Trainee blog - Kathryn Alexander

After graduating from Durham University with a degree in German and Spanish, Kathryn returned to her native Edinburgh for the LLB and Diploma. Now a second-year trainee at Brodies, she spent her first two seats in Commercial Property and Insurance & Risk litigation. In December 2015, she moved into her final seat in the Commercial Services Division, where she mainly works for the Technology, IP and Outsourcing team.

Commercial Services Division: a day in the life

9:00 – I fire up my computer and do a quick triage of my emails. Nothing desperately urgent.

9.10 – First up on my To Do list: draft an update for our Technology blog. The Commercial Services Division (CSD) encompasses a wide range of general commercial areas, but I work mainly for the Technology, IP and Outsourcing team. Our sector is fast-paced and if we don’t update our blog on a regular basis, it will date very quickly. This morning’s post is on data protection – stay with me! The technical side of data protection is quite dry, but its application can be really interesting. Today I’m writing about enforcement action taken against The Alzheimer’s Society for allowing their volunteers to store sensitive data about dementia sufferers on unencrypted personal laptops. I avoid legal analysis and try to give practical tips on how charities can avoid facing similar action – no one wants to read another summary of the Data Protection Act.

10.30 – Next on my list is drafting a set of standard terms and conditions as part of a suite of documents I’m preparing for a public body. I’ve already done agreements for consultancy, services and supply of goods. The last one is supply of goods and related services. Although drafting contracts might sound repetitive, different clients have very different needs, so each contract requires careful thought. Public bodies, for example, are subject to freedom of information requests, so I need to think about building that into their contracts. These subtle differences are where the problem solving and creativity comes in.

12.30 – Once I’ve finished the contract, my mentor and I run through my draft and he gives me some useful feedback.

1:00 – Lunch time! Unless I’m absolutely swamped, I always take a lunch break. I’m definitely more efficient on a full stomach.

2:00 – Time for a training session on public procurement. It’s a fairly niche area, so it’s a good opportunity to get some specialised training. It’s interesting to learn about the tension between the transparency which underpins public procurement and the way governments subtly use it to drive social policy. The procurement team sits in CSD, so at the end of the session I mention to the associate that I’m keen to get involved.

3.30 – Back at my desk I start some research on the duties of company directors for our employee benefits partner, who also falls under the CSD umbrella. This work is completely different from the commercial contracts I usually do. It encompasses all kinds of employee remuneration, including different types of share schemes, which involves much more company law and Companies House dealings.

3.45 – Just as I’m getting going with my research, another partner in my team asks me to review a draft software agreement. It’s urgent as he has a call with the client in the morning, so I drop everything and start reading through the contract, checking the definitions and cross references. Admittedly, it’s not as exciting as drafting my own contracts, but it’s a huge project and the partner explains he wants to get me more involved in the lead up to signing later this month.

6.15 – I’m about to head home when the partner catches my eye again – he’s received a client query about consumer protection. We have a quick discussion about the law behind the issue, but it doesn’t have to be resolved today so I’ll pick it up tomorrow.

6.30 – Last but certainly not least on today’s To Do list: Brodies netball. We only play once every few weeks, but the team is lovely and no one takes it too seriously. It’s not our finest performance (some lingering Christmas lethargy perhaps), but that doesn’t dampen the plans for our next team night out!