A day in the life of… Foridha Yasmin

Having recently launched a new Maternity Mentoring Scheme – which offers parents both starting their journey into parenthood or returning to work the support they need to continue to flourish in their careers at HCR – we introduce you to Banking and Finance Solicitor Foridha Yasmin. Foridha discusses her experience of recently returning to work at HCR following the birth of her first child and gives an insight into a day in her life.

Coming back to work after a full year of maternity leave and a month’s worth of accrued annual leave, has been a bit of a daunting and anxious time. My year off has been all things baby and as wonderful, and tiring, as that time has been, the thought of being away from my little one has filled me with dread. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about how I would cope with the transition of returning to work as a new mum and how I would balance motherhood with my professional work. Would I even remember how to do my job?!

My worries were eased by doing some ‘keep in touch’ days and arranging to go for lunch with my colleagues. It was nice to be in an office environment, do a bit of work and it was also a good opportunity for my colleagues to meet my son Yakub and see how much he’s grown since the last time I brought him in! The recent launch of HCR’s Maternity Mentoring Scheme is also a great initiative. Having an outlet to discuss concerns and seek advice and guidance, together with being paired with a mentor helps ease the transition.

My day typically starts with tending to the cries of my 1-year-old. Unfortunately, he doesn’t sleep through the night yet – some nights are better than others but quite often he wakes up crying two or three times and needs to be settled and put back to sleep – one of the things that definitely took some getting used to as a new mum was the sleep deprivation! Last night, Yakub only woke up once, so I’ll take that as a win! There’s lots of cuddles and kisses followed by my questionable singing and dancing to nursery rhymes – Baa Baa Black Sheep and Row Row Row Your Boat are our current favourites. I change Yakub, feed him breakfast, get myself dressed, give him some more hugs and kisses and leave for work.

Before I drive to work, I check my work phone to make sure nothing urgent has come in. I always like to see what’s come in so I can start to think about what my day ahead will look like and if there’s anything urgent that needs to be dealt with as soon as I get into the office.

When I arrive at the office, I have a quick catch up with my colleagues, get myself a drink and have breakfast at my desk. I check my emails, review the transactions I’m working on and make a to do list for the day, prioritising what needs to be done having regard to any deadlines.

Banking and finance is quite a varied practice area and I really enjoy the transactional nature of the work. No two days are the same and we can typically find ourselves working on matters ranging from larger transactions advising private equity firms on sponsor backed leveraged deals to reviewing and reporting on security documents and loan agreements on smaller matters.

Today, I’m working on reviewing a draft amendment letter that I have received from the solicitors acting for the lender. We are acting for the borrower and the existing loan agreement is being amended to extend the term of the loan, adjust some of the financial covenants and increase the facility amount to pay off the existing mezzanine lenders. I commence my review of the draft amendment letter and the underlying loan documentation, make a few notes of what we need to push back on and prepare a report to the client. I also start preparing certain ancillary documents that the lender will require as conditions precedent before advancing funds to our client to repay their existing debt. I take a few minutes out of my drafting to check in on Yakub who’s being looked after by his grandmother. I also ask for some pictures because I miss him so much!

During my lunch, I usually like to go out for some fresh air. I take a walk into the Bullring and browse some of the shops – this isn’t always a good idea as my bank balance usually takes a hit! I buy myself some lunch from Marks and Spencer and make my way back to the office.

The afternoon consists of reviewing security documents on a transaction where we’re acting for a borrower client on the refinance of a large real estate portfolio. I also start to prepare for a call with the client and the partner I’m assisting on this matter to run through the loan agreement. I make notes during our call which is then followed up by a call from my colleague to run through some of the action points.

I check my emails and see that a request has come in from the Education team for some assistance in preparing release documents. The related transaction is completing soon and the release documents need to be turned around quickly. My to do list from earlier is re-jigged, as is often the case, and I start reviewing and preparing the relevant documents.

My day ends with checking in with my colleagues to see if there’s anything they need assistance on before I leave. I review the status of current matters and reflect on what I need to progress the following day.

Upon returning home, I give Yakub a big hug – going home to my little boy at the end of the day is the best feeling in the world! I feed him dinner, give him a bath and read him a bedtime story, he then has his bottle and we put him down for the night. I check my emails to make sure nothing important has come in and then switch off for the night.