In the latest instalment of our “day in the life of a trainee solicitor” series, we’re following Tom O’Dell, a second-year trainee sitting a split-seat in the construction and real estate disputes teams at Stevens & Bolton.

On this particular Monday, I’m headed into Stevens & Bolton’s temporary office in Guildford. We’ve been having a refit of our main office at Wey House, and whilst the temporary office has been a great space to have, we’re all really excited to be back once the fit out is complete.

At the moment, my Monday mornings start with back-to-back meetings. First up is a quick catch-up call with the real estate disputes team, where we check in to see who had the most exciting weekend (my dramatic loss at a round of mini golf doesn’t take the prize…) and to discuss what the upcoming week will look like in terms of capacity. We’ve got some urgent court deadlines coming up this week on a case, and I’m tasked with calling the court daily to keep updated.

My second call is with the construction team. In my current seat I split my time between two practices, which is a great way of experiencing an interesting variety of legal work, and no two days are the same. It’s also an interesting lesson in time management – I’ve had to develop my prioritisation and task management skills, which has been really valuable. On the call with the team, we each run through our workloads and use the opportunity to ask questions as they come up, before signing off to begin on the first task for the day.

With the morning meetings done, I can start on my first task of the day. I’m currently managing a multi-site construction project where we act for the bank funding the project – there’s plenty of document review and project management jobs to attend to daily, not to mention liaising between our client and the developer’s team too. Trainees at Stevens & Bolton are given plenty of responsibility to work directly with clients, and I really enjoy being trusted to run projects like this, although it’s also nice to know that help is never far away if needed! A lot of documents have come for review over the weekend, so I take stock of the situation and start working my way through them. Luckily there’s nothing too controversial in the drafts, so I can report back to the client with the good news.

Just before midday, I’m given one of the most important jobs of my day – ordering lunch! A number of the wider real estate team are in the office today, so we decide to order some takeaway food and catch up over lunch. Whilst we’re all in separate practice groups – construction, commercial real estate, and real estate disputes – all the property teams work together on various matters, and often combine forces for work socials too. As the fit out means we’re all spending more time working from home, it’s great to be in the office today to catch up with people face to face.

Takeaway food consumed – and fighting off a mild food coma – I head back to my desk to crack on with the next task. With my construction matter from the morning in hand, I then turn to my real estate disputes to do list. We’ve been asked to serve break notices for a client looking to vacate a couple of commercial properties; this is an important job for the team and involves reviewing the relevant documents to make sure they can leave without risk, and then drafting the appropriate paperwork. I spend some time working through the process, before sending my findings off to the matter partner for review. Breaks can be complicated and risky, and it’s always essential to get the advice right for the clients.

I then get a call from one of the managing associates in the real estate disputes team – he’s got a conference call with counsel tomorrow and would like me to attend to take a note, and then assist with the matter going forward. It’s always valuable attending calls with counsel; learning how solicitors and barristers work together is such an important part of contentious work. I spend the rest of the day reading into the matter, looking at the instructions to counsel and getting a sense of what will be discussed at the conference call the next day. 

This is my third seat now, and the opportunity to have face-to-face client contact and responsibility has been a prevalent element of each one. Stevens & Bolton creates a wonderful atmosphere where trainees are really helped to prepare for the work they’ll be doing post-qualification, and it all takes place in a supportive and vibrant culture. I can’t recommend the firm enough, and with the increase in trainee intake starting in September 2023, there’s never been a better time to apply.