Allen & Overy

Louise Wolfson

Any old Monday!

Apparently, all great columnists listen to their readers and respond to feedback and so, by popular request, I will share with you a day in my life.  Let's just call this: "any old Monday"!

“I also spend some time discussing the approach to the rights issue underwriting agreement with the associate”

6.10am Alarm goes off – I throw my gym clothes on and try to remember to pack all the clothes I will need for the day (I did once have to make a mad dash to Next when it opened to buy underwear!).
6.40am Leave the house – having left my husband a bottle of warm milk (for the baby, not for him!) I sneak out trying not to step on any creaky floorboards which might wake the rest of the house.
7.30am Gym session with my trainer – quite why I pay someone to punish me first thing on a Monday morning, I am not sure, but I do love my workout and wish I could find time to squeeze more exercise into my daily routine.
8.50am Breakfast – having finished my gym session, showered and dressed, I have time to grab a tub of porridge and a banana from the cafeteria on the 10th floor to take with me to my first meeting.
9.00am Partners' meeting - the partners in my part of corporate ("C8") meet for half an hour to discuss workload allocation, secondments and associate welfare – there is also inevitably a fair amount of banter…
9.30am Go through emails – I return to my desk to go through the emails that have come in since I last checked them.  I manage to greet my trainee and ask her about the weekend but then the phone rings – she is used to that by now and isn't offended anymore (or so she tells me!).
9.40am Phone call – the call is from a client with a query on the requirements for redeemable preference shares in the UK.  I give him my view but want to check the latest provisions which have been introduced by the Companies Act 2006 so I ask my trainee to research the point further.
10.00am Marketing meeting – I meet with a partner from the banking department because we are working on a presentation to private equity houses on how they may be able to exit from investments they have made – we hope that our understanding of the financing documents and also our knowledge of the equity capital markets opportunities and constraints will give us an edge when discussing these issues.  The meeting lasts an hour and I agree to draft several slides and send a few internal emails following up with others.
11.00am More emails – there is now a bit of a backlog of emails for me to go through so I spend half an hour or so responding to queries and deleting irrelevant emails.  One of the emails is a request from a partner for an associate to help with a due diligence exercise so I spend 10 minutes working out who would be best placed and then "volunteering" their services to the relevant partner.
11.30am Coffee – Good news! My lunch with a client has been postponed because the client is stuck in another meeting.  This means that I have gained a bonus couple of hours in my day so I take the opportunity to grab a coffee with one of my associate "mentees".  We go to Lavanda (our café on the 6th floor) and the sun is shining so we sit on the terrace.  She tells me that she is worried that she hasn't been doing enough work for partners in other groups and I promise to raise this with the other C8 partners at our meeting next Monday.
12.15pm Reviewing document – I am conscious that one of the associates in my team is waiting for my sign-off on a draft business sale agreement and has asked me particularly to consider a couple of clauses.   Mercifully, my phone doesn't ring more than a couple of times and I manage to ignore my emails and I get through it in an hour.  I leave my comments on his chair asking him to discuss any queries with me when he gets back from lunch.
1.15pm Lunch – I pop to the partners' lounge which is an airport-style lounge where we can get meals and refreshments and meet up with other partners – it is particularly useful for seeing partners from other departments.  I grab a salad and chat with a tax partner and a couple of litigation partners.
1.45pm Calling client – My trainee has completed her research so we call the client together to give him the full advice.  He asks for an email summarising what we have told him – I ask my trainee to prepare a draft.
2.30pm Kick-off meeting – We have just been instructed to act for the underwriters on a rights issue by a UK company and I head over to the offices of our clients who are hosting the kick-off meeting.  The kick-off meeting involves representatives of all parties to a transaction getting together, primarily to agree timing and process.  The timetable for this transaction is going to be tight so there is plenty that needs to be done.  We agree to produce a draft underwriting agreement by Friday for the underwriters to review. 
4.30pm Return to the office – having been away from the office for a couple of hours, the emails and calls have piled up so I spend some time going through those.  The associate whose agreement I reviewed checks a couple of my comments, mainly because he can't read my terrible handwriting!  I run through some queries relating to my schedule for the next day with my PA and I review the draft email which my trainee has prepared.  I also spend some time discussing the approach to the rights issue underwriting agreement with the associate who will prepare the first draft to make sure he is on the right track.
5.30pm Phone call – A partner from Paris calls – she has a new transaction and although it has no other connection with the UK, the subscription agreement will be governed by English law and she would like me to review it when it is available later in the evening and also draft a legal opinion.  It needs to be done urgently.  I find an associate to draft the legal opinion.
6.00pm Leave the office – I dash out of the office, taking with me a pile of papers to read and deal with.  Fortunately, there's no game at Arsenal on a Monday so I have a quick trip home.  En route I take a few calls – my trainee checking she can send her email out, a couple of associates with queries and my mother asking us for dinner on Friday night.
6.40pm Arrive home – the kids are in the bath and in an excitable mood as always.  We read stories and do some of my eldest's homework.  After the usual delaying tactics involving requests for more food, more drink, more stories and more goodnight kisses, they are all finally asleep by 8.15pm.
8.15pm Check emails – the subscription agreement from Paris has come in, as has the draft legal opinion from the associate who was asked to prepare it.  I am also being chased for the marketing slides I agreed to draft earlier in the day. My husband is at a work event so will be home later - I decide to wait for him to eat and, in the meantime, settle down with a glass of wine at my computer.  It's a long night ahead!

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