Updating Results

Arnold Bloch Leibler

4.5
  • 100 - 500 employees

Harriet Craig

6.30 AM

Wake up.  The one luxury of working from home is the extra half hour sleep in.

6.45 AM

Yoga session in my living room courtesy of the lockdown.

8.00 AM

Coffee, breakfast and scroll through the Australian Financial Review keeping an eye out for articles about our clients or articles concerning relevant policy developments which could have implications for our work. 

8.30 AM

Log on and catch up on emails.  I have received material from a client ahead of a 9 am call.  I read through the attachments carefully to ensure I’m prepared for the call. 

Arnold Bloch Leibler Graduate Harriet Craig Profile

9.00 AM

Call with a client who provides further instructions on several letters we’re helping them to prepare.  It’s important to get the tone and messaging right so the letters go through several iterations before they’re finalised.  The call is followed by a Zoom catch up with the Partner on the matter to discuss the follow up work required.  I’m asked to incorporate the changes discussed with the client, so I mark up my amendments and send to the Partner for review.

10.00 AM

Zoom call with the litigation department.  Whilst working remotely we have these twice weekly to touch base on work and to stay connected more generally.  We usually discuss the matters we’re working on, how we’re coping with working from home and strategies to survive the lockdown. 

10.30 AM

Coffee break with one of litigation’s Senior Associates.  We would usually go out for coffee several times a week, so we’ve been doing the same thing remotely during COVID.  We have a few matters together so it’s a good opportunity to ask questions, discuss matters in depth, toss around ideas and get a better insight into strategy.  

Arnold Bloch Leibler Graduate Harriet Craig zoom

11.00 AM

I spend several hours working on a letter of advice for a charity.  The advice needs to consider actual and ostensible authority to bind a company, so I spend some time researching the law to refresh myself on the principles.  I then consider the facts of the case in light of the general principles.  It isn’t a clear-cut case (it never is!) so I undertake further research targeted more specifically to the particulars of this case.  Once I understand the general principles and the specific principles relevant to this particular set of facts, I can start drafting the advice.

1.00 PM

Lunchtime laps around the Royal Botanic Gardens.  I like to get out for a run to enjoy the midday sunshine – particularly during the cold Melbourne winter.

Arnold Bloch Leibler Graduate Harriet Craig nature

2.15 PM

Virtual attendance at the Supreme Court to receive judgment on the question of costs and on a stay of execution application.  Given the lockdown, most of the courts are holding remote hearings via Zoom.  It’s an interesting change to the role of the instructing solicitor as we can’t just whisper to Counsel or pass notes across the bar table.

2.45 PM

Post-hearing Zoom call with Counsel and our client to debrief and discuss the judgment.  The judge granted the stay which is a good outcome for our client and a testament to the excellent advocacy of Counsel.  It’s a positive atmosphere and there’s a lot of thanks and credit given to all parties for their hard work on the matter.

4.00 PM

I spend some time conducting searches on our document management system to identify potentially privileged documents.  We’re acting for a company and its directors in relation to an investigation by a statutory authority. 

5.00 PM

I receive an email from a colleague asking me to review the requirements for service of subpoenas interstate and to prepare any relevant documentation.  The subpoena needs to be served tomorrow so it’s a time-sensitive task.  I pull up the relevant legislation, prepare the required notices and a draft affidavit of service and reach out to a colleague for details of a good process server.

6.00 PM

While I’ve been preparing documents, an email has come through from a new client with documents to review ahead of a 9:00 am call tomorrow.  The documents include a comprehensive chronology and diagrams of a complex corporate structure.  I contemplate reviewing them tomorrow morning before the call, but I decide it’s best to get my head around them this evening so that, if necessary, I can spend the morning revisiting any complexities I don’t fully understand.

7.00 PM

Time to knock off and cook dinner – a task that somehow always manages to occupy my whole evening.