As temperatures plummeted this week and most of the UK was hit with snow, we sat down to bring you some of the week’s top commercial stories.   

Your commercial awareness skills will be assessed at each stage of the application process. Not only is it important to be aware of the news and events that are directly impacting the firm you’re applying to, its clients and practice areas; you should also be considering the wider impact on the legal and business worlds. For now, read this week’s commercial news round-up below.

What's on the horizon in employment law?

Grab that ice cream and sit down with LawCareers.Net’s commercial news round-up for a summary of our pick of the news from the past week. What’s on your radar?

As a LawCareers.Net reader, you may have already kicked off your legal career or you may be just beginning your studies. Regardless of where you’re at, learning an effective method of studying is always useful. If you’re already working, you can employ this knowledge to improve your ability to work and learn on the job.

The European Commission is concerned about the introduction of TikTok Lite, the Scottish government is set to scrap environmental plans, new legislation has criminalised the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes and drug shortages are set to continue. Read on to find out more.

Well done to everyone for getting through the second semester. Easter holidays are a time for rest, rejuvenation and spending time with family and friends. However, many students have exams after the holidays and need to also find the time for revision. This blog post aims to give you some tips on how to balance all of this and get the most out of the holidays.

As the UK awaits Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s update in today’s daily briefing on whether there will be any changes to the social distancing measures currently in place, here’s a short round-up of how the outbreak continues to affect the business and legal worlds, among other news.   

I applied for places on a few summer vacation schemes but was unsuccessful. What other work experience can I pursue to boost my CV and future applications?

Is it possible for solicitors to have a good work/life balance? And if I start a family, are there part-time or term-time options? 

LawWorks has announced the shortlist for the 2025 LawWorks and Attorney General’s Student Pro Bono Awards, which celebrate pro bono activities undertaken by law students and law schools across the UK.

The financial crisis: is it right to point the finger at the auditors?

What’s greenwashing and how can organisations navigate green advertising?

What is blockchain technology and what is its relevance to both the legal profession and the mining industry?

Following on from fellow blogger Indiya Kainth’s piece on how working from home might be affecting the individual, I was inspired to write the following piece on how working from home might affect law firms. 

Tomorrow marks International Women’s Day – a day to celebrate and pay homage to the women in your life and give focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women. With this in mind, we’ve collected some recent important stories and looked at how they impact women.

What is the commercial role of a bill of lading?

Welcome to the next topic in this series, where I attempt to make commercial awareness content for non-law students like myself.

With the covid-induced backlog of cases pushing the already strained courts system to breaking point in the UK, commentators such as Simon Jenkins (columnist for The Guardian) are questioning whether now is the right time for the government to examine and overhaul the archaic system of trial by jury.

The law firm today is where legal, technological and business expertise intersects. As modernisation in business and technology has seen a pivot towards data-driven efficiency, a similar shift within the legal sphere looms. The tradition of ‘gut instinct’ decision-making within law means that the emergence of a results-based approach has dramatically transformative potential.