Meet Katarina
Katarina Di Costanzo is a graduate in Hicksons 2023 Graduate Program, currently on her first rotation in the Sydney Workers Compensation team.
Curious to know what a day in the life of a Hicksons Graduate looks like? Katarina runs through what a typical day as a graduate at Hicksons involves.
9:00am - 11:00am
I make it into the office at 9am and get myself set up and organised for my day. I check my inbox, reply to any emails and check some matters I have been working on for any updates.
I then join our workgroup meeting with my colleagues where our Partner (
Mitchell Strachan) runs through activities for the week, including what’s urgent, any new matters that have come through, and any matters that need to be updated.
I get allocated some tasks for the week, so I jot down the due dates for each of them, ask questions, and start working on the first priority matter.
After reviewing the matter file, including some very large insurance documents and correspondence, I start drafting the initial advice.
11:00am - 1:00pm
A conciliation/arbitration is scheduled in the Commission this morning, and I got to sit in with the Senior Associate (Serena Bentley) in our team and listen in.
It was a very interesting matter that produced a good result for our client. Afterwards, I draft the advice for our client following the conciliation/arbitration, and updating our client on the results of the morning
1:00pm - 3:00pm
Today, our wider Workers Compensation team is meeting for lunch, including our Newcastle team via Teams.
Hicksons arranged the lunch catering (from everyone’s favourite sandwich shop downstairs!), as we went through updates in the industry, updates from our clients, and also covered general information and reminders.
We then celebrated some small wins in the team and looked at some process improvement tools we could implement to make our lives much easier!
After lunch, I finalise the initial advice I was working on earlier today and send it across to my Partner for review.
3:00pm - 5:00pm
To finish the day off, I begin to draft a letter of instruction to a doctor for an upcoming examination, in addition to compiling the medical evidence for their review.
Before I pack up, I check my inbox and reply to any outstanding emails, and finalise my time entries.
Time to head home!
Highlight of the Day
The highlight of my day was being able to sit in on a Commission proceeding.
It is always very exciting to see what is uncovered in these proceedings and the arguments put forward by both parties.
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