Here are three useful habits to get into after a meeting as a trainee solicitor.
1. Circulate the meeting note promptly
If you’ve been taking an attendance note during a client call or meeting, aim to tidy it up and circulate it within 24 hours, or sooner if the matter is moving quickly. The conversation will still be fresh in your mind, which makes it much easier to fill in any gaps, decipher your shorthand and spot anything you may have missed.
A good attendance note should make it easy for someone who attended the meeting to see what was discussed, what was agreed and what needs to happen next. Before circulating it, check that you’ve captured the key points clearly. Depending on the meeting, that might include the attendees, the main issues discussed, any decisions made, outstanding questions and the next steps.
If you’re unsure whether the note is ready to go to the wider team or client, send it to the associate supervising you first.
2. Pull out the action points
Don’t make everyone read through a lengthy attendance note to work out what they need to do. When you circulate the note, consider including a short list of the key action points in the body of your email, together with who is responsible for each one.
It’s also worth looking at the action points and asking yourself whether there is anything you can take ownership of. Perhaps someone needs to organise the next meeting, update a chronology, conduct a discrete piece of research or prepare a first draft.
If there’s something appropriate for you to handle, offer to pick it up. Getting into the habit of thinking “what needs to happen next?” rather than simply “what task have I been given?” is an important part of becoming a more useful trainee.
3. Offer to circulate a collective time entry
This is a particularly useful habit where several fee earners have attended the same call or meeting. Afterwards, consider offering to circulate a draft collective time entry for everyone who attended. This helps keep the time entries for the meeting consistent across the team and can make things easier when the time is later reviewed for billing.
Of course, billing practices vary between firms, teams and clients, so follow the approach used by your team.
A planner designed around the way lawyers actually work
Legal work rarely fits neatly into a standard to-do list. One meeting can suddenly create three new tasks, two deadlines and something you need to remember to chase next week. That’s one of the reasons we created The Daily Planner for Lawyers by BUREAU™ — with space to keep your matters, meetings, priorities and follow-ups organised in one place.