I don’t think there is an expectation for you to memorise everything and regurgitate it all in an interview. That would seem robotic. 🫡
It’s much better to choose areas of commercial law that interest you and focus on those. Doing it this way also means you can articulate ideas better. 🙂
For example, I am interested in antitrust & competition, IP, and dispute resolution. I focus my research on these areas to develop commercial awareness. 🫡
If you are applying for US firms with M&A/Private Equity focus, it would make sense to spend time on this as it’s highly likely to come up in an interview. 🙂
I think the most important thing is do you have basics covered e.g., what is a bank? what is a merger? what is an indemnity? what is the CMA? Once you have this underlying knowledge, it’s easier to digest articles and podcasts so it won’t be as overwhelming. 🥳
The most important thing about commercial awareness is can you see what role a firm can play in any story. For example, If you read an article about some changes to litigation funding, how would law firms be able to help their clients handle these changes.
This is how I understand commercial awareness. It’s not something you can master overnight tbh. 😞