6:30am - An early rise for me on the days that I am in the office, which is typically Tuesday to Thursday as we have an excellent hybrid & agile working arrangement. My day starts with a coffee and banana, before heading to the gym for an hour.
8:30am - Once I have finished up at the gym, I get myself ready and make my way to the office. I am fortunate enough to live 15 minutes away, getting me door to door by 8:45 AM.
8:45am - 9:15am - I usually head to the free breakfast on the 6th floor and help myself to two boiled eggs and a salad. Of course, most days have a selection of delicious pastries on offer. There, I am able to catch up with colleagues from other teams and departments.
9:15am - I then spend about 20 minutes going through my task list and making objectives for the day, highlighting any matters that need to be actioned as a priority. The BREF team is a very fast paced corporate environment, which requires effective communication and organisation. Part of my day planning includes liaising with fee earners and supervisors to prioritise given tasks on a matter.
9:45am - Banking side - I review and draft security release documents, such as legal charges, deeds of release and land registry forms, prior to sending back amendments to the other side's solicitor. My task is to incorporate any changes highlighted by the client or fee earner on the matter. I draft an email to the other side's solicitors, highlighting the changes that have been made and then email the client to update them on progress. I then move on to my next task which usually involves drafting ancillary documents, including corporate authorisations such as board minutes and share certificates. I then send these to a supervisor for review.
Real Estate Finance – I conduct due diligence on title of a property, as we act for Lenders on these deals. This includes investigating title, checking Companies House and reviewing preliminary documents such as existing legal charges, leases and the client's instructions. I note the outstanding items we require for a loan to be granted and forward these onto the client, or the borrower's solicitor if they are being represented. Often, this also involves drafting legal charges and other ancillary documentation for a fee earner to then review.
1:00pm - Upon completion of my morning tasks, I head down to the 6th floor for lunch. We have a variety of lunches provided to us by the firm, with my favourite being a spiced jerk chicken leg with cous-cous and sea-salted salad. I will either join the other trainees for lunch or have lunch with members of my team. There are also days where the trainees opt to have lunch along the river next to the Scoop. When the sun is out, so are we! We usually enjoy sitting by the riverside enjoying a healthy Wasabi or Itsu.
2:00pm - I spend the rest of the day with one of the team's associates, looking at my amendments to documents, reviewing my emails to the clients and sending this off further instructions. The afternoon is usually reserved for completions on either the Banking or Real Estate Finance side. This is when we arrange for payments to be made and follow up on supervisor's commentary on documents drafted earlier that morning. On the Banking deals, I will usually set up DocuSign envelopes and have a call with the client ahead of completion. On the Real Estate Finance side, I will confirm completion by email and arrange for funds to be sent to the borrower on behalf of our client, often liaising with a fee earner during this process.
3:00pm - We usually have a team meeting to discuss updates and capacity, as well as any ideas that members of the team have to bring to the table. The meetings take place with the whole team and is a great opportunity to hear about work in the pipeline that you might be interested in getting involved with.
4:00pm - As part of the Sports Sector, we have a bi-monthly catch up on BD events, new ideas and content development. You will be assigned to a sector during your seat where you will attend events, write articles about updates in the industry and take meeting minutes. The events are a fantastic way to begin building your network and profile outside of the firm. At Howard Kennedy, trainees are recruited as future partners, which means you are encouraged to generate business for the firm from the outset.
5:00pm - Toward the end of the day, I update my action list and confirm my time recording for the day. I action any last-minute items, follow up on email updates and check in with fee earners on what is left outstanding. Any items left outstanding are actioned at this point, whether that is following up on enquiries with the client, or collating completion documents after they are signed on DocuSign. I then usually liaise with our post-completions team to action land registry and Companies House applications after a deal has concluded.
6:00pm - After I log off, I meet with members of the sports sector to attend a sports industry group dining event held at King's Cross. This was a great networking event, with drinks included!
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Ron Khujneri, Trainee
