A day in the life of a litigation lawyer with Covington

Litigation is arguably the area of law that gets the most media attention, whether it’s celebrity disputes or TV shows offering idealised representations of life as a bigshot lawyer. In and amongst these sometimes attractive (yet often misleading) depictions, the life of a litigator remains a bit of a mystery to those not directly involved. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to sit down with Louise Freeman, global co-chair of commercial litigation and chair of EMEA dispute resolution at Covington in London, to find out more about the reality of being a litigator.

“The problems and questions we come across don’t have a right answer. We have to dive into the grey area, which is both exciting and challenging.”

Before we give you all the juicy details, let us introduce you to Louise. While there are plenty of lawyers who start their career without a specific practice area in mind, for Louise, “I always thought that I might be interested in disputes. I enjoyed the idea of rigorously applying black letter law to new and varied situations, switching across different subject matters and sectors.” Now, according to Louise, this is what distinguishes the practice, as “we go back to the textbooks for legal research every day, which isn’t the case in every area of law. But, unlike studying law, the problems and questions we come across don’t have a right answer. We have to dive into the grey area, which is both exciting and challenging.”

Louise’s practice focuses largely on commercial litigation, which means she handles “all kinds of business disputes, from contract disputes and business torts to trade secrets and competition litigation.” These are all key parts of Covington’s dispute resolution offering, but firmwide, Louise explains that the firm’s “sweet spot is where regulation meets litigation, as we have such strengths on the regulatory side. So, if a regulatory enforcement action or investigation by a regulatory enforcement agency (such as the Competition and Markets Authority) leads to a civil litigation, class action or damages claim, that’s where we thrive.” Other focuses for the firm include arbitration, white-collar investigations, privacy and GDPR claims, ESG, and product litigation, the latter of which “has been common in the US for many years and is expanding in the EU. We’re advising clients on what that means for their business.”

A Morning in the Life

For Louise, a typical day starts at least three hours before she actually makes it into the office, with “a workout, getting the children ready for school and then commuting to the City.” After what we can only imagine is its own commute up to the 53rd floor (where Covington’s London office is based), Louise starts off the work day by making a to-do list “to figure out what’s a priority and what items are screamingly urgent.” So, what then? Well, that depends a little bit on which day you catch her on…

“You have to convey information in the most effective way for your audience.”

On this particular occasion, her first substantive task of the day was a strategy note for a client, a piece of writing which essentially lays out the next, tactical steps of a case: “On this matter, we’re at the stage where it makes sense for us to stand back and think about the direction in which we’re going. We have to consider our defence arguments, which are strongest and which need more information. It requires legal analysis, so a trainee might help research case law while we make sure we have all the key knowledge needed to come up with our strategy going forward.” This is all put together into a succinct note, as “very few clients want a 50-page memo, though they did when I was a trainee! You have to convey information in the most effective way for your audience.” While junior associates and trainees take part in the legal and factual research, senior associates input on strategy and typically make the first draft before a partner shapes the final version.

Next, Louise and the team worked on a client pitch. “We pitch to work on new instructions and opportunities that come up,” Louise explains, “so, as a team, we think about questions that the client might want to ask us, any key messages we want to land and how we’ll present them. Junior team members typically collect information about clients and the work we anticipate they might need help with, so we’re well prepared. But not so much that it’s no longer natural and engaging!” The corporate team also brought in another task for Louise, which was an urgent piece of contractual analysis: “We got hold of the papers and an associate helped look at the drafting. That was something short and sharp, so it’s not all long litigation matters that run on for years and years.”

“Hearings can still be intense for solicitors! When judges raise questions that might be slightly different to what you were expecting, you have to filter the exact, necessary information to the barrister.”

Louise spent the rest of the morning preparing for a three-day hearing taking place the following week. “I’ve been involved in preparing everything from the legal submissions we want to put in to the court in advance, to working with our clients and barristers to make sure we’re getting the oral advocacy right,” Louise explains. While court appearances sound like big and exciting events, there’s plenty of important administrative work that needs to be done before getting there, from making sure everyone knows what time to show up to arranging the all-important lunch. Interestingly, although barristers take the spotlight when matters make it to court, Louise explains that “hearings can still be intense for solicitors! When judges raise questions that might be slightly different to what you were expecting, you have to filter the exact, necessary information to the barrister. We use Post-Its to communicate with our barristers, and you don’t want to bother them with a back and forth.” So, trainees and junior associates might be in charge of finding the appropriate evidence from the court bundles, while other members of the team liaise with witnesses, clients and experts both in and out of the courtroom. “A trainee’s bundle reference, the client’s factual point that has just come in via email and an expert’s opinion all need to be collated succinctly for the barrister who presents it live. It’s exciting and stressful!” Louise elaborates.

An Afternoon in the Life

After a busy morning, Louise spent her lunch co-chairing a diversity, equity & inclusion-focused panel session. Covington has a number of affinity networks, and Louise is one of the chairs of CovFamily, a group for those with an interest in balancing work and family life: “That could be people who are working parents or have other care responsibilities,” Louise elaborates, “or even prospective parents, aunts and uncles, or anyone with an interest.” At this session, different members of the firm talked about their experiences as parents: “Fee earners and staff discussed the challenges and joy of juggling work and parenting. We also focused on the different stages of the parenting journey, and how the balance changes when you have a young baby or child, through to teenagers and children finding jobs.”

Afternoons for Louise are typically set aside for calls. One of these was a weekly client call, where Louise and the team discussed updates on a matter. “This case was a collective action,” she explains, “we briefed them on what happened in the last week and discussed strategic decisions in the near term and what to expect in the week ahead.” Louise or a senior associate will typically run these calls, but beforehand, junior associates are in charge of pulling together a draft agenda of the meeting, deciding what to discuss based on previous correspondence with the client.

As the day progressed, and colleagues across the pond started to ease into the day, Louise caught up with the other chairs of commercial litigation at Covington. Interestingly, it’s another strategy call, more or less, where “we were thinking about how the commercial litigation practice is performing across the firm. We discussed ways to support colleagues in pitches and bring in more business, as well as the opportunities we have and the cases that are coming in.” By 5pm, calls kicked off with clients on the West Coast who are “usually tech clients,” says Louise, “and on this occasion, we discussed witness evidence. We’re working with West Coast witnesses and lawyers to prepare a draft based on the evidence they have provided.”

Workdays usually end away from the office, after Louise “relocates at a sensible time in the evening. It means I can see my children, get the youngest to bed and log back in to clear anything that needs to be dealt with before the end of the day.” The final pressing task of the day was time entry, i.e. making an accurate record of what you have done throughout the day. Perhaps if there’s one key message to take from this day in the life, it’s that “everyone needs to do their time entry every day! It’s really important for claiming costs and we can’t do that properly without those records.”

Reflections

Ultimately, anyone considering a career in litigation should come prepared to juggle multiple matters at once. Louise, for example, has multiple cases going on at different stages and is seeing “an increasing number of class actions, due to a 2015 law which really got going by 2020. There’s been a spike in claims, from one or two to 50 or so by now. Claimants like to pursue companies with perceived deep pockets (our clients) who tend to be in tech, financial services and life sciences.” Aside from this, Louise is more broadly working on several breach of confidentiality claims and trade secrets issues, which often arise when an employee leaves a company and takes confidential information with them. Another one of her cases will make it to the Court of Appeal in May 2025, where Covington continues to defend a telecoms client accused of colluding with other companies in the collapse of Phones 4u. “We won the three-month trial and it’s now being appealed,” Louise explains, “it involves lots of interesting questions around the law of information exchange, which is a particular aspect of competition law.”

“Team collaboration is one of the great things about being a litigator”.

Covington’s litigators also enjoy plenty of pro bono work, which counts towards annual chargeable hours. “Every fee earner in London dispute resolution has worked on pro bono cases in the last twelve months,” Louise gushes, “they can be incredibly rewarding. For example, I just concluded a case on behalf of a victim of domestic abuse. Helping make a difference in someone’s life is so valuable.” Other examples of pro bono include helping undocumented children with their immigration status, assisting charities with commercial disputes and working on human rights matters around the globe with the Clooney Foundation. In fact, thanks to the firm’s partnership with this organisation, those in the London office had the chance to attend a talk delivered by Amal Clooney earlier this year to celebrate International Women’s Day!

To make a long story short, a varied caseload means that no two days will truly be the same. One thing that remains consistent, however, is team collaboration: “It’s one of the great things about being a litigator,” Louise tells us, “I try to walk around the whole floor a couple of times a week to say hi to people who are in the office, particularly those in disputes, competition and technology regulation.” Unsurprisingly, cases are not a one-person job, though smaller matters might only require a partner and associate. Larger teams typically consist of around two partners and three associates, alongside trainees and paralegals. “We’ll have regular team catch-up calls on those bigger matters, whether that’s weekly, twice weekly or fortnightly,” says Louise, “we also have Teams chats for quick discussions and, more informally, I talk to the team all day – they can’t get rid of me!” Barristers are also part of the equation and, in the lead-up to a case, solicitors might be in contact with them multiple times a day.

Advice

When asked for advice for wannabe litigators, Louise suggests that it’s important to “be flexible and ready to take on new things. Different types of work will be more prevalent at different stages; 15 years ago I was doing mostly banking disputes because of the financial crisis, but there’s not so much of that now. You have to go where the work is and get stuck in to wherever opportunities arise.” She also highlights the importance of communication, both with colleagues when you need support and when writing formal documents: “We have many different styles, from court submissions to client update emails. Thinking about your audience and communicating effectively is a key skill for a litigator.” However, even when working with major corporations, Louise points out that “every case relates to human stories, and they all have human witnesses. Sometimes you get to know those people through their documents and communications before you meet them, but they’re still human beings with their own experiences. Our work with big companies still involves a huge amount of connection, psychology and building rapport.”