Ross Castle

Departments to date: Commercial Property; Client secondment (City of London Corporation); Litigation
University: University of Aberdeen
Degree: LLB (with English Law), First Class Honours

9.00am: I am currently in my third seat at Maples, sitting in the Litigation department. I check my emails whilst on the DLR to work to make sure nothing needs added to my to-do list. Once I arrive at work, I make sure to get a couple of urgent emails out before getting my first coffee of the day.

9.30am: Yesterday evening one of our clients confirmed they would like us to draft a statutory demand and serve it on a tenant. A senior associate in the litigation team has asked me to obtain and review the tenancy documents for the relevant unit and check them against the arrears statement,before producing the first draft. I have drafted a fair few statutory demands before, but each one has its own nuances – the senior associate is happy to discuss any points which I have not come across before. Once drafted, I send the statutory demand to the senior associate for their review and comment. Whilst waiting, I contact our process server to check they are available to serve the demand tomorrow.

10:45am: We have a client who is engaged in ongoing proceedings with the First-Tier Tribunal, in relation to the statutory renewal of a Code agreement (lease). My supervising partner has previously asked me to research what is required as part of our response to the claimant’s notice of reference and statement of case. Following a short conversation with my supervisor on my findings, I draft the respondent’s statement of case, as well as a form RPEC4. I send these on to my supervisor for review.

12:30pm: We have our monthly commercial property team meeting today. Usually this includes a general round-up of recent notable deals completed, the firms finances and some presentations from members of the department (it is worth noting that sandwiches are always provided). Today one of our partners chaired the meeting, with a senior associate giving a presentation on the use of our new AI platform. Once the meeting has finished, I take the chance to briefly catch up with a few colleagues, before heading back to my desk.

1:30pm: My draft statutory demand has now been reviewed and, once I have made the minor amendments as noted by the senior associate, I send the demand on to the client for approval and request authority to serve this on the tenant. The litigation team are always willing to explain the basis for any amendment, but on this occasion, I don’t think it necessary.

1:45pm: It is near month end so there is some billing that needs to be done. I review my matter list and any outstanding WIP, and send off some billing proposals to our clients. As responses come in from our clients throughout the afternoon, I liaise with our central teams to raise the relevant bills.

2:30pm: My supervising partner has approved the draft documents to go to the FTT (subject to a few amendments). Our client has granted us authority to serve these documents on the claimant’s solicitor, so I prepare the hard copies and place them in today’s post (and put a reminder to check the royal mail tracking tomorrow). The Tribunal only accepts documents via email – as such, I issue these accordingly.

3:30pm: Now I have some time this afternoon, I begin preparing a note on some research I have been carrying out for another senior associate in the department. Our client is engaged in a dispute with an ex-tenant in relation to a service charge reconciliation. The proceedings are currently stayed and don’t look to be going anywhere, so I have been tasked with assessing our client’s options for progressing the proceedings (or having them struck out for abuse of process). This includes reviewing the relevant provisions in the White Book, reading relevant articles on the topic and noting any relevant case law.

4:45pm: We have now received our client’s approval to issue the statutory demand, so I prepare these documents for signature and liaise with our process server to organise service.

5:45pm: I do one last check of my inbox to make sure everything urgent has been dealt with, and make sure that my timesheet is complete and submitted. Ordinarily I will create a to-do list for tomorrow, so that I know exactly what I’m doing when I come in tomorrow morning.