ARE YOU COMMERCIALLY AWARE?
Commercial awareness is one of the key skills that law firms look for in future trainees and thus, if you are to succeed, you will need to develop this particular area of your brain. If you hope to persuade a recruiter of your commercial awareness, you do need to develop a genuine interest in the business world. Without one, you are unlikely to maintain enthusiasm for a career in commercial law or properly understand what your clients want to achieve. Even if you intend to train as a private client lawyer, you need to be able to understand clients who are themselves business owners. A candidate who enthusiastically engages with the daily gyrations of commerce represents a future lawyer with the capacity to develop new client relationships and, perhaps, even new legal products and services. What is it? ‘Commercial awareness’ can be described as an understanding of the business environment within which a law firm operates.It also means the ability to understand a client’s business needs so that the legal advice you provide is contextualised appropriately. Whichever area of law you decide to go into, you will need to demonstrate that you are commercially aware in order to convince law firms that you are going to be able to help drive their business forward, beyond just securing your training contract. You will need to demonstrate that you understand the importance of client relationships and the need for businesses to be cost effective. A commitment to your firm’s strategic vision and a good grasp of market factors are required. With this in mind, you need to be able to demonstrate that you can: • manage your time effectively; • use initiative;
• work well within a team; • develop good client relationships and a working knowledge of clients’ businesses; and • grasp current economic conditions and legal knowledge. Learning more There are things that you can do to help increase your levels of understanding. It is important to focus on the word ‘awareness’ and not mistake it for the word ‘knowledge’. Remember that you are going to be a trainee and are not expected to know everything about the law firm or its clients’ businesses from day one. Commercial awareness for a future lawyer might be sensibly split into two categories: things that relate to law firms as businesses themselves, and things that affect the clients for whom the firms work. In the first category, a student should have at least a basic understanding of the purpose of the 2007 Legal Services Act and a general understanding of what a partnership is and how law firms are traditionally structured. It will help, too, to have a sense of how legal work and clients are sourced and charged. If a student hopes to work for an international law firm, then it’s essential to have a sense of what a target firm’s international network looks like and why it is shaped as it is. This is easier if you have a reasonable understanding of the shape of the world economy. What are the BRICS? What is an emerging market? Why did we have a financial crisis? What is neoliberalism? Why is austerity the watchword of the decade so far? What is the alternative? These topics are covered extensively in the media, often very well. However, a last-minute skim of the FT before your interview will be of limited use unless you are extraordinary lucky. You should get yourself into a routine and then stick to it. This approach enables you to develop genuine interest and a knack for spotting themes and trends. You will eventually be able to see things
from a business person’s perspective and develop a more connected understanding. In short, you will take on the media habits of a good professional before you become one. Below are some recommendations of good places to start learning: Today programme Great presenting team interviews leading figures about the issues of the day in business, politics and society. The World Tonight Broad coverage of international news and business. The Bottom Line Evan Davis’ roundtable interviews get to the heart of business thinking. Peter Day’s World of Business Veteran business journo Peter Day’s show includes on-the-ground stories from around the world. Today in Parliament Discover whether our parliamentarians are out of touch or have their finger on the pulse. PM Eddie Mair presents an irreverent, but probing look at the day’s issues – excellent journalism and interviews with leading figures. The World at One One of BBC R4’s main flagship news and current affairs programmes, along with Today and PM . Radio: BBC R4 and the World Service World Business Report Daily stories from around the world.
TV
Channel 4 News The hour-long show allows time for special reports to explain issues more deeply.
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