A day in the life — and why I love what I do

Lizzie Judd is a Legal Director based in our Thames Valley office in Reading

When people ask me what I do, I tell them I’m a commercial contracts lawyer. And it’s true — but the reality is that very little of my day is spent working on contracts these days.

In fact I spend more of my time talking to people and solving problems, which is exactly why I love it.

Here’s the thing people don’t always appreciate: a lawyer is a mini business, and a team is a mini business too. There are the finances to keep an eye on, business development to drive, operations and efficiency to keep sharp, people to manage, learning and development to invest in — all alongside the technical legal expertise that’s meant to be the day job.

There are so many different aspects to juggle that no two days ever look the same. And it’s that variety which is a huge part of the appeal.

To understand why my days look the way they do, it helps to know where the team is strategically. We’re building our commercial practice in the Thames Valley — which means a big part of my role is staying connected: plugged into our Reading office and its plans, staying close to the national commercial team, its latest service offerings and product innovations.

I travel into Reading most days, sometimes head into London, and will be visiting our other offices. Being physically present matters — it’s how you stay close to what’s going on.

With all that as the backdrop, here’s how a day tends to unfold.

The first thing I do is check my messages and take stock of the day ahead. Urgent client work takes precedence, so before anything else I work out what needs doing and whether anything needs repriotising. Clients come first, and a plan made the night before rarely survives first contact with the inbox.

Once anything urgent is handled, leading the team is where much of my energy goes. I protect time for regular check-ins — not status updates, but real conversations about how people are doing, what they’re stuck on, and how we solve it together. I’m genuinely passionate about wellbeing and balance in this profession, and that starts with how I lead the team.

My workload itself is a real mix of commercial, regulatory and IP matters that means I’m rarely doing the same thing twice. We’re currently working with a technology distributor, a project consultancy business, an audio-visual company and an app developer on matters such as vendor and customer contracts, outsourcing and managed services arrangements, e-commerce terms, data protection and regulatory compliance.

Alongside that, I deliver a two-day-a-week remote client secondment, which keeps me close to the realities of working in-house, and I supervise the matters my team are running so the quality is there without me becoming a bottleneck.

Business development threads through the week too: meeting new clients, scoping proposals, and catching up with contacts to explore where we might work together. Sometimes that’s lunch with a contact or a networking event — and I really enjoy getting out and about and talking to people.

I also try hard to build in transition and thinking time — space between meetings to reflect rather than just react. It’s easy to fill every gap, but my best work comes from having room to think.

And then I close the laptop. I  have two children under five, and work part-time so achieving genuine balance isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s essential. Keeping a calm, happy household alongside a demanding career takes real effort, and it’s honestly why I care so much about balance for my team.