A Day in the Life of a Lawyer

A day in the life of a lawyer

13 May, 2018

Monday

Sunny

Dear Diary,

I woke up this morning with raging headache, probably due to the lack of sleep for the past few weeks. I glanced at the clock, noticing I was on the edge of being late. Slightly irritated, I got out of bed with a groan and hurried to put myself together for work.

I made it to the office just in time at 9:30. As soon as I arrived, I started printing documents for a call with a client at 10:00 because the secretaries and assistants won’t show up till another hour. Another client called right after I was done printing, wanting to grab some coffee. She asked me if I had looked at the email that came in and looked that the document attached, 213 pages, sent 3 minutes ago. I said no and promised the annoyed lady to review them as soon as possible. I got on the scheduled call and fortunately, the client didn’t ramble much and I did get some very useful information regarding his case of driving under the influence of alcohol. Both me and the barrister working on this case advised the client to plead guilty at the court so as to obtain credit for an early plea and he agreed. Finally, after the call, I got to get myself my morning-coffee, which is very essential for me to function properly, and skimmed the news for a bit. I returned to my office and started reviewing the stack of document drafted by some juniors for one of my cases. I attempted to mark them without any interruption, but failed miserably when having to pick up phone calls every 15 minutes, knocking off my train of thoughts.

It was already 13:30 without me realizing it and I quickly grabbed some lunch at the cafeteria before hopping on a cab with my assistant to the court for the case of the 10:00 client. We met our client as well as the prosecution lawyer at the court and the trial began soon after. Everything went well until my client was summoned. He, out of my expectations, pleaded not guilty and we panicked. I thought we had made ourselves very clear that we could only keep the penalty at its minimum if he admits his offense. We then immediately demanded an hour of adjournment which, luckily, was granted by the judge. The client confessed he was a bundle of nerves and was too scared of being sentenced. We spent a good 40 minutes reassuring him before the trial resumes. That was a close shave but thankfully, things went pretty smooth and much less nerve-racking. The court pardoned my client for his first offence and suspended his driving license for merely 6 months.

I left the court and went to dinner with my parents and brother. We haven’t seen each other since Lunar New Year due to me and my brother’s hectic schedules and it was really nice finally being able to catch up with them. They are always the one supporting and cheering me up through rough times when I was in law school or when I just started working. I am eternally grateful for them being my pillar and giving me motivation when I need them the most. Anyways, being a lawyer means lots of late nights and I guess tonight is one of those nights. I should get going with reviewing all the documents handed to me this morning before I drive into deep slumber.