Brynach Rolfe

7.00 AM

I awaken abruptly to the sound of church bells chiming from my iPhone. Before my brain can convince me that I have time for a sleep-in I jump out of bed and into the shower before getting dressed and leaving the house.

7.45 AM

I arrive at the station and test an old knee injury by sprinting flat out for the train. I'm not sure why it’s not recovering properly? Mystery! On the train, I do the Wordle for the day because I am very unique. 

8.30 AM

I arrive nice and early in the office. Beating my Supervising Partner into the office is a power move and also allows me to check my emails, outlook calendar and start to make a to-do list to give my day some structure. I also use the time to begin writing up the footy tipping preview for the upcoming round shamelessly allowing my St Kilda bias to flow uninhibited. When it is finished I will email my preview out to the fifty K&L Gates staff who are participating in the competition across the 4 Australian K&L Gates offices. Running the footy tipping competition is a fantastic way for me to meet people across the entire firm.

9.00 AM

Already 9.00 am and I haven’t had a coffee yet! Time to remedy this. I am one of 'those' people who usually opts for intermittent fasting (aka glorified breakfast skipper). However, a well-catered breakfast offered twice a week as part of the K&L Gates Konnect initiative, once again celebrates victory over my feeble willpower. I take the opportunity to indulge in a coffee, a croissant and a chat with my Melbourne colleagues.

9.30 AM

My Supervising Partner, Alan Maclean, has arrived so it is game on. Alan is a Partner in the Banking & Asset Finance practice group. Alan has sent me an email with a General Security Deed and a Facility Agreement attached. I spend the next hour familiarising myself with both documents to gather some context about the matter. Having worked with the other side on a similar matter before I am able to compare these documents with similar documents they have provided in the past. By making these comparisons I start to make some amendments in mark up. 

10.29 AM

I stare out my office window at the MCG and think about what could have been if not for my knee injury (and my overall lack of coordination). 

10.30 AM

Alan is at my office door and he’s ready to get into the nitty-gritty of the General Security Deed and Facility Agreement. We sit together at my computer and work through the documents. Alan confirms that he is happy with my proposed amendments and identifies further clauses to amend. Working so closely with a Partner like Alan is an invaluable experience so I make the most of this time by asking as many questions as possible about why we are amending particular clauses and the intricacies of the drafting. Understanding Alan’s thought processes when reviewing and negotiating loan and security documents is my primary goal. 

12.00 PM

I join a live Webex session hosted by the K&L Gates Library & Research Services Department as part of K&L Gates' in-house Graduate Training Program. This particular session is about researching caselaw. I was grateful to take away many handy tricks for researching case law - I wish I had known these tricks at uni!

1.00 PM

It’s lunchtime, I am hungry, but it’s futsal day so the calls of my belly will have to wait. Each week an email is sent to the Melbourne office asking if anyone keen to play futsal. Spots in the team go quicker than birthday cake in the kitchen so you have to be fast in responding to the email! Fortunately for me, I secured a coveted place in KLG FC for this week so I head down to the Rialto change-rooms and start to get my head in the game. 

2.00 PM

After securing a hard-fought draw in futsal and enjoying some sushi for lunch with teammates we head back to the office and use the Rialto change-rooms to shower and change before getting back to it. I love playing futsal at lunch because it gives me a chance to socialise with lawyers from different practice areas and it also breaks up the working day nicely. 

2.30 PM

I have received an email from Adam Moore, a Special Counsel in the Sydney Banking & Asset Finance team. He has asked me to prepare a number of ancillary documents for a lender in relation to facilities to be provided for a capital partner's loan. Adam has set out his instructions very clearly and so I am able to start preparing the documents immediately without the need for further clarification (quick tip from me - if you aren't blessed with clear instructions always clarify). The documents prove to be reasonably straightforward to draft so I send them back to Adam within the hour. 

3.30 PM

I am now acutely aware that the energy gained from lunch and exercise has worn off and it’s time for another caffeine hit. I duck my head into my buddy’s office around the corner and ask if they’re keen on a quick coffee at my favourite cafe nearby. Over coffee we chat about how my work is going and plans for the weekend.  

4.00 PM

Alan invites me to join him in his office to attend a virtual client meeting. Our client needs a loan to assist with the development of two new warehouses as part of their expanding business. In the meeting we talk the client through a table of comments we prepared yesterday after reviewing the financier's Letter of Offer. I take thorough meeting notes as the client expresses, from a commercial perspective, which clauses will need to be negotiated and which clauses they can live with. I note the clauses discussed as either 'nice-to-have's' or 'must-have's', and this list will help us when we go back and forth with the financier during negotiations.

5.00 PM

After the meeting finishes, I formalise my meeting notes into a table and, together with Alan, prepare a consolidated table of comments to send to the financier's lawyers requesting a number of amendments to the Letter of Offer. We should get a response from them within a couple of days.

5.30 PM

After finishing work I will usually head straight home, however, some of my fellow Melbourne graduates and I have a group assignment to complete as part of our Practical Learning Training (PLT). A small group of us pop into a spare meeting room and get started on the assignment. We are very lucky to have our PLT course offered in-house which means we can sit all our course work and assessments in the office and we also progress through as a graduate cohort rather than as individuals.

6.30 PM

After finishing up with the PLT group assignment I catch the train home, eat dinner in front of the TV and then aim to be in bed by 11.00 pm.

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