Lander and Rogers

Sam Cleeve

6:30am - Alarm

Alarm goes off. Eyes are blurry, brain still asleep, but by some miracle I find myself driving to the gym. It's packed. I can only guess everyone had the same thought as me - there was zero chance they were coming after work.

Headphones in and The Grade Cricketer podcast on. I try not to think about work or the day ahead. It helps keep me fresh for when I eventually arrive at my desk.

8:00am - Desk

There's a parallel universe where I am on a train stopping all stations to Flinders Street. The other passengers would quickly identify me as a freshly minted graduate - new suit, new shirt, polished shoes and an oversized tie.

Instead, I'm getting changed into a t-shirt and shorts. I open my laptop and thankfully I only have a handful of emails from the night before. Nothing urgent. Some mornings I will watch TV but today I'm keen to get cracking.

Task list time - daily meetings at the top, then work tasks, followed by administrative matters, personal or otherwise. Next to each task I estimate how long it will take - a challenge of sorts to beat throughout the day.

8:30am - The hardest task

I force myself to close Microsoft Teams, our internal chat platform. The grad chat is blowing up with some great stuff, but my first task awaits - drafting a trust deed.

Generally, I tackle the task I am dreading the most or the one I am least familiar with. As a grad, every day seems to present an unfamiliar task and today is no exception. What on earth does a trust deed look like?

I search our internal precedents and voila, I find the perfect template. I follow the partner's instructions and draft the relevant clauses. "ABN" autocorrects to "CAN", a cruel trick Bill Gates plays on junior lawyers to improve their attention to detail. I edit it and remind myself for the 100th time to change the default setting.

10:00am - Socialising in a pandemic

Trust deed is finished and in the partner's inbox. I reward myself with a 10-minute break messaging people and reviewing Teams chats. 10 minutes turns into 20. OK. Time to get back to it.

I call our seasonal clerks. They are doing their clerkship virtually and I remember from my online clerkship how isolating it can be. They are both super impressive and I am hopeful they'll get offers.

10:30 - Meeting prep

Our big 12:00pm meeting is creeping closer. We act for a potential buyer in a competitive bid to acquire a company. We are meeting with the seller's representatives and their financial and legal advisors.

Prep for this meeting commenced five days ago and our list of questions is set. We will have 90 minutes. My role? Chief-Note Taker (unofficial). The meeting won't be recorded so my notes will actually be important. A transcript of sorts is required. Fingers crossed there aren't any quick talkers.

I have several tasks to complete pre-meeting. We need to check the shareholders in the data room documents match the seller's ASIC company search. I put my head down for an hour.

12:00pm - Go time

I click the meeting link - 25 online already. Am I feeling brave? Do I go in with my camera on? Microsoft Teams turns it off for me - clearly Chief Note-Taker isn't an important enough position.

Meeting starts with some chit chat and introductions. The questions are ready to go on my second screen, but you know what they say about best-laid plans.

The seller wants to start with question 5, then 8, then back to 2. OK. I scroll down. Chaos ensues. The seller talks at 2x speed and his advisors at 2.5x. I look like Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty. My notes are all over the shop. I revert to a blank email so I can record the meeting chronologically. Is this innovative?

1:30pm - Lunch

90 minutes later. My fingers are numb, but the meeting was a success. Lunch time. Today's lunch is leftover salmon and salad. My lunches are not usually this healthy, but it does the trick.

Lunch breaks fluctuate for a grad. Personally, if I have a lot on, I will work through or take a short break. Not because I am asked to, but because it helps to keep the momentum going. Other days I take a full hour.

2:00pm - Post-lunch dawdle

I cut lunch a bit short. I am eager to clean up my notes. I am surprised how legible they are - they seemed like pure dribble during the meeting. Notes sent to team.

On Teams and 10 minutes turns into 20, again. I receive a message from my supervisor. She's checking I'm not overloaded. I tell her I am fine, which I am, but it's reassuring to know people at work have your back. Being a grad can be tough, but knowing people are invested in your development makes a big difference.

2:30pm - Research

Research - the epitome of the grad life. Today's topic? How to apply to remove an ASIC business name registration. Research tasks are hit-and-miss as a grad. You can spend a whole day going down a LexisNexis rabbit hole or you can find the answer straight away. Today's experience is closer to the latter.

ASIC's website has a nice breakdown of the process, but as with all research, there are a few gaps. Eventually I'm satisfied with my findings. I spend a little too long colour coding my memo and send it to the partner.

3:30pm - Grad group chat

I log onto the group call - it's buzzing. The chat rarely revolves around work but today the grads are retelling their experiences at a mediation and talking about a potentially vexatious litigant.

From Day 1 our grad group has got on like a house on fire and it's made full-time work so much more enjoyable. I love the group and feel grateful to be part of it.

4:00pm - The late afternoon grind

Energy levels are dipping. My attention turns to a due diligence report. I'm reviewing registered trademarks, patents and designs owned by the client. It's surprisingly confusing. Different databases show different statuses for the patents and some of the titles are in foreign languages. The German translations are hilarious, and I send them on to a few people. I annex the tables to the DD report and draft our recommendations, grading the issues high, medium or low-risk.

As a grad, there is safety in knowledge your work will be reviewed. I try not to rely on this process, but inevitably I will make mistakes and the final product that goes to the client will be flawless.

6:30pm - Wind up

I won't send my work off - I want to review it in the morning as my brain is starting to fade. Time to wind up. My task list is complete save for some personal admin matters. I can push those into tomorrow (more likely the next day or the next).

I double-check my billing, a daily thorn in my side. I don't know why it grinds my gears so much. What narrative do I write for the research task? Does it sound impressive enough? In the end, I default to writing exactly what I did.

Log off. It's unlikely I will check my emails before tomorrow. I try to actively manage the separation between my personal and work life - it helps keep me motivated for the next day.

7:00pm - Dinner

I call my girlfriend from the supermarket - what would you like for dinner? Agnolotti. We share the cooking responsibilities and eventually find ourselves in front of the TV. Tennis with a side of Big Bash tonight.

I walk her through my day. She's not as amused by the German translations as me, but humours my immaturity. I pat myself on the pack for going to the gym as I slouch further into the couch.

10:00pm - Bed

Lights off. I try not to think about work. There are nights when it's unavoidable - an urgent task due in the morning or a hectic week coming up. I take advantage of the nights when this isn't the case. I remind myself I have my whole life to be working and it's important to keep something in the tank.

Ben Mescher

6:15am

Despite easily being able to sleep for another hour or two, my alarm rudely interrupts me and gets me out of bed. I roll out of bed and get into some running gear to start my day.

I chuck in the AirPods and put on one of my favourite podcasts, the Grade Cricketer, and (slowly) charge out of the house for a jog around the streets of Collingwood and around the MCG. Given that the flow of our days can be a little unpredictable as a junior, I find that the morning is the best time of day for a bit of exercise before jumping into my work.

7.30am

I've arrived home from my run, had a shower and a spot of breakfast. Because I am going into the office today, I text one of the lawyers in the team from my previous rotation, Commercial Disputes, to see if she is also going into the office. She lives nearby, so when we are both going in we walk to the office together.

Dani is going into the office today, so we meet up at 7.30am and set out for the 30-minute walk. We chat about our weekend plans and the developments in some of the more interesting files that I worked on during my rotation.

8.15am

After walking in, I am met by a couple of my fellow graduates who I get a morning coffee with each day. We trundle down to Bonnie (a great local coffee spot) and, because it's my turn today, I order our three coffees. We discuss how our days are looking, and what our thoughts are on which team we may eventually settle in - given it is time for us to decide which area we would like to work in going forwards!

8.45am

I'm at my desk now and do a quick run through my inbox and Teams messages to see what shape my day will take. I flag anything that will require some work today, and update my to-do list.

It looks like today should be a fun one. I am currently in the Workplace Relations & Safety team, which has a really broad range of work and plenty of court and Fair Work Commission hearings going on at all times. I have been invited to attend an unfair dismissal hearing in the FWC this afternoon and will help out with the submissions for another one that runs next week.

Otherwise, my (busy!) day consists of:

Calling a new pro bono client to gather information and offer preliminary advice on their potential unfair dismissal claim, which we have received through our Fair Work Commission pilot program
Drafting a chronology of events for an anti-discrimination protections claim
Grabbing a coffee with my rotation buddy and supervisor to check in on how my rotation is going, and what I am working on
Drafting an updated handbook for one of our international clients on the developments in Australian employment law over the past 12 months
Researching for and drafting our submissions for the upcoming unfair dismissal hearing; and
Attending today's FWC hearing to take notes and observe.

10.30am

I have called our new pro bono client and collected some further information in relation to his dismissal. Unfortunately, because he did not work for the required period to pass the claim threshold, I have to advise him that his only recourse will be obtaining Commonwealth support while seeking new employment. I give the Senior Associate who is supervising the file a call to recap and see what other information I could have gathered, which is a fantastic chance to debrief.

I have also made a start on the chronology of events, which basically entails going through the court documents that have been lodged and any correspondence with the client, to track the entire history of their relationship with the organisation.

12.30pm

We are each assigned a mentor at the start of our graduate year to guide us into full-time work and be a constant point of contact outside of our rotations (which change every three months). I chose my mentor, Gregg, because he was someone I really enjoyed working with throughout my clerkship in the Corporate team. Gregg has asked me if I want to have a call with him, so we chat for about 20 minutes about how my current rotation is going. I find these chats particularly helpful, because Gregg has gotten to know me quite well over the year.

After our coffee, I heat up my leftover stir fry for lunch and sit down in the lunch area of our new office with three or four other graduates, and a few other lawyers who come in and out. The stir fry isn't much good (I cooked it)!

2.00pm

I'm back at my desk and ready to attend our unfair dismissal hearing. I log on to the court-run Teams call, and am pleasantly surprised to find that the issue in today's hearing, an out-of-time jurisdictional hearing where the applicant filed outside of the time window available, is the same issue I am writing submissions on later!

The hearing goes for about two hours and includes one of our partners cross-examining the applicant, which is a great experience to watch and ask her about afterwards. I send through my notes at the end of the hearing and get going on my own submissions.

4.00pm

I am able to find our submissions from today's hearing on the system, which is great because it gives a perfect template for the ones I am drafting. The drafting takes an hour and a bit, and I send it off to one of our senior associates before jumping on a call with my buddy and supervisor.

In this call, we chat about what work I am currently doing, and what other parts of the team I should be exposed to while I am still in the first half of my rotation. We decide that because I have not done any work in workplace investigations or OH&S yet, I should reach out to the specialists in our team to see what I can get involved in.

5.30pm

I'm beginning to wind up my day, with my last piece of work being the bulletin update for one of our international clients. Luckily, our team does these quite often for several clients, so I am able to pull up a few precedents and work off those. I then do a broad search through our employment law databases to see if I am missing anything, and what developments might be specifically relevant to this client.

By the time that I finish up, it is about 6.15pm and I am keen to get home! I hop on the tram and listen to some music to cap off the day.

6.30pm

I recently moved out to a share house with three of my best friends in Collingwood, so when I arrive home we are all keen to catch up and cook dinner together. We cook up some pasta and get upstairs for MAFS and a glass of red wine. We see if there is any sport on that we can watch and talk a bit of rubbish. I call my girlfriend to see how her day was, and arrange to have dinner together tomorrow!

10.00pm

I wind up the day by hopping into bed and reading for half an hour before going to sleep. It's a great way to cap off the day before doing it all again tomorrow!

Samantha Worth

7.30am - Wake up

Today I am working from home, so my alarm is set for 7.30am. I get dressed then head out to meet a friend for a pre-work walk and coffee catch up. I'm back home by 8.30am, make some breaky and start my day.

8.50am - Kick off the day

The first thing I do when I sit at my desk is check up on any emails or Teams messages I may have missed from the day before and have a read of the news. I then look at my weekly to-do list and extract a few tasks that I'd like to work on for that day.

I am currently rotating through the Compensation Law team. The first task I do is draft answers to interrogatories (which is a fancy word for questions) that were asked by a plaintiff in a work injury matter. This requires me to review previous advices, our defence, and any discovered documents. I also keep a running list of any further information we may need from the client so I can send them a follow-up email. I then have a catch-up with my supervisor to get her up to speed with where I'm at. We bounce some ideas off each other and develop some strategies for how we can best answer the questions.

11.00am - Catch-up

I have a catch-up scheduled with a junior lawyer in my team, who wanted to see how I'm settling into the rotation. We of course debrief the Australian Open final and have a general social catch-up too! I then head back to work and smash out the interrogatories before lunch.

1.00pm - Free Pilates

I usually take a full hour for lunch break, particularly when working from home! On Monday, Wednesday and Friday Lander & Rogers organises a free virtual Pilates class. It's Wednesday, so I log into the Zoom link and sweat it out for 45 mins, then make a quick lunch and cup of tea, and make my way back to my desk for 2pm.

2.00pm - Reviewing medical documents

Part of the work we do in Compensation Law is reviewing a plaintiff's medical records to gain a better understanding of their medical history (pre- and post-injury). I put my scientist hat on and summarise key medical reports, expert opinions, operation reports and clinical notes. I have a couple questions while doing this, so give my supervising partner a call to clarify any points of confusion.

3.00pm - Client call

I jump on a Teams call with a client at 3.00pm, so I can witness them sign an affidavit. They ask a few questions about next steps, but the meeting is otherwise pretty brief. It's always a good confidence builder and a bit of fun being one-on-one with a client! I write a quick file note about the call so we have a record of it saved to the file.

3.30 - Arvo chit-chats

At 3.30pm a couple afternoons a week, the grads catch up for 30 minutes. This definitely helps break up the day while we are working remotely and is a great time to hang out with the other grads and hear what everyone is up to. And we discuss the latest episode of Euphoria, of course.

4-5.30pm - Final push

I spend the rest of my afternoon finishing reviewing medical documents and summarising my key findings in a table. There's a seasonal clerk in my team at the moment, so I give her a call to make sure she's settling in ok. I tick some tasks off my to-do list, close down all my documents and log off for the day.

5.30pm - After work

I usually finish work around 5.30pm, and chill on the couch, scroll through socials and watch some Gossip Girl re-runs. I usually have a flick through some cookbooks to decide what to make for dinner and then walk to my local grocery store to collect some ingredients. My partner and I crank up some tunes and spend an hour or so prepping dinner in the kitchen. We then meet a couple of mates for a post-dinner ice-cream at Messina.

9.30pm - TV and bed

My day always ends with some TV bingeing on the couch. Reality TV is my after-work outlet, so I plonk on the couch with a cup of tea, some chocolate, and catch up on the latest episode of Below Deck. I then hop into bed and am usually out cold straight away!

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