How we won ‘Best society for commercial awareness’ at LawCareers.Net’s Student Law Society Awards

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The UCL Law Society was nominated for three awards at this year's Student Law Society awards 2025, sponsored by BARBRI: 'Best Law Society for Commercial Awareness’, 'Best Law Society President' and 'Best Law Society Overall.' We’re incredibly grateful for these nominations, as they’re a testament to the hard work of our 19 committee members, who work tirelessly to offer a range of events and opportunities for our members – be it in careers, competitions, publications, sports or socials. 

We took home the trophy for the 'Best Law Society for Commercial Awareness' award, sponsored by Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (London) LLP. This award particularly stands out to us, as commercial awareness often seems to be a buzzword for students and presents a large barrier for those who have never had experience or insight into the commercial world (most of us!). 

Check out LCN’s commercial awareness hub, sponsored by Mayer Brown International LLP, for tips on how to build your commercial awareness!

Knowing and understanding firsthand how hard it is to break into the commercial law sphere, our committee has strived to make the field not only more accessible but also more engaging for members. We do this through three key areas: careers, competitions and publications. 

Stand out events

Firstly, our vice president and careers secretary Mihika organised and hosted a range of events dedicated to helping students understand what commercial awareness is and how to develop it. For example, we held an event with founder of LittleLaw Idin Sabahipour to talk students through the process of understanding the dense aspects of business news. We also held sessions with founder of The Corporate Law Academy (TCLA) Jaysen Sutton on breaking down M&A – from what it means, to the key transaction documents and role of trainees in deals. 

We also offer practice-area-specific talks from leading law firms, including Macfarlanes LLP on private funds, Slaughter and May on their corporate group and Sidley Austin LLP on breaking down legal documents. Furthermore, our partnerships with TCLA and the Commercial Law Academy offer members exclusive benefits, including discounted memberships, free trial periods and other resources to deepen their understanding of commercial topics. 

To further demystify intimidating areas like private equity, capital markets and M&A, we’ve introduced a new Demystifying Commercial Law Crash Course series. This is designed to provide approachable and engaging content in a peer-to-peer format. This entailed Mihika, alongside her subcommittee, preparing substantive sessions (almost like seminars) on these topics, helping students take the first big leap into this field (and the hardest!). 

Our Legal Awareness newsletter

Secondly, our publications officer Jago produces our fortnightly Legal Awareness newsletter. This is sent straight to the email inbox of all members who sign up free of cost and simplifies complex commercial stories. For example, this year we covered the UK budget and Shein’s potential initial public offering. These stories were captured into digestible articles written by students for students. This involves a team of student writers and has the goal of keeping the student body legally informed. So far, we have released 7 editions, including 43 articles. This is split into our general legal section and the new commercial section, which was introduced this year. This involved two commercial articles, one focusing on a domestic context and a second on the international content. The newsletter also has a series of definitions and links to further articles to ensure our members are commercially aware. Our subscribers have increased to over 830, which is a 300 increase over the year. Furthermore, we’ve seen our most viewed editions ever, with one reaching more than 1100 views. 

Sharpening skills through commercial competitions

Thirdly, our vocations officer Charlotte organises two of our flagship commercial law competitions. First, the Taylor Wessing x UCL Negotiations Competition immerses participants in realistic commercial scenarios, such as M&A, intellectual property and private equity, where they must navigate complex industry dynamics to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for clients. This hands-on experience sharpens their ability to identify key commercial drivers, understand industry trends and adopt a client-centric perspective.

Meanwhile, the Commercial Awareness Competition challenges students on topics like environmental, social and governance, technology, and finance through different assessments, including article analysis, written tasks and presentations. This competition not only helps students stay informed about the latest developments, but also teaches them to think critically, drawing deeper insights from news stories and applying them in a commercial context. With more than 300 participants annually, our commercial law competitions attract law and non-law students alike.  

It has been an incredibly rewarding journey to be a part of the UCL Law Society committee this year, overseeing all the incredible advances made in improving our members’ commercial awareness. We look forward to handing over to our subsequent committee, who will no doubt continue preserving the foundations we have built this year.

Mihika Kumar is the vice president and careers secretary of UCL Law Society