A Sweaty Day in London

There's no denial that this week has been a hot one, and what better way to spend my Thursday than to sit on a stuffy train to London and walk past high rise buildings reflecting the heat back on to me.

Thursday I attended my penultimate Professional Skills Course class which focused on "a Law Firm as a Commercial Enterprise".

This class focused on how to attract clients, how firms can expand their client base and how to keep up with the ever increasing competition in the area. Our tasks were to identify the pros and cons of two fictional law firms and analyse how they can change in order to succeed.  In the second half of the day, the class was split into two groups in order to represent the two fictional law firms. Each law firm had to present a pitch to a corporate client in order to win them over and assist them with an acquisition.

Luckily the classroom had air conditioning so we were fine inside, however the heat really did hit you as you walked out. I suffer from a blood disorder which makes me extremely sensitive to sunlight, it can burn me very easily and cause horrific consequences (yes, I am one of those people who avoid the light!). So I had to be very careful, but luckily I do not have one of the worst cases of my condition so I can handle walking around in the heat, as long as I am appropriately covered up. I'm not quite a full vampire!

I hope everyone has a lovely bank holiday weekend and the scheduled rain for Sunday and Monday holds off. Enjoy yourselves!

Juggling Everything

This week I have been struggling to juggle my lifestyle, hobbies and work. The reason for this is because my current hobby requires me to restrict my diet and increase my physical exercise.

The impact that this is currently having on my daily life is massive. I have felt fatigued, unmotivated and I have a constant headache. You might ask why I am doing something that will cause this but I can assure you that the event I'm taking part in is in about three weeks time so I won't feel like this for much longer!

I don't think this muggy and sticky weather is helping too much either. I have actually voluntarily stood in the rain this week because I have been that irritated by the heat!

All of that added to the usual Trainee worry of thinking that everything you do is wrong makes things a bit difficult, but we get through it because my way of looking at life is to just roll with it.

It's made me realise how you really do need to balance out your life to feel positive both in the work place and in general. You really do need to look after yourself to bring out your full potential in all situations.

I am very much looking forward to this weekend where I can relax and feed myself up on some good food to bring up my energy levels again. I felt a bit more energetic today (Friday), so at least I didn't feel like a zombie!

Dinner by the Boats

This week I had the opportunity to go to the Royal Harwich Yacht Club to join members of the Medico Legal Society for dinner and a talk.

This event takes place every so often at different venues and gathers lawyers, doctors and other medical experts together.

The talk centred around consent given by patients for medical procedures, and a medical professional's obligation to provide the patient with all the risks that may be involved. I found this topic rather interesting, as there were many views given by various medical experts.

At the end of the talk, we were provided with a three course meal, which I wolfed down in about three seconds. I've been on a diet and so I made sure that I enjoyed this meal!

This was my last Medico Legal Society meeting as my seat in Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury ends soon, so unfortunately I'm unable to look forward to the next one. But I did have a lovely time and enjoyed looking over the boats and the River Orwell.

Interviews

This week finished with something different. Friday morning I was asked to interview some year 12 students at a local boarding school. The session was created to help the students gain the experience of being interviewed by someone that they are not familiar with. This event was organised by both the school and the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and professionals from local businesses were invited to take part as the interviewers.

I was assigned five students and I was given their CV to read in advance, as well as the job description. I had 30 minutes for each student to interview them as if they were applying for a real job.

It was quite odd being the interviewer. The last time I had an interview it was for my training contract, and we all know how tough they are so I really felt for the students. The students looked a bit nervous too, so I had to make them feel a bit more relaxed.

I had to ask them the usual questions i.e. "what are your strengths and weaknesses?", "why this company?" and "describe a time in your life when you were put in a difficult situation".

If the interview finished early, I gave the students tips and advice on performing well in interviews. I also advised them on improving their CVs and I answered questions that they had on anything to do with applications, interviews and University.

I hope that I was of some help to the students and that they are able to take my advice and use it in the future.