The first thing I do every morning on a work day is check my blackberry to get an idea of what has gone on overnight. A lot of the deals I work on have elements in the Far East or in America and if these aspects of the deal are active then you can often wake up to a busy inbox! If there's a lot going on, I tend to respond to these e-mails on the way in to work. If there isn't much going on, I snooze the alarm (often repeatedly). Work starts at 9:30am, but this isn't a strict time. If I think I have a busy day ahead of me, I come in early but if not I might arrive a little bit afterwards.
Although there isn't really such a thing as a typical day in that the work I am doing varies with the matters that I'm working on, I think you could roughly categorise my days into two types: 'standard days' and 'deal days'. I'll deal with a standard day first because, as the name suggests, they are the more common. On a standard day, I might work on four or five different matters – such as drafting a board minute for a portfolio company of a client, marking up a power of attorney, negotiating a non-disclosure agreement by telephone or on legal research. Questions of Company Law are more frequent at the moment because of the introduction of the Companies Act 2006. Alternatively, I could spend the day on a single more involved task, such as marking up a share purchase agreement or drafting a due diligence report. I prefer to spend my time on larger tasks as they tend to be more meaty and require more careful analysis.
Lunch can be a sandwich at my desk if I'm busy/surfing the internet looking at potential holiday destinations, but more often than not I will have lunch with other associates at the firm or friends in other firms who work nearby. The partner I work for often takes the team out for lunch (always a curry) which is always good banter, but a heavy meal can make the afternoons less productive! Afternoons tend to be busier than the morning as a lot of the deals I work on have a US element and we work closely with our US offices, which means that conference calls will be scheduled for the afternoon. I will often spend the mornings preparing a discussion draft of a shareholders’ agreement or an issues list for a client in advance of these calls. As a time out, I play table football with one of the partners (we have a table in the kitchen) and regardless of how busy we are we always find time for a game! I tend to work as part of a deal team (with a partner and a handful of associates) and we’ll often have a catch up meeting later in the day to discuss the status of the transaction, which is good as it helps you get a sense of how the part of the transaction for which you are responsible fits in to the whole. Home time is officially 5:30pm but I often stay later if I need to get something done. Conversely, there is no need for ‘face time’ in the office so if I am quiet I will sometimes leave earlier. The average home time on standard days is between 6pm and 7pm.
Deal days are different. If I am working on a transaction that is moving quickly, there is a lot to do and it can be quite hectic. As well as the types of work listed above I will spend the day in meetings with the client or with the other side negotiating the transaction terms, and then afterwards drafting the agreements to reflect the deal reached. Deal days are always busy and when there is a transaction that is close to signing I often work late nights and weekends. Although it can be a little tiring, I always find that these days are the most enjoyable and interesting times in the job and of course it is always good to toast the signing of the purchase agreement with champagne and then read about the deal in the newspaper the next morning! And of course, then you can hit the snooze button with a clean conscience because the partners would never expect to see you in the office the morning after a big transaction has signed.
