Sabina Prus-Wisniowski

7:15 AM

My day begins with breakfast, a strong cup of black tea and breakfast TV! I usually check my work phone in the morning to see if any emails have come in overnight, then pack my lunch and walk to work (luckily I only live a 10 minute walk from the office).

8:30 AM

I get into the office, say hi to everyone in my team, put my lunch into the fridge and take some fruit to eat later for morning tea. The kitchen always has fresh fruit (and an extensive range of biscuits!) which are great to snack on throughout the day.

8:40 AM

I check my emails and update my to-do list. I am currently rotating through the Major Projects & Construction team, which is quite busy due to the number and size of the projects we are currently working on. I prioritise what I am doing today and then start updating a contract for one of our infrastructure projects in Canberra. It’s super-exciting and rewarding to be able to work on infrastructure projects in Canberra which I’ll eventually be able to see get built!

9:30 AM

I’ve been asked to be part of a Clayton Utz presentation at Australian National University on the clerkship and grad experience - so I head over with a senior associate from my team and a graduate consultant from our People and Development team. I was a bit nervous about presenting, but I had a lot of fun! It was great to go back to my old uni and be able to share my experiences with prospective clerks and grads.

11:30 AM

We arrive back in the office and straight away I am called into my supervising partner’s office to observe and take notes in a meeting with one of our government clients for a matter that is close to finalising. I take notes and afterwards, I debrief with the partner about next steps.

12:30 PM

I begin updating the relevant contract after the meeting to get it ready for execution. I have been working on this particular matter since my first day as a grad in this team and it’s very exciting that the contract will soon be executed.

1:15 PM

I go downstairs to the café with my team to get an afternoon coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker though, so it’s a chai latte for me! We catch up on our day and discuss our plans for the rest of the week.

1:30 PM

I get asked by a senior associate to begin an urgent advice for an airport client. My team specialises in aviation law so I frequently get to work on airport-related matters. The senior associate gives me the background to the matter and instructions for the advice. I begin researching and putting the advice together.

3:00 PM

I got so caught up in the urgent advice, I have forgotten to eat my lunch - so I eat it at my desk and continue to work on the advice.

4:00 PM

I send the draft advice to the senior associate and partner, and start working on a Visio diagram for one of our infrastructure project clients in Melbourne. My team often creates Visio diagrams to help explain complex contractual or legal processes to clients in a simplified and clear way. It took me a while to get my head around using Visio but now I love how creative I get to be!

5:30 PM

Time for a sparkling water break! Most nights, the junior lawyers in my team take time out to get a sparkling water and spend a couple of minutes in the kitchen catching up.

5:45 PM

My supervising partner calls me and the senior associate into his office to discuss my draft advice and some changes needed. I go back to my desk, make the changes, draft an email to the client and send it off to the senior associate to send to the client.

6:15 PM

I start back on the contract I was updating at the beginning of the day. This involves looking at key agreed principles between both parties and updating the contract on the basis of these principles. My supervisingpartner and senior associate come out of their offices to chat about all the things happening in the world.

7:30 PM

I debrief with my senior associate about my to-do list and my priorities for tomorrow. I enter my time, log-off and pack-up.

8:00 PM

I get home, head out again to a Pilates class, eat dinner, then settle in to watch some reality TV.  

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