Developing Commercial Awareness - Tips from a Corporate Lawyer

If you’ve applied for a job at a commercial law firm (or in any corporate professional services firm) you’ve probably seen that successful candidates will demonstrate some level of “commercial awareness”. But what exactly does that mean?
In this video, I'm going to share what commercial awareness actually is and how to improve it, from my perspective of having practiced as a corporate lawyer.
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Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:16 What is Commercial Awareness?
3:49 How Do I Get Better at Commercial Awareness?
7:47 Law Firms Are Businesses Too

[@leeroyjenkins867]

THANK YOU!! Even as a working professional this has always confused me. So glad this video exists!!

[@EmandLloyd]

You're very welcome! There's definitely not enough comprehensive resources on this, even though it's emphasized by basically every professional services provider as an important thing.

[@emmazhang3040]

Agree 100%. I was in-house before and had times when external counsel advised that we do things that seemed fine from the legal perspective but were actually disastrous business moves. The lawyers I found easiest to work with were the ones who took care to understand our business needs and considered factors beyond the law. Great video as always!

[@Nnamdi101]

Preparing for a law firm interview. This has proved very useful!!

[@Avant402]

I definitely agree with you when it comes to reading business case studies. I myself majored in Accounting and Finance with a minor in Economics. And I can tell you from experience that reading business case studies is a must! It allows you to put yourself in that management position, how would handle the business situation, and why. It also teaches you about the world of business. Business case studies helped me so much, that by the time I got to graduate school I pretty much had the understanding of how important those business case studies are.

[@EmandLloyd]

Absolutely agree - we don't see it recommended often, but it's a great tool for putting oneself in the manager's mindset, needing to understand the business as a whole.

[@gigicen947]

Thank you Lloyd for the advice! The guiding questions approach is actually quite transferable, and I may apply them to read the media reports on topics that I am not familiar with.

[@indiacoates2567]

Thank you I have always been daunted by this concept so great resource!

[@jamespl8638]

Great video. I also strongly recommend picking up a simple financial accounting book. Accounting is dull, but it is the language of business and is hard to avoid in a transactional setting (or even in lit or reg). The basics are very quick and easy to pick up (a 12 year old will understand them) and will go a much longer way than any general business books by so-called gurus. Two cents from an (ex-)structured finance associate

[@phoebechristina]

Great video! This is my first time hearing about commercial awareness and I’m so happy to learn that I’ve been doing it for quite some time! I frequently read media and business related publications.

[@ericalu5326]

Very useful tips, thanks for sharing!

[@mohmeegaik6686]

Lloyd & Em, that would be a good topic for raising legal awareness for the public in doing business.

[@eveartgraceclaro5186]

Thank you for this content

[@02sclub55]

useful video~ thank you!

[@mav1664]

Thank you🙏🏻

[@Aidan_Au]

"Law Firms Are Businesses Too" - This reminds me of Harvey Specter not wanting to do Pro Bono in Suits. "I'd do anything for you. Anything but that" . Thank you Lloyd for sharing your tips!

[@EmandLloyd]

Iconic scene! Fun fact - thankfully many of the larger firms these days allow for hours spent doing pro bono to be factored into a lawyer's overall billable hour count, meaning lawyers wouldn't miss out on bonus incentives etc for doing pro bono. Definitely a step in the right direction, since this structure incentivizes doing more pro bono work! Thanks for stopping by as always :)

[@user-kv2sy7qe5w]

thank you sooooo much for your sharing and this definitely saves me from confusion. I am a year 2 llb student and recently I join some recruitment talks which always emphasis about commercial awareness...It's driving me crazy as I find most resources are not practical to my questions in mind. I even think if I should take a CFA, CPA, or ACCA to show that I have some commercial sense. Have never thought that I can read case studies to enhance my awareness. Amazing idea. Btw, may I know if you think that taking a business internship is necessary for applying to an ifirm specialising in corporate service? Speaking of networking, do you have any tips for that? Thank you again for your time and the detailed videos!

[@ilovecheese111]

Hi, so I have been working on getting a business administration bachelors anddd am two years deep into it. I want to be a family law attorney. I am now being told I should have been trying to get a humanities degree. I think I should be okay now tho after watching ths video because I know everything about business due to the last two years of business classes...lol

[@user-jv2np4vm4x]

How do college students demonstrate commercial awareness in their applications? They are just students, and it not likely that they have money to start a business themselves and put it on a CV. And therefore when law firms simply filter you out without giving you a chance for interview it would be very frustrating. Any suggestions?

[@frederictsang8027]

This is very helpful! For the 4 questions when reading financial articles, I feel like there is a big overlap between 1 and 2, since the challenges that a company will face(2) will probably be part of the problem that they are facing(2). I am wondering if you have any more guidelines on how to make points 1 and 2 mutually exclusive

[@EmandLloyd]

Great question - 1 (problem) refers to the problem(s) a company is facing, and 2 (challenges) refers to any challenges that the company will face *when trying to solve the problem*. Taking my example from the video, if a company is dealing with non-payment from one of its suppliers, it deals with the problem (1) of not getting paid. In response to this, the company could do a number of things including suing the supplier or demanding payment - but it faces the challenge (2) of potentially losing its business relationship with that supplier in the long term if any dispute like this isn't resolved amicably. On the flip side, if the company doesn't push for the full payment and maybe ends up offering a huge discount to preserve the relationship, it may end up setting a bad precedent with its supplier and have a harder time claiming full payments down the line. There's usually no black and white for such things, but going through the thought exercise is definitely helpful as learning/training. Hope that helps!

[@Jerrywangziyue]

Do you mind putting the Chinese subtitles on, so that more of you fellow can also learn from this?

[@takakohiruma5214]

awesome

[@chinyeoh7882]

8th on behalf of ctkom

[@leonfong4456]

Even as an investor, I think commercial awareness is basic

[@jojowu1611]

CLSS

[@takakohiruma5214]

not first

[@EmandLloyd]

Thanks for trying though, Takako 😂