Summer Vacation Scheme 2024: James Sanderson

A day in the life on the Summer Vacation Scheme at Browne Jacobson, sitting with the commercial team in the London office.

08:45 – I arrive at the office and greet the members of the commercial team as I put my bag at my desk. After a quick chat, I retrieve my laptop from my assigned locker and make a cup of coffee in the kitchen.

09:00 – I check my email and download a document sent to me from an associate in the commercial Dispute Resolution (‘CDR’) team. I’m expecting this email because the day before my two supervisors (working in the commercial team) had mentioned their colleague in CDR is working on a well-known case that I wrote a paper on during university. They encouraged me to reach out to their colleague if I was interested to learn more, and the CDR associate had kindly agreed to chat through the case and sent me a key document to read through. As such, I use the hour before the meeting to read up on the background of the case, the role of Browne Jacobson, and note down any questions.

10:00 – I meet the CDR associate in the kitchen, with views overlooking The Gherkin, Tower Bridge, and Spitalfields.  We make a cup of coffee and chat through the big picture of the case and then get into the technical legal aspects. As a cross-jurisdictional and highly complex dispute, there are several layers to the case to discuss and a wealth of technical legal information to be digested. The case is fascinating, and I enjoy being able to ask any questions I have. 

11:00 – The CDR associate gives me a current dossier to look through as I am interested to learn more about Browne Jacobson’s current involvement, and I make a note to circle back round to this later in the afternoon. I then check my emails and find a piece of work sent by my trainee buddy, accompanied with clear instructions. Following this, I speak with one of my supervisors about what I learnt through exposure to the CDR case, discuss the work assigned by my trainee buddy, and schedule a meeting to review a piece of work with them later.

11:30 – On the Vacation Scheme, we have a training or insight session each day. This develops our practical legal skills, our understanding of Browne Jacobson, and how law firms operate. Today, we have a Legal Research Training; I hop on a Teams call with the other ‘Vac-Schemers’ to attend this training and we learn about legal research databases and how best to use them.

13:00 – Lunchtime. A group from the commercial team and I stroll through sunny London to a nearby market, where we pick up falafel wraps (appropriately hyped-up by my supervisors) and take them back to the kitchen to eat.

14:00 – Back at my desk, I read through the task assigned by trainee buddy. The task is to write an article on newly issued guidelines surrounding advertising Electric Vehicles (‘EVs’). I research the guidelines, recent rulings on advertising EV’s, and any prospective legislation or regulation. I use this research to create a plan for the article’s structure and content.

15:30 – Satisfied that I’ll be able to hit the ground running tomorrow, I turn my attention to the dossier given to me by the CDR associate. I read through the key sections of the document, building on my understanding from our discussion that morning. I make notes on the key aspects and return the dossier to the CDR associate’s desk.

16:00 – I push my chair a few feet over to my supervisor’s desk for our scheduled review of my work the day before. We discuss my analysis of a contract, in which I aimed to identify the issues created for our client in the contract provided by the other party. We first go through my analysis point-by-point and talk through the issues I correctly identified. Next, we look through his analysis of the same contract, so I can understand any issues I had missed.

16:30 – I find a meeting pod and hop on a Teams call with the group I have been assigned to for the group presentation task. We talk through how to divide the content, how we want to deliver the presentation, and the best structure to follow. We then note down our next steps and say goodbye.

17:00 – I return to my desk and write some reflections on my learnings that day and create a to-do list for the next day. I then chat with my supervisors about how the day went and our evening plans. Finally, I return my laptop to my locker and head home.