When you start your training contract, there will be lots of smaller things you’re expected to pick up without necessarily being asked. Every team works slightly differently, but these are three things to be prepared for as a trainee.
1. Taking meeting notes
If you’re sitting in on a meeting or call, whether with a client or internally, there’s usually an expectation that you’re keeping a note. You won’t necessarily be told this beforehand.
What you want to avoid is getting to the end of the meeting and someone asking you to circulate a note, only to realise you haven’t been keeping one. You generally want to capture the important points discussed, anything that was agreed and, crucially, any actions that need to be followed up afterwards. For example, if the client agrees to send a document, note it. If your team says it will come back on a particular point, note that too.
Afterwards, check with the associate whether they want the note circulated or saved to the matter file. Different teams will have different preferences.
2. Saving emails and documents to the matter file
Most firms will have a document management system organised by matter, and there is often a quiet expectation that the most junior person on the team will help keep the file in order. That can mean saving your own matter-related emails and documents, but it may also mean saving important correspondence sent or received by other people on the team and making sure everything is filed in the right place.
It’s very easy to overlook this when you’re busy, particularly because nobody is necessarily going to notice immediately if an email hasn’t been saved. The problem comes three months later when someone needs to find it. If an associate asks, “Where’s the email where the client confirmed X?”, people will generally expect to be able to find it on the matter file rather than search through several people's inboxes.
When you join a new team, it’s worth finding out how they approach filing. Some teams are much more particular about it than others, and there may be specific folders or naming conventions you’re expected to use. And try not to let it build up - saving things as you go is considerably easier than trying to work through weeks of correspondence later!
3. Setting up meetings
This is another one that can be surprisingly easy to miss when you first start. You might be copied into an email chain where an associate and a client are discussing having a call. Everyone sends their availability and, eventually, a time becomes obvious.
Quite often, the expectation is that you’ll pick it up from there. That might mean coordinating everyone's diaries, sending the meeting invitation and, if it’s in person, sorting out a meeting room.
The same goes for diary holds. If an important hearing, signing, filing deadline or other crunch point is agreed, you may be expected to circulate a hold so that it is in everyone’s calendars.
That said, particularly when you’re new, I would check with the associate before sending anything externally if they haven’t actually asked you to arrange it. Something as simple as: “Would you like me to coordinate diaries and send the invite?” does the job. You’re showing that you’ve spotted what needs to happen next without making assumptions about what they want you to do.
Keeping track of it all
Having a reliable system for keeping track of your day makes such a difference. It’s also one of the things I thought about when designing The Daily Planner for Lawyers by BUREAU™. It’s built around the reality of legal work: multiple matters, competing priorities, meetings, deadlines and all the small things you need to remember in between.