I’m a lawyer and have worked in the NCA since 2018 and joined the Data and Operational Advisory Team in 2020. The team advises on all manner of diverse issues – from international data transfers, to cybercrime, from advising on warrants and police property to fraud and the proceeds of crime - there’s never a dull moment.

We run a duty lawyer system with a single individual nominated each week to triage the many and varied urgent requests for advice that come in throughout the day. I’ll be allocated some of these requests to add to my workload and, at the start of every week, I prioritise my work and make sure that my two team leaders are sighted on what I’m doing.

A typical day (as far as it’s possible) begins with a trip through my emails to see what has come in overnight. Given the wide range of the work the Agency covers, it is common to be advising on multiple issues simultaneously which make it varied and interesting.

After an hour of email admin, I get stuck into whatever priority area I’m advising on. I tend to get more of the financial crime work, which involves regular liaison with the UK Financial Intelligence Unit. I make sure I keep up to date with any issues they encounter so I’m ready for any urgent requests for legal advice.

Lunch is followed by a team meeting in the early afternoon three times a week where we catch up with each other, review workloads to make sure no one has too much or too little and to take the opportunity to share views on tricky matters that people have encountered. We have a good team ethos where everyone helps each other.