have been assisting a senior associate on a disclosure task that is nearly complete. I have one folder of hard copy documents left to sort through, determine the document’s relevance, and assess whether they are privileged. As I sit next to the senior associate that I am assisting, I ask if we can go through the documents I have sorted. We book a meeting room and check that my categorisation and privilege determination is correct, finalising the list of documents for the disclosure. Any questions that I have are addressed in this review, and I note the answers for any future disclosure task I work on.

11.30pm:  One of the associates in the team invites me to join a call with the client on new instructions regarding a complex tenant dispute. During the call, the client explains the current situation, and the associate advises on possible strategies and outlines the next steps. Throughout this meeting, I take a detailed note to be sure that we can accurately reference the discussion later. After the meeting, I am asked if I have capacity to review this client’s lease and draft a letter before action. Using our office precedent, I draft the letter and discuss this draft with my colleague before sending to the client for their approval.

1.15pm: A few trainees head out for a lunchtime walk around the City and to pick up some lunch. As the weather is nice, we take our lunch up to the roof terrace and enjoy the sun whilst catching up on our week.

2:15pm: I have been asked to draft a tenancy at will for a tenant whose renewal lease is being negotiated by our commercial property team. I recall that a few weeks ago I drafted a similar tenancy at will letter for this client, so I retrieve that document to refer to as an example. I prepare the draft tenancy at will and send the document to an associate who is available to check my draft. Once this draft has been checked, I forward this to the client for their approval and will post the tenancy at will upon receiving their instructions.

3:30pm:  I am attending a court hearing with a partner tomorrow and have been tasked with assisting in the preparation of the bundle of documents. As I compile this hard copy bundle, I review each document to ensure that I have a comprehensive understanding of the matter. This preparation allows me to be thoroughly familiar with all the materials, some of which I have assisted on drafting. During this hearing, I will take detailed notes and support the partner where needed, so it is important that I am familiar with where everything is located and its relevance to the matter.

5:45pm: I go through the emails in my inbox and ensure that everything has been filed in the correct place. Maples is hosting social drinks with a client this evening, so I head off to the venue to join the gathering. It is great to reconnect with familiar faces from our last event and meet those in person that I have only met virtually. We all enjoy some food and drinks and have the opportunity to catch up on topics.