How much commercial awareness should we have at this stage?

[ginevrafanshawe]

Hi everyone,

I have a vac scheme interview coming up and am trying to prepare for the possibility of commercial awareness questions; however, I'm not sure how much knowledge I'm supposed to have at this stage. I have some possible options below; could anyone who has experience with vac scheme interviews please let me know which is most accurate, and any more info if possible?

1. We just need a good knowledge of current affairs, eg the war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis, and how these affairs might affect clients

2. We need knowledge of specifically commercial current affairs, eg the crypto crisis, and how businesses and markets work / how these affairs might affect clients

3. We need knowledge of all of the above as well as specific commercial law knowledge, eg reasons why an IPO may not work, or the stages of a private equity transaction

I understand this may differ by firm: the firm I have the interview with is Davis Polk, whose London office is strongly focused on corporate and finance work.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[ginevrafanshawe]

Bumping this as I really need some advice!

 

[Jessica Booker]

I don’t think you need specific knowledge of any of these topics, but you should be able to analysis such topics and form an opinion on all of them.