Commercial awareness sources

RANDOTRON

Esteemed Member
Junior Lawyer
  • Oct 11, 2021
    98
    155
    Hi, I'm not sure if anyone has started a thread on this before (if so, sorry!). One of the main difficulties when I first started developing my commercial awareness was figuring out what sources I could use, where I should start, or even what news I should even be reading. So I want to make a thread where we can all share our commercial awareness sources. There's a wealth of information out there presented in various formats, and I figured it might be useful to have a place that everyone can refer to for sources to develop their commercial awareness.

    So to kick this off, here's my list of sources with a note on if they are paid or free:
    • Newsletter
      • FT Unhedged (paid): Critical analysis of market data and trends, and its wider implications.
      • FT Due Diligence (paid): More related to corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, and private equity.
      • FT Asset Management (paid): Looks at news relating to asset management industry (eg, BlackRock).
      • FT Lex (paid): Each newspiece is written by a group of columnists, explains why the news is happening.
      • Bloomberg Opinion: Money Stuff (free): Analytical commentary on interesting (at times bizarre/obscure) finance stuff.
      • The Daily Upside (free): Offers a summary of three key news event with a brief analysis on its macro impact.
      • Finimize (paid): Similar to The Daily Upside.
      • Morning Brew (free): Similar to The Daily Upside.
      • The Economist Weekly Briefing (paid): Nice roundup of important news event in the previous week – good for catching up or refreshing.
    • Youtube
      • Patrick Boyle (free): Analysis on major news event explaining what, how and why – usually a long video.
      • Wharton School (free): Guest lecturers offer insight into various industries (eg, considerations of private equity firm acquisitions) – useful for getting an understanding of how business people think (hint: look at their popular videos section).
        • Pro tip: other universities/companies offer similar guests lecturers (eg, check out this one from UoV School of Law); have a scan of the suggested videos in the right hand side column in these videos and you will in no time build a collection.
      • The Plain Bagel (free): Great for visualising how commercial terms work in practice (like short selling), also has videos like Boyle's and more leisurely videos like the ones critiquing TikTok finance videos.
      • Khan Academy (free): Another great source for learning how economics work (like bond yields and its relative movement to price/interest rate).
    • Podcast
      • Numbers by Barron (free): Breaks down stories by three numbers.
      • FT News Briefing (free): Sums up important news stories for each day.
      • Goldman Sachs Exchanges (free): Commentary by people working at GS on a market trend.
      • Morgan Stanley Thoughts on the Market (free): Similar to GS Exchanges.
      • WSJ What's News (free): Basically FT News Briefing but they deliver it twice a day (US time) – once in the morning, once in the evening.
    • Website
      • Investopedia (free): Great for learning about commercial terms, and they also sometimes have videos to visualise the terms.
    Quick note: I mainly use the FT Newsletters now because I prefer getting my commercial awareness this way, but I did use all these source before to varying degrees.

    Feel free to expand on this thread by adding your own personal favourites!

    Edit: I thought it might be more helpful to add a brief description of each source so you have a better idea of what it is; further added more to the Wharton School YouTube section with tip on exploring further sources.
     
    Last edited:

    jo123

    Star Member
    Premium Member
  • Nov 29, 2019
    27
    26
    Newsletter:
    The Long & Short - daily summary of all things UK business and finance
    ZipLaw - I love this newsletter! (plugging my referral link lol https://www.ziplaw.uk/subscribe?ref=C0TWbrCVYw)
    LittleLaw - I love this newsletter! https://www.littlelaw.co.uk/subscribe?ref=C0TWbrCVYw

    Podcast
    Wake up to money - news with opinions from different listeners and professionals. Good for building debates and perspectives

    Website
    BBC news - always has a section to help beginners. E.g. would include "what is GDP?" "what is inflation?" in articles relating to those topics
     

    Jake Rickman

    Distinguished Member
    Premium Member
    Junior Lawyer 42
  • Nov 6, 2020
    74
    168
    Hi, I'm not sure if anyone has started a thread on this before (if so, sorry!). One of the main difficulties when I first started developing my commercial awareness was figuring out what sources I could use, where I should start, or even what news I should even be reading. So I want to make a thread where we can all share our commercial awareness sources. There's a wealth of information out there presented in various formats, and I figured it might be useful to have a place that everyone can refer to for sources to develop their commercial awareness.

    So to kick this off, here's my list of sources with a note on if they are paid or free:
    • Newsletter
      • FT Unhedged (paid): Critical analysis of market data and trends, and its wider implications.
      • FT Due Diligence (paid): More related to corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, and private equity.
      • FT Asset Management (paid): Looks at news relating to asset management industry (eg, BlackRock).
      • FT Lex (paid): Each newspiece is written by a group of columnists, explains why the news is happening.
      • Bloomberg Opinion: Money Stuff (free): Analytical commentary on interesting (at times bizarre/obscure) finance stuff.
      • The Daily Upside (free): Offers a summary of three key news event with a brief analysis on its macro impact.
      • Finimize (paid): Similar to The Daily Upside.
      • Morning Brew (free): Similar to The Daily Upside.
      • The Economist Weekly Briefing (paid): Nice roundup of important news event in the previous week – good for catching up or refreshing.
    • Youtube
      • Patrick Boyle (free): Analysis on major news event explaining what, how and why – usually a long video.
      • Wharton School (free): Guest lecturers offer inside into various industries – useful for getting an understanding of how business people think.
      • The Plain Bagel (free): Great for visualising how commercial terms work in practice (like short selling), also has videos like Boyle's and more leisurely videos like the ones critiquing TikTok finance videos.
      • Khan Academy (free): Another great source for learning how economics work (like bond yields).
    • Podcast
      • Numbers by Barron (free): Breaks down stories by three numbers.
      • FT News Briefing (free): Sums up important news stories for each day.
      • Goldman Sachs Exchanges (free): Commentary by people working at GS on a market trend.
      • Morgan Stanley Thoughts on the Market (free): Similar to GS Exchanges.
      • WSJ What's News (free): Basically FT News Briefing but they deliver it twice a day (US time) – once in the morning, once in the evening.
    • Website
      • Investopedia (free): Great for learning about commercial terms, and they also sometimes have videos to visualise the terms.
    Quick note: I mainly use the FT Newsletters now because I prefer getting my commercial awareness this way, but I did use all these source before to varying degrees.

    Feel free to expand on this thread by adding your own personal favourites!

    Edit: I thought it might be more helpful to add a brief description of each source so you have a better idea of what it is.
    Very comprehensive and helpful! Many of these are new to me!
     
    • 🤝
    Reactions: RANDOTRON

    idin.sabahipour

    New Member
    Junior Lawyer
    Sep 25, 2018
    2
    16
    Newsletter:
    The Long & Short - daily summary of all things UK business and finance
    ZipLaw - I love this newsletter! (plugging my referral link lol https://www.ziplaw.uk/subscribe?ref=C0TWbrCVYw)
    LittleLaw - I love this newsletter! https://www.littlelaw.co.uk/subscribe?ref=C0TWbrCVYw

    Podcast
    Wake up to money - news with opinions from different listeners and professionals. Good for building debates and perspectives

    Website
    BBC news - always has a section to help beginners. E.g. would include "what is GDP?" "what is inflation?" in articles relating to those topics

    Newsletter:
    The Long & Short - daily summary of all things UK business and finance
    ZipLaw - I love this newsletter! (plugging my referral link lol https://www.ziplaw.uk/subscribe?ref=C0TWbrCVYw)
    LittleLaw - I love this newsletter! https://www.littlelaw.co.uk/subscribe?ref=C0TWbrCVYw

    Podcast
    Wake up to money - news with opinions from different listeners and professionals. Good for building debates and perspectives

    Website
    BBC news - always has a section to help beginners. E.g. would include "what is GDP?" "what is inflation?" in articles relating to those topics
    Hey @jo123

    I'm Idin, the creator of LittleLaw. Thank you so much for mentioning it here - it's such a buzz to see it recommended!

    I'm currently working on ways I can improve the newsletter to make it more useful for aspiring lawyers. For example, some people mentioned including more law firm deals and disputes would be helpful when writing applications.

    I'm also working on an 'interview series' with trainees and junior associates to share their application tips and insights into their firm.

    So, if there's anything you want to see more of (or less of) let me know! 🙏
     

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