Marta Tomlinson - Day in the life

I like to start early, I get the train into the city and head to a gym class; we are lucky to have our gym membership subsidised by the firm. I then head into the office, check my calendar and emails to plan my work for the day ahead.

I take a break to make a cup of tea and then chat with the senior associate and two associates that sit on my pod. We often work on larger cases together and this is a good opportunity to see where everyone is at on their allocated tasks.  

Two days are never the same in our team but I usually spend the first half of the day working on a larger project. Today it involved continued work on drafting a detailed statement on behalf of a company in relation to a fatal accident being investigated by the HSE. I also take the opportunity to discuss the strategy on the case with the supervising partner.

I usually prepare my lunch before I leave home, but on Thursdays some colleagues in our team head over to the Gherkin for the food market where we are always spoilt for choice from different street food vendors. We then head back to the office breakout area called 'The Writz' and chat before I head out to my afternoon hearing.

We are fortunate to conduct our own advocacy in our team so I make my way to south London for a pre-inquest review hearing at the Coroner’s Court. I meet the client at Court before the hearing, explain what will happen at the hearing and then represent the client at the hearing making legal submissions on case to the Coroner. This is followed by a short de-brief meeting with the client after the hearing.