A day in the life of a law firm Information Officer
Jas Breslin is an information officer in the Finance & Capital Markets department at Clifford Chance, based in Canary Wharf. She has worked there since October last year.
I'm normally in work by 8.50am-ish though I don't officially start until 9.30am - I like to get in early as I always have plenty to do. I work in a team of eight in the Finance & Capital Markets (F&CM, pronounced 'fackem') Information centre. We have an open plan office on the 28th floor with spectacular views across London, though that does have it's drawbacks like when there is a fire alarm and we have a tough 10 minute workout walking down the stairs (a real thigh-killer I can tell you!).
I spend probably half of my time involved in current awareness activities for two sub-groups that I have responsibility for - the asset finance and project finance groups. The first thing I do when I get in is to go through the numerous email alerters that are in my inbox and select relevant material for the newsletters. I also go through the FT for relevant articles, and check certain websites on particular days of the week for changes to codes and rulebooks. There is usually a trade journal that needs reading for article selection for one of the bulletins. I am also responsible for monitoring (and chasing) material relevant to my sub-groups for inclusion and indexing on our internal know how database.
Our enquiry service is run through the enquiry desk which is manned on a rota basis: one person on the desk backed up by a second person who covers lunch and helps with enquiries if things get really busy. The enquiry service is specifically set up to help with finance and capital markets related enquiries as each practice area has its own information office with dedicated resources. I also get enquiries that come through to me directly from my sub-groups or from people I have built up a good relationship with. I work one day a week on the desk and one day as the backup person, and I have to say that enquiry work is probably my favourite part of the job. Though we get lots of dull enquiries like finding templates/precedents or locating a prospectus, we do also get some 'juicy' enquiries which can require a fair amount of research time - but they are not as frequent as I would like. My favourite enquiries are things like finding out how a European Directive has been implemented, or tracking down information about that elusive person/company/transaction. I also enjoy straightforward legal research but I don't get to do much due to the transactional nature of work that is done within the department. We receive enquiries mainly from the London office but we also support all offices around the world as well information officers in other departments. We record all enquiries on a spreadsheet but at the moment this data is not analysed systematically.
There are lots of opportunities to attend internal training sessions on legal and practice area issues - I have found that not only is this a good way to expand my own knowledge of very technical practice areas, but it's also a good way to meet my 'internal clients' and raise my profile within the group. I also network with other information officers in other departments at meetings such as our database working group where we get together each month to discuss our electronic database subscriptions and how they are satisfying our research needs.
Lunchtime is negotiated with the other person on the enquiry desk where applicable, otherwise I can go any time between noon and 2.30pm. Clifford Chance has a gym and swimming pool on site and I usually try to get some exercise 2-3 times a week, but sometimes I meet friends for lunch or just wander around the nearby shopping centre trying not to spend any money.
