Full-on
Meanwhile, I am so tired.
As of last Thursday evening, I was not in court Friday, not in court Monday, and had the following things to do, ideally to be done over the weekend (both would really ideally have been done by Friday but in both there had been a soft/implied extension):
-draft advice on merits of judicial review
-draft skeleton for todays CRUNCHY LAW case
I decided I would do my backlog of family billing that was fucked up at That Awful Last Place. That took all day and I stubbornly stuck to doing it and got it finished, despite the fact that by midday a case had come in for Monday. Then by mid-afternoon the solicitors I am doing a judicial review for on 23rd June had been in touch to say sorry for the late notification, but the deadline for the skeleton argument was Monday.
That still seemed OK, though. I now had the following stuff due by Monday/close of play Monday:
1) advice on merits
2) CRUNCHY LAW skeleton
3) prep asylum case for Monday
4) JR skeleton argument by Monday 4pm
I thought 1) and 2) could be knocked off Saturday, 3) and 4) Sunday. I figured Kit would be snowed under by his First Week of the Month Billing Insanity and also for various reasons wanted a bit of space anyway, so told him my weekend had just gone up in a puff of smoke.
As it happened, 1) took six hours on Saturday, working from home.
2) took 10 hours on Sunday, working from chambers.
I got an hour or so of 3) done. I printed the papers in 4) and thankfully they were very slight and it didn't look like it would take more than a couple of hours. I went home. I tried to carry on with 3) and my eyes started crossing.
I decided I would get up early Monday to finish 3) and hope I had enough time to complete 4) in the afternoon.
So I set my alarm for six, woke with a start at 5.40, got up, finished 3), went to court. Delayed in court. Didn't get on until 1345. Some panicked conversations with solicitor later, thankfully 4) still in time if filed by the end of the calendar day, even if not the end of the business day. 4) completed by 5.30.
Then I had to prep for another asylum appeal on Tuesday. Once again my eyes were crossing, once again I got home late, set the alarm for six, and woke with a start within half an hour beforehand, finished my prep, went to court.
Tuesday afternoon I had to pick up choir music, leaving very little working-in-chambers time -- just enough for my attendance note and billing -- and then I had a choir rehearsal Tuesday evening.
Wednesday was "just" a case management review, but it was in a list of over twenty of them, so I didn't get on until 11.45.
Wednesday afternoon was a bit of a bust, I tried to be productive but I was so. damn. tired. Also, despite having done a skeleton in today's case, I hadn't actually read all of the papers. I read most of them, went home, did laundry, read the rest, went to bed.
Then I've been half the day at that today. Now I've got to prep for another asylum appeal tomorrow AND I also have to speak at a seminar tonight and socialise with solicitors afterwards for at least a while.
I'd better get prepping.
I'm so tired.
And at the beginning of this week, this was just this week, because I was only in court Monday-Wednesday next week. Well now, next week looks like this:
-Monday asylum appeal central London
-Tuesday entry clearance appeal Birmingham
... also probable conference in chambers in the afternoon
-Wednesday asylum appeal central London
-Thursday asylum appeal central London
... oh and choir rehearsal
-Friday conference in chambers in the afternoon
I want to go and sleep now please can I sleep now...
No, I must prep for tomorrow and the seminar.
Can I sleep at the weekend please can I sleep at the weekend....
Maybe, but I've also got to prep for Monday and a solicitor wants me to advise on merits of an appeal to the Upper Tribunal and draft grounds if there are any.
Now I feel crunched.
I miss family. You could be in court every day in family and it was not this tiring. They'd probably all be directions hearings and only need 30 minutes prep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
As of last Thursday evening, I was not in court Friday, not in court Monday, and had the following things to do, ideally to be done over the weekend (both would really ideally have been done by Friday but in both there had been a soft/implied extension):
-draft advice on merits of judicial review
-draft skeleton for todays CRUNCHY LAW case
I decided I would do my backlog of family billing that was fucked up at That Awful Last Place. That took all day and I stubbornly stuck to doing it and got it finished, despite the fact that by midday a case had come in for Monday. Then by mid-afternoon the solicitors I am doing a judicial review for on 23rd June had been in touch to say sorry for the late notification, but the deadline for the skeleton argument was Monday.
That still seemed OK, though. I now had the following stuff due by Monday/close of play Monday:
1) advice on merits
2) CRUNCHY LAW skeleton
3) prep asylum case for Monday
4) JR skeleton argument by Monday 4pm
I thought 1) and 2) could be knocked off Saturday, 3) and 4) Sunday. I figured Kit would be snowed under by his First Week of the Month Billing Insanity and also for various reasons wanted a bit of space anyway, so told him my weekend had just gone up in a puff of smoke.
As it happened, 1) took six hours on Saturday, working from home.
2) took 10 hours on Sunday, working from chambers.
I got an hour or so of 3) done. I printed the papers in 4) and thankfully they were very slight and it didn't look like it would take more than a couple of hours. I went home. I tried to carry on with 3) and my eyes started crossing.
I decided I would get up early Monday to finish 3) and hope I had enough time to complete 4) in the afternoon.
So I set my alarm for six, woke with a start at 5.40, got up, finished 3), went to court. Delayed in court. Didn't get on until 1345. Some panicked conversations with solicitor later, thankfully 4) still in time if filed by the end of the calendar day, even if not the end of the business day. 4) completed by 5.30.
Then I had to prep for another asylum appeal on Tuesday. Once again my eyes were crossing, once again I got home late, set the alarm for six, and woke with a start within half an hour beforehand, finished my prep, went to court.
Tuesday afternoon I had to pick up choir music, leaving very little working-in-chambers time -- just enough for my attendance note and billing -- and then I had a choir rehearsal Tuesday evening.
Wednesday was "just" a case management review, but it was in a list of over twenty of them, so I didn't get on until 11.45.
Wednesday afternoon was a bit of a bust, I tried to be productive but I was so. damn. tired. Also, despite having done a skeleton in today's case, I hadn't actually read all of the papers. I read most of them, went home, did laundry, read the rest, went to bed.
Then I've been half the day at that today. Now I've got to prep for another asylum appeal tomorrow AND I also have to speak at a seminar tonight and socialise with solicitors afterwards for at least a while.
I'd better get prepping.
I'm so tired.
And at the beginning of this week, this was just this week, because I was only in court Monday-Wednesday next week. Well now, next week looks like this:
-Monday asylum appeal central London
-Tuesday entry clearance appeal Birmingham
... also probable conference in chambers in the afternoon
-Wednesday asylum appeal central London
-Thursday asylum appeal central London
... oh and choir rehearsal
-Friday conference in chambers in the afternoon
I want to go and sleep now please can I sleep now...
No, I must prep for tomorrow and the seminar.
Can I sleep at the weekend please can I sleep at the weekend....
Maybe, but I've also got to prep for Monday and a solicitor wants me to advise on merits of an appeal to the Upper Tribunal and draft grounds if there are any.
Now I feel crunched.
I miss family. You could be in court every day in family and it was not this tiring. They'd probably all be directions hearings and only need 30 minutes prep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.