7.10 AM
My alarm wakes me up and I get out of bed. Back in my first year of university I was notorious for sleeping in and turning up to 8.30 am tutorials just in the nick of time (or slightly thereafter, if I'm being honest).
These days, I leave my phone on the other side of the room. By the time I walk across the room to turn it off, I am suitably awake so as to remain out of bed, thereby seizing the day. #lifehacks.
After four Weetabix and an instant coffee I am out the door and walking to the train station near my house. I also live near a bus stop so, sometimes if I am feeling particularly adventurous, I take the bus instead. Since it is still early in the week and I know the importance of pacing myself, I choose the train.
8.25 AM
I arrive at the Sydney office. Since I have a few minutes, I grab another coffee at the cafe downstairs. After I order, I listen carefully to every name that is called out for any that rhymes or has any phonetic resemblance with “Llew”. After hearing the name “Luke” I look around and, seeing that everyone else is still staring at their phones, decide that it must be intended for me. It's important to adapt quickly in this fast-paced corporate world.
8.30 AM
At Sparkes, I'm currently in a team that focuses on servicing a range of government clients at both the state and federal level, with a focus on privacy and information law. In light of the growing regulatory oversight and rapid technological growth, it's never been a more interesting time to be working in privacy law, so I recommend anyone who is curious about it to give it a go!
I have received an email from a Senior Associate in my team asking me to review a recent NCAT decision where we represented a state government client. We’ve been successful in having the government agency’s decision affirmed. I'm asked to spend some time going through the decision and writing up a summary of the decision to identify whether there are any legal errors or other issues that we should let the client know about. I take my time reading through the decision, making notes on key paragraphs.
I don't identify any errors, so after drafting the summary and giving it a final check over for any typos, I send it over to the Senior Associate for her review.
9.45 AM
I switch gears and start working on short email advice for a federal government client; I was seconded to this client for a few months last year. I built up a strong relationship with this client over the course of the secondment, and they've asked me to continue some of the work I was doing for them on secondment back at Sparkes. Sparke Helmore has a lot of secondment opportunities for its lawyers, which is invaluable to building client relationships early in your career, as well as learning a lot about a client's needs and internal processes. The advice I'm drafting is the next steps to take in a statutory investigation being undertaken by the client. With the legislation open in one monitor and my draft email open in the other, I am truly living the dual-monitor dream.
11.00 AM
With several other members of my team, I have a meeting with a client regarding a privacy impact assessment I've been asked to assist with. It's in an area I'm not hugely familiar with, so I take lots of notes and write up some questions to ask the Senior Associate who I'm assisting after the meeting.
12.30 PM
Lunchtime! I head down to the cafeteria and grab a quick bite to eat. It's a good chance to catch up with colleagues. Afterwards, I go for a quick stroll around the beautiful Martin Place to clear my head. It's a great way to recharge and be ready for the afternoon ahead.
1.30 PM
After lunch, I start working on my part of the privacy impact assessment, off the back of the meeting I had before lunch. It's an assessment for a new statutory regime that is soon to be implemented and our role is to identify any potential privacy risks that the regime may pose. The operation of the scheme is quite complicated and not something I have any previous experience with, so I spend a few hours doing some background reading and taking notes. After about two hours I have some questions that I feel I need clarifying before I can work further on it, so I give my Senior Associate colleague a quick call, who is happy to answer my questions and gave me bounce ideas off them. It's great how friendly and approachable everyone in my team is - it's a supportive environment to develop my skills in. With my questions answered, I crack on with it.
5.15 PM
Before leaving for the day, I take a few moments to review my work for the day and make a to-do list for tomorrow. I catch up on some emails that have come in over the last few hours. An email comes in - I have been asked to assist with doing some legal research into a client's prospects of succeeding in a costs application. I'm told it's not urgent so, I put it on the top of my to-do list for tomorrow.
5.45 PM
I pack up my things and say goodbye to my colleagues for the day. I head to Wynyard Station and catch the train home. I try to fit a healthy range of activities in my time outside of work – tonight I am going to the gym and then checking out some stand-up comedy in Chippendale with my housemates.
10.45 PM
After a night of non-work-related activity, I make it to bed. I’m excited to do it all again tomorrow – or will be, after I get my minimum 7-8 hours’ sleep!
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