Commercial awareness: how to show firms you ‘think business’

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Commercial awareness is understanding that being a lawyer involves much more than just knowing the law – you have to know your clients’ businesses and the sectors they operate in to be able to help them to achieve their commercial aims. As someone looking for a training contract or work experience, demonstrating commercial awareness isn’t going to be the same for you as for a partner with 20 years’ experience – no one expects you to be an expert. Above all, you need to show that you’re interested and that you have the ability to ‘think business’.

For candidates, commercial awareness means two things:

• understanding the aims of law firms’ clients and the business conditions in which the client operates; and
• understanding how your law firm or other potential employer works as a business.

Understanding the client and its aims

A lawyer is a trusted legal adviser. The value of your advice generally depends on two factors:

• the outcome of your work (ie, whether it’s helped the client to achieve its aims); and
• whether the service you provided represents value for money to the client.

For example, your client is the owner of a start-up asking your firm to draft a simple, accessible contract that gives it some room to be flexible. The commercial lawyer who understands what the client needs won’t then draft a 100-page document that the start-up will need an in-house legal team to implement, and which doesn’t provide flexibility. A shorter, simpler contract would suit the client’s needs much better.

A good lawyer will be proactive in looking at ways to add value for the client, for example, by identifying a potential problem further down the line that the client hasn’t and coming up with a solution. This example also shows how these principles apply even if you aren’t interested in the corporate side of things and want to be, say, a private client solicitor. Many private clients are small business owners, so you must be able to engage with them on their level to give them the help they’re looking for. 

Good communication is also key – if your client has been running their own small business for 30 years and has a set way of doing things then communicating in the most current corporate jargon may not come across as that impressive. And remember that you’ll encounter very different personalities in the course of the job, which will each require a slightly different approach.

Understanding the law firm as a business

Law firms are themselves businesses – they have to make a profit. A commercially aware candidate appreciates that the work solicitors do has to make their firm money and encourage clients to keep using the firm, as well as understanding how firms bill clients.

When researching a firm before making an application for a training contract or vacation scheme, look up its practice areas and clients, any recent mergers or plans for expansion, where its offices are located and its profits. It’s also a good idea to think about how a firm is structured, is it partner-owned, like most law firms, or listed on the stock market? Key objectives for firms are retaining their current clients to ensure repeat custom and winning new clients by pitching work to them – bear all this in mind as you research a chosen firm and think about how it applies to that firm specifically.

For more information on researching law firms, read this LCN Says.

Plus, spend some time familiarising yourself with the way firms bill clients in six-minute intervals – splitting each hour of work into 10 billable units. From the moment you begin your training contract, this practice will be a key part of your day to day.

Check out this blog to find out more about the six-minute interval.

Building your commercial awareness

Commercial awareness isn’t general knowledge. However, knowing what’s going on in the wider world of business and politics is essential to be able to provide good commercial advice. Law firms and their clients don’t operate in a vacuum and laws passed by governments and decisions of other businesses affect everyone.

This means that you should keep up with what’s going on in the business world through the press. For example, consider how recent developments – like the autumn budget or changes to inheritance tax – might impact legal practice. While it’s good to have a general understanding of big developments, make sure you also research certain topics and stories in depth. Crucially, ensure you have a genuine interest in the topics you choose to research – this will come across when you’re asked to talk about a commercial issue in an interview.

Our legal and commercial news and the Financial Times are excellent resources, but watching a good news programme such as Channel 4 News and reading more generalist outlets such as the BBC and other broadsheet newspapers is also highly valuable.

Websites such as TED Talks or listening to our very own COMMERCIAL CONNECT podcast are also great ways of learning about current business concepts and getting you thinking along commercial lines. You can also use social media to your advantage by following news outlets on Instagram, X and TikTok. Doing all of this should stand you in good stead when writing applications and answering questions at interview.

Read this LCN Says to find out which podcasts and influencers you should be following.

It’s also important to think about the effects events have on businesses. One way to do this is to use the PESTLE technique, which considers the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental impacts of different issues. For an example of how to do this, check out our Wrestle with PESTLE articles on our Commercial awareness hub.

Our Commercial Question section is another excellent resource. Here you’ll find articles written by lawyers at leading law firms on topics from cyber safety to the implications of the government’s consultation on the buy now, pay later sector.

Taking part in work experience is another good place to start. One top tip: don’t rule out non-legal work experience. From working in a shop to experience at a big corporate organisation, hands-on experience is invaluable for understanding the real-world application of commercial awareness. Attending events like firm open days or LawCareersNetLIVE can also give you an idea of how firms operate.

The more you learn, the more everything makes sense and fits together to improve your understanding of current affairs and the world around you. So, get reading, listening and watching – and follow your interests.