Riley Milton

5.00 AM

My alarm goes off and I’m up to get ready for the gym. I’ve always been a morning person and much prefer getting up early to do exercise rather than the end of the day. 

6.30 AM

At this stage of my morning, I’m back home and getting myself ready for the day. I have some breakfast and a coffee. I pack my lunch and leave home around 7.30 am. I live about a 20–30-minute drive away from work, so beating the morning traffic is always important.

8.00 AM

I pay my parking fee for the day and head on into work. I chat to some colleagues before heading to my office to start my day. I turn on my computer and check some emails and my calendar for the day. 

I always write my next day tasks the day before, so I know what I have to do before the day starts. I see that today I have a new client conference. 

8.30 AM

The workday officially begins. This morning I had some new matters to discuss with my workgroup Partner and how I would be going about working on them. 

9.15 AM

I’m starting work on one of my new tasks. This particular task is in the area of Building and Construction, and my job is to determine whether a business’ contract is compliant with the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act building contract requirements. I research the Act and some case law to work this out and continue with this until it is time to meet with the new client.

10.00 AM

I go with my workgroup Partner and meet the new client in the front Boardroom. This room has a large window and lets in some natural light, which makes the room more inviting. 

The new client is wanting some advice on their terms and conditions in quotes and contracts for their company.  This matter does not appear to be too complex, so I will be working on it with supervision from the Partner. 

10.30 AM

It’s now time for another coffee and a snack. We had an office morning tea today to celebrate completing a fundraising activity.

10.40 AM

I continued with my building research and begin drafting a note to the Partner with my research results, and how the next steps of the matter will proceed. I also create a draft email, that outlines to the client some issues with their contracts and offers some advice on their matter. This draft email will first be sent to the Partner for approval, and I will be given the authority to send to the client once reviewed. 

11.00 AM 

I receive a new task for a Planning and Environment matter. The task involves writing a letter in response to a Council considering that some development approvals have lapsed. This letter had to be completed by the end of the week, to be reviewed before it’s due date next week. I start reviewing the file and legislation. 

1.00 PM

It’s lunchtime!! I join my colleagues in our lunchroom to eat. It’s great to have a space to come together, as we are all on different floors we sometimes rarely get the opportunity to chat. 

2.00 PM

It’s now time to get back to work for the remainder of the day. I finalise the Building matter I was working on in the morning and send the email off to the client with a fee proposal. 

3.00 PM 

I go back and review the Planning and Environment matter. This particular matter involves a development application approval, and my task is to determine whether the approval has lapsed. This involves going back and reviewing repealed Acts, as at the timing of the approval, the old Act was in force.

5.00 PM

It’s home time! I write down my task list for tomorrow, tidy up my desk, and head home. 

6.00 PM

I give myself some time to relax and unwind from the day before starting to work on my assessment for my Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (aka PLT). I’m almost finished the course, so I am looking forward to my weeknights being free again.

9.30 PM

The day is finally over, and I head to bed to get some good sleep before tomorrow!