Commerciality and business nous: these are prized skills among lawyers and exactly the kind of thing that firms want their trainees to possess (or at least demonstrate the potential to develop). Start working on this part of your brain by reading this week’s collection of economic and business news.

With the biggest vac scheme deadline of the year looming (31 January), now’s the time to get your head back in the game, commercial-awareness-wise. You may find yourself being quizzed on your knowledge of economic affairs in vac scheme interviews, so it pays to be prepared. Here’s a selection from the past week to get you started.

As it starts to feel like summer is just round the corner, it is easy to be tempted by the allure of outside drinking and BBQs, and lose focus on the task at hand – namely, honing your commercial awareness so as to be able to present yourself as a credible candidate to the law firms that you hope to join. 

Expect most news agencies to be preoccupied by the mayoral election today, but there is still lots of commercial news doing the rounds.

In all the apocalyptic, post-Brexit scenarios, no one was likely to have predicted the worst outcome of all – a lack of Marmite in some parts of the United Kingdom.

Short and sweet this week; a handful of interesting business-driven news stories that you should know at least a bit about. Read on for more: 

As we are all now in thrall to the displays of Olympic athleticism, it is clear why there is a strong commercial imperative for companies to sponsor the Games – but what of those that try to “bandwagon”? For other, non-sporting commercial news, read on for this small selection from the past week: 

A day later than usual, our latest round-up of the commercial news stories that any aspiring lawyer should be up to speed with shows that the world does not pause in the run-up to the Xmas holidays – if anything, momentous events are accelerating while many of us wind down before hopefully enjoying some time off. This week we focus on the ambitions and problems of two media giants, upcoming industrial action in yet another sector, and the very real clashes between profit drivers and ethics in the pharmaceutical industry. 

A-level students are not the only ones poring over results and figures today to see what that means for them. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that consumers’ retail spending rose 1.4% in July following the June vote for Britain to leave the European Union, a much higher increase than economists predicted.

What with Brexit and Trump v Clinton, there is a lot of juicy news to fill newspaper columns at the moment.

Top of the list in terms of business news this week was the collapse of BHS - the biggest and most visible loss to the high street since Woolworths went under in 2008.

As we are just weeks away from the EU referendum, the campaigning on both sides is reaching fever pitch, with one of the most hotly contested areas of debate the economic implications of in or out. 

Well. Here we all are. Donald Trump is America’s president-elect and much of the world is reeling as it works out what that’s going to mean politically, environmentally, socially and economically. In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s election, the result had a destabilising effect on markets. Things have calmed down since then, but the world is watching. In light of the upsetting enormity of the Trump triumph, here are some other business stories that you might want to distract yourself with.

Our round-up of the first commercial developments in 2017 picks up very much where 2016 left off. The maverick methods of President-elect Donald Trump are having a marked impact on the thinking of major businesses, while tensions between China and other economies continue to increase. There is also a mixture of encouraging and not-so-rosy omens for the UK economy to pick through. 

Summer is here! Not that you’d know it to look outside. Console yourself in the face of gloomy weather with this selection of interesting business-related news from the past week.

The best commercial lawyers have their fingers firmly on the pulse of the business world. If that is the role to which you aspire, starting to get a grip now on the business and economic news of the day is essential, but it can be hard to know where to start. Look no further.

As we head off to our first-ever LCN Lunch Club with representatives from student law societies, we imagine that many of the clued-up attendees are aware that good lawyers are more than just legal advisers – they are also business advisers, who must understand their clients’ concerns and motivations.

Just an idea, but we would gently suggest that you intersperse the late-morning starts and excessive consumption that characterises the Easter weekend with looking at some of the past week’s most interesting commercial news stories.

Don’t let the soaring temperatures distract you from the task at hand; namely, improving your understanding of the commercial world.

Commerciality remains top of many recruiters’ list of ideal traits for their future trainees - where better to develop that skill than with a small collection of topical business news stories, designed to help you to start thinking like a lawyer.