Morning everyone, I have a bit of a silly question. How do you actually build your commercial awareness? I have signed up to newsletters such as Little Law and Non-billable which I am trying to be more consistent with my reading. I just realised that I have been passively reading without retain the information 🤣 Any tips to improve your commercial awareness and how to think more commercially are welcome 🙏
I have just jotted down my understanding of Commercial Awareness. I hope this helps:
*Commercial Awareness*
Commercial Awareness in its simplest form means understanding how current events and trends, in economics, politics and global trends affects and impacts the corporate/commercial/business world and their operations, i.e., businesses, global companies, Law firms, investment bankers, stock brokers etc.
The key breakdown in particular for those aspiring to become corporate/commercial lawyers is put in to 3 categories. These are as follows:
- Why does this particular news impact a client (company)?
Example – Trump administrations global tariffs, in particular 37% on imports from Bangladesh, and 49% on Cambodia could potential be hugely impactful on huge companies who may have set up clothes factories in Bangladesh and Cambodia, as cost of labor i.e., material and machinery, and work labor may be cheaper to set up there as opposed to setting up in the US or in Europe, when they were initially setting up shop.
- How does this particular news impact a client (company)?
Example – these huge tariffs will affect the pricing of imports to America, therefore potentially impacting sales.
- What could this mean for the firm?
Example – in this particular instance, it could mean work in helping these companies navigate their way through these tariffs, this could potentially be work for the tax and finance practice area. Similarly, this could also result in the firm being instructed to deal with negotiations for relocation and setting up shop for these factories in a different environment and different jurisdiction with fewer tariffs, which could mean work for practices such as tax and real estate, finance, and corporate.
Ultimately, Commercial Awareness allows lawyers to anticipate client needs, offer practical and proactive solutions and understand the broader implications of legal and business decisions.
Things to use that would help improve your Commercial Awareness:
News Outlets:
- Financial Times.
- Times articles.
- Legal Cheeks news.
- ChatGPT.
- Google News alert.
- Bloomberg.
- CNBC.
- Economist.
- BBC Business.
- City AM.
Podcasts:
- Watson’s daily.
- FT news briefings.
- BBC wake up to money.
Also speak to someone in order to improve Commercial Awareness, for example talk about the news and conversate with them, understand the terminology used in these articles to improve your Commercial Awareness and be able to understand how this news affects clients and firms.
Finally, Commercial Awareness is a skill that will constantly need to be improved, from newbies who are trying to understand the concept to experts who advise on potentially the biggest deals, and so please do not be discouraged and keep working hard to improve this skill.
You got this 💪🏾
Also if this breakdown is wrong, please help and improve it. Any advice would be appreciated.
