Day in the Life of - Waynette Hollis - Associate Lawyer

A day in the life: lawyer

Associate lawyer Name: Waynette Hollis Job: Lawyer Company: Conyers Dill & Pearman Limited Working hours: 9am to 5pm

Describe a typical working day. The day starts before I arrive in the office. In the morning I check my phone for any emails that have come overnight to see whether any urgent responses are needed. Being an offshore firm in an international financial centre like Bermuda, most of our clients are all over the world so we have lots of different time zones to consider. When I get into the office, it’s more email checking, prioritising my tasks, communicating with clients and figuring out what needs to be done that day and for the month. Most of my day is spent on correspondence and reviewing or drafting documents, and liaising with government authorities. Sometimes, depending on the matter, I will have to spend some time doing research in light of our client’s proposed business strategy.

What are your hours of work? The simple answer would be 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, but often enough the hours extend a little further on either end of the day. From time to time I have really late nights where I’m in until 9 or 10 in the evening, which often happens when all of my clients have the same or similar deadlines. Timekeeping is very important as an associate—you have to account for every six minutes of your time.

What professional and/or academic qualifications or experience did you need to start your career? In Bermuda, you need an LLB, or there is a postgraduate programme called the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), which is a shorter route for graduates in other subjects. You need to have a law degree either from Canada, the UK, Australia or West Indies because of the English law connection; the US system is different. The next step after completing your law degree again depends on where you gained it. In the US you sit a bar exam. After English law students finish their law degree they go on to either the legal practice course or the bar course, depending on where their interest lies. These programmes are a year long and end with a set of exams, which some might say replaces the need to sit a bar exam like in the US. After you pass your exams you go on to a year of training. Then in

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Bermuda you’re called, or invited, to the bar, usually by the firm that you’re training at. As an associate you have to do more than just great work, you have to build relationships within the firm with others who are established so you are fed the work that’s going to help you develop as a young lawyer. You have to ‘build your practice’, and as a new kid on the block that comes with the exposure you gain when a lawyer more senior than you asks you to handle, or assist them with, a matter.

How did you start on your career path? I did my law degree in London, but I did a business degree first in Florida. I chose a programme called the Graduate Entry LLB, which is like a happy medium between the traditional LLB and the GDL programme.

Is there a typical starting salary for an entry-level position in your industry? Nowadays for Bermuda, a trainee salary would be about $60,000 to $65,000.

What earning potential does your job have? Earning potential can skyrocket. Earnings will vary depending on where you’re practising—whether you’re in a private firm or in-house, and if it’s a small- or medium-sized firm. It can be very financially rewarding.

Do you need any further qualifications for future career progression? Not necessarily, but it may do you good to have an LLM if the way you practise law has more of a research focus, rather than daily corporate practice, which is what I do. While you don’t really need any additional qualifications, lawyers are required to continue their legal education and remain current with developments in law: in Bermuda you’re required to do eight hours of continuing education programmes in one year.

What is your favourite thing about the job? Knowing that I’m helping people to achieve their business objectives well and within the law. What I really thrive on is when a matter requires some creativity, or some strategising, because then you can turn to the law, figure out the limits and what really is possible, which opens your mind up to so many more possibilities, rather than just accepting the traditional or what’s readily known.

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