A day in the life of a Pannone Trainee
Charlotte Moore: Second Year Trainee, Pannone
Seats to Date: Clinical Negligence, Personal Injury and Private Client/Court of Protection
University: University of Reading
Degree and class: LLB Hons Law 2(1)
Typical day in the Medical Negligence team
7.45 am - 8.00 am – I arrive at work. It is not prescriptive that trainees (or any fee earner for that matter) arrive this early, but I know that I work better in the morning than I do late in the evening so I choose to work this way. First thing that I do when I get to the office is check my emails and respond to anything urgent. I then make a list of all the tasks that I need to do during the day. I make my breakfast at work and have a quick catch up with my colleagues in the kitchen.
8.15 am – I get a wide variety of delegated work from different partners within the group and once I have worked on a case they will try and keep me involved with it as it progresses and we obtain the evidence. One of my tasks this morning is to draft applications and letters to the various treating hospitals and clinics to obtain our client’s medical records. This is one of the first steps in a clinical negligence case and it is important that I correctly identify all of the treatment centres so that we have a full set of records to work from.
9.45 am – I walk to the offices of Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA), where I volunteer on their helpline. I answer telephone calls from members of the public, who want to know anything from how they make a complaint about their medical treatment, how they bring a clinical negligence claim and how they report a doctor to the General Medical Council to information about Inquests. This experience is really beneficial to me as a trainee as I get to hone my interviewing and advising skills.
12.15 pm – I arrive back at the office and telephone a client with whom I have a pre-arranged appointment, in order to take a factual witness statement from them. It is important at the beginning of the case obtain as much information from the client in relation to the medical treatment that they received, their medical history, family history, employment history and problems that they have suffered following the alleged substandard medical treatment, whilst it is fresh in their mind. I get a lot of client contact in the clinical negligence group by attending conferences and client meetings and it is an aspect which I really enjoy.
1.00 pm – This lunchtime I have a group meeting. During the meeting we discuss items such as billing, training, new cases, workloads and practice issue. As a junior member of the team, I find this meeting really useful as it is a forum during which management decisions are discussed with the team and information is exchanged between fee earners.
2.00 pm – I start drafting the witness statement which I have taken from the client. There are plenty of precedents within the department and I keep a record of the work that I have undertaken, which helps me with drafting. In addition, I am well supervised with regard to all of my work and there is always someone to ask if I encounter a problem.
3.00 pm – The majority of the work that I receive is passed on to me by memo, which details the work needing to the undertaken and the deadline, so I can prioritise work and organise my time. This afternoon I need to draft a Letter of Approach and Letter of Instruction to a General Practitioner, on a case concerning a delay in diagnosing breast cancer. When instructing the GP expert, I set out the facts of the case, the allegations of clinical negligence we are making and ask him to deal with specific questions arising from our understanding of the case. It is very important that I ask the GP expert to address the relevant issues in the case, as we will determine, from his report, whether we are able to proceed with the case and whether there is any element of negligence.
5.30 pm – I leave the office. There is usually something going on after work, whether it is catching up with other trainees in the firm or attending a social event organised by the firm. But tonight I am going to an event organised by the Manchester Trainee Solicitors Group, tonight it is ice skating and mulled wine!
If you are interested in applying for a training contract at Pannone please complete the online form. If you have any queries please email us at graduaterecruitment@pannone.co.uk.
