Behind the Business: A Day In The Life Of A Barristers’ Chamber Practice Manager

‘Don’t overwhelm yourself with thinking ahead to the coming weeks. Instead, focus your energy on what you can do right now, today’ – The Mind Medic

Welcome to Behind the Business, where we’re asking a cross-section of Avenue HQ members and wider connections, all about their current day-to-day. It’s a strange and confusing time for many, and so we hope reading a specific day’s diary, completed by other like-minded professionals, will provide a few take-homes for how best to tackle your day that lies ahead.

This week, we’re chatting with Eve Humphries – Practice Manager of Unit Chambers – a new barristers’ chamber in the North West. Eve and the team are based from their multiple private offices in Avenue HQ St Paul’s Square. Eve’s day-to-day role includes: driving forward Unit’s marketing, digitisation and customer service, as well as overseeing the newly developed Barrister Concierge and Barrister Toolkit offers. Eve’s Behind the Business diary covers her working day at the Unit Chambers office.

Industry: Law

Profession: Practice Manager

Date: 27/11/2020

Today’s To-Do List: 

• Take new bookings and manage diaries and needs of barristers
• Checking in with barrister’s and pupils to ensure they have everything they need for the day ahead
• Keeping up with social media

Morning Routine:

Once I am ready for my day, I will head for the train to go into our office at Avenue HQ St Paul’s Square! Listening to music on the train first thing in the morning really sets me up for the day ahead and makes me feel good. I also love my morning stroll from the station to the Square, grabbing a coffee on the way of course!

8am-10am:

First thing in the morning, I always ensure that I respond to any urgent queries that may have come in overnight from solicitors. I then have to gather all the relevant documentation for counsel and ensure they have exactly what they need to be able to represent the client that day.

The world of Family Law is fast-paced and things can change in any given moment. Ensuring someone has representation at court is very important to us.

Depending on the day, I also check in with our pupil barristers. They have started their pupillage in the most unprecedented of times, not being able to attend court and having to learn remotely. It has it’s pros and its cons, but keeping in touch with them weekly and understanding what they want and need out of their pupillage is crucial.

10am-12pm:

I usually deal with diary management around this time. I try to be as many steps ahead as possible when it comes to each of our barrister’s diary, so that they can maximise their workload, yet not over stretch themselves.

Our clients are our number one priority at Unit, and often counsel will want to see a case through to the end to ensure continuity for the client who is going through a difficult and lengthy court process. This means I work alongside solicitors, other advocates and court staff to ensure we don’t have any major diary clashes and we can meet the needs of our clients.

12pm-2pm:

Lunchtime is usually a little bit quieter. This is my time to play catch up on all enquiries and ring around solicitors. I also spend this time having a look on social media to see what is out there and what we can comment on or write about that day.

We are new chambers, established in July – around the time we moved into our private office in Avenue HQ St Paul’s Square – and are really keen to disrupt the status quo of a ‘traditional’ barrister’s chambers. We recognised that social media is a great way to do that and so we are all keen to use it as much as we can. We’re partnered with Opportunus, who have been amazing in driving forward our social channels! I check in with them most days to organise posts, articles, events etc. Check them out here!

Go and give us a follow on Twitter to see what is happening in the world of Family Law!

 2pm-4pm:

If I am completely honest, there is never a ‘normal’ day in this job, which I love! I will have a daily check in with Lisa Edmunds, our CEO and Senior Consultant Barrister, once a day to iron out anything work-wise. This helps us keep on top of our workload and business ideas.

4pm-6pm:

The court lists! This is when they land in my inbox. I would say this is one of the most important parts of my job. Cross referencing the court lists is so incredibly important. Sometimes, courts can change the time of a listing, or things are vacated for whatever reason. I need to know this information as soon as possible so that I can arrange the diary for the next day.

One mistake can create a whole day of problems for a barrister and their client and so this I would say is up there with one of our most important jobs of the day.

6pm onwards:

I will call each barrister to check in on their day gone by and ask if there is anything I can do for them ahead of the next day. This creates strong relationships between management and counsel, which is paramount for us a business.

To speak to the Family Law specialists, Unit Chambers, click here. Or, for more information on becoming a Private Office member at one of Avenue HQ’s locations, get in touch.