Allow use to introduce you to the Disputes + Investigations ('D+I') team. Here all your litigious dreams will come true. You will learn to prepare for trial and go to court to fight for your client. Sound juicy? It is.
So, what can you expect to do while you’re here?
There is enormous variety in the work the D+I team does. Recently we have worked on contractual disputes, misleading and deceptive conduct claims, ASIC enforcement claims, breaches of directors’ duties, contraventions of financial services legislation, defamation, and other tortious claims. We also help clients respond to regulatory notices and assist in Royal Commissions.
This breadth of work means you become very familiar with all sorts of law. You also become a subject matter expert on the topic of the case, as you deep dive into each matter.
As a junior you will not just be stuck trawling through endless documents while doing doc review and discovery (although I’ll be real with you, there will be some of that!). In this team you will have far more responsibility. Juniors will work directly with partners and senior lawyers on all sorts of tasks. Some common things you will be asked to do include drafting letters, preparing court documents, liaising with clients, preparing witness statements, attending meetings, going to court for hearings, researching legal points, and constructing chronologies of the case.
Now that you know what you will be doing, you probably want to know what the culture of the team is like.
First, let’s talk hours. Some other teams have significant peaks and troughs in their workflow. Well, one of the biggest perks of D+I is that the work is consistent. This means that most days you will be busy while you are at work, but the job is (for the most part) 9-6. Of course, if there is a trial on or there are other tight deadlines you may have to work longer hours. But this is generally limited to short stints.
Our office is always buzzing with activity, and you will be regularly collaborating with partners and lawyers, attending client meetings, or preparing for court appearances. We have a diverse and talented team, and individuality is celebrated. We work in a beautiful office in the city that’s been newly revamped with a fancy new fit-out, and plenty of snacks and coffee freely available. All birthdays are celebrated with cake, and Fridays are celebrated with wine.
Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty. What is a typical day like? Well, much like every other question you ask a lawyer, the answer is, it depends. Your day in this team will look very different depending on the type of matter you are working on, and the stage that matter is in. Some days you will be working your way through reading cases and researching, some days you will be in court at a hearing.
Most days we will come into the office at 9am, and the first job is to check emails. We will then order the tasks we have to do for the day from most urgent to least urgent, then get stuck right in to the first thing on the list. Throughout the day will check in with the people we are working with to let them know what we’ve found or if we’re stuck. This morning, we were analysing rights attaching to shares in preparation for a Court of Appeal hearing next week, then drafting letters to solicitors in a financial services matter.
We typically take lunch at 1pm with the other juniors in the team or attend the free fitness classes offered at the gym in our building. Once a month we have a practice group meeting at lunch where we talk about the matters the team is working on, share knowledge and practice tips and discuss upcoming issues.
After lunch it’s back to the to-do list. Hopefully by this stage we have finished the most urgent tasks, so what can’t be finished by 6pm, is picked up again the next day. This afternoon we finished the draft letters from this morning, discussed an affidavit we had drafted earlier with another lawyer on the file, and started a draft subpoena.
In D+I no two days are the same. The matters are varied and interesting, the work is fast paced, and the team is diverse, collaborative and incredibly talented.