Despite the pandemic, Nantes Solicitors is still busy offering its services, help and advice.

A law student on his placement year at the firm explains how his day is quickly filled up.

A DAY IN THE LIFE - LAW STUDENT

My name is Alexander Cody Pollock, though everyone calls me Cody. I am a law student on work experience at Nantes Solicitors in Weymouth. I am currently in year three of a four year course, studying law at Bournemouth University. This is known as my 'placement year', and counts as one year's training towards the two years required to qualify as a solicitor following completion of my law degree.

Since starting in September, I have mainly helped out in the Conveyancing department as that's where I've been needed the most - with various lockdowns and the Stamp Duty payment holiday having a profound impact on the demand for moving house - but have also completed the odd task for the Matrimonial and Probate departments.

Not long after I had started, Covid-related issues caused a shortage in reception staff, leading me to help out there for several days. This was very helpful in my early development of the firm, as it got me accustomed to speaking to clients over the phone, allowed me to learn who everyone is and the jobs they do/who they work under in the office, much faster than I otherwise would have learnt.

TYPICAL DAY AT THE OFFICE

I usually start my day just like everybody else… by the kettle! Once I've got my coffee ready, I'll log on to my laptop to check my emails, flagging the most important ones to deal with as a priority and giving responses if they are needed. The most important emails in the morning are usually job requests from other people in the office, which are prioritised based upon the urgency of the work, and, less commonly, requests from other firms/banks for information/documents required to keep matters progressing.

After I have completed my tasks, I'll pop my head around the office - mask on of course - and ask if anyone needs a hand with any files that need to be sorted, as well as any additional assignments to be completed.

Once the files have been sorted, I review the solicitors' postal trays and try to marry any of the post to the correct file, putting the files away or if necessary, to the solicitor as I progress. Simultaneously, I will try and keep the filing cabinets as organised as possible, ensuring everything is clearly labelled and in alphabetical order. I will do filing several times throughout the day, and the volume of files and post we have coming in that needs to be sorted means it can be quite time consuming. It's the type of work that is most appreciated when I'm not in!

Common requests I receive via email are to fetch files from storage, make phone calls to request information/documents from banks/solicitors/mortgage lenders, or even write news articles for the company website.

Often the phone calls can lead to me being on hold for extended periods of time, which usually leads to me putting the phone on loudspeaker, enjoying some classic holding music - a personal favourite of mine being HSBC's All Star – it always gets me in the mood to watch Shrek - and cracking on with some typing on my laptop while I wait. Usually, a couple of filing trips and a few odd jobs from my emails is enough to tie me over until lunchtime.

Lunch is something which unfortunately hasn't remained unaffected by Covid. Instead of being able to socialise in the break room at lunch with my colleagues we are required to remain at our desks while we eat. This usually results in me flicking the kettle on, so I can enjoy a coffee and my lunch while listening to the radio via my laptop. Once lunch is over, I crack on with any jobs I have been assigned.

IMPORTANT TASKS LEARNED

One task not asked for commonly, is to produce a financial report on a client and their spouse from the Matrimonial department. This involves going through 12 months' worth of bank statements for all bank accounts owned/jointly owned by the respective parties, and producing a detailed schedule of their assets, income and expenses onto a spreadsheet. I then further sub-categorising their expenses into classifications such as travel, food, shopping, bills, etc.

This type of work can be tedious but it is vital to be focused as the statement I produce could potentially be used in full or in part during proceedings, with a mistake potentially altering the amount a client/their spouse is meant to receive in settlement.

This is why when undertaking a task, it is important to get it checked by the relevant solicitor, their assistant or secretary. It's better for my development to go through what I've done with someone more experienced to help me spot and correct any errors I may have made, and learn from them, than to leave it to chance and create a difficult situation for my colleagues, who would then have to deal with dissatisfied clients.

Jobs such as these can take several hours to complete; starting a task such as this is likely to see me through till 5pm, which is home time.

TO SUM IT ALL UP

I believe the trickiest aspect of my role is managing my workload successfully.

As you can imagine, often relying on email or in person requests for the majority of my jobs can result in my workload being inconsistent. I could spend 30 minutes going around the office asking for things to do and get nothing, then go up to my office and see on my laptop three urgent job requests an hour before the end of the day.

As with the case for most things in life, the solution to this is communication. It's vital for me to let my superiors know when I need more things to do, and when I need them to either take something off of my hands or get an extension to the deadline for a task. Speaking to my superiors to understand which tasks need prioritising is also hugely important, to ensure deadlines are met.

I'm about halfway through my placement at Nantes and I'm enjoying the fact it is a local, smaller law firm with a family feel about it. I feel like this is illustrated well by the staff, who I've all found to be genuine and lovely. The customer satisfaction we regularly receive is representative of this. It will be interesting to see how the work environment changes when lockdown is over and we are able to welcome clients back into the office again.