Description
Kindly note that this is version 1 of our finance book. We are releasing this book early due to popular demand (and our desire to get you a copy early to help you!), but please note that it is not completely finished. Next year, we will be adding sections on bonds and understanding the financial markets.
I know many of you have chosen a career in law because you prefer words to numbers. I certainly did. You then start the legal journey and you’re told, ‘no, you actually need to understand finance!’.
Well, kind of. Crucially, you don’t need to worry about calculations as a lawyer. Finance is important because it’s how businesses make decisions. Every decision to buy a company, to expand internationally, or to invest in a new product, is based on the belief that it will make a higher return than the money that has been invested. This is important to understand as a commercial lawyer. It’s your job to use the law to help clients to implement their financial decisions.
Finance is also important because it’s the language your clients will use. As a commercial lawyer, many of your clients will be big companies, banks, private equity firms, and other financial institutions. Your day to day work, whether it’s managing the conditions in a loan agreement or supporting a client through a public listing, will require you to understand the financial world.
What I will say is that you can’t expect to know all of this from day one. There is still a lot that I am learning too. It’s the same for any trainee, associate and partner. The most important thing you can do is to keep reading this stuff, over and over again, until it clicks. You might not get the difference between a fixed and floating charge, or the meaning of private equity, the first 10 times. But the more you come across these terms, the more comfortable you will become.
About Corporate Law Made Simple Book Series
Apply to law firms and you’ll need this thing called ‘commercial awareness’. Students tell us it’s their biggest stumbling block to securing a job at the biggest commercial law firms.
I think it’s pretty understandable. No-one teaches you about M&A, equity and debt, or warranties and indemnities at school or university. And yet, an interviewer will ask you questions like, ‘What is the difference between an asset purchase and share purchase?’ or ‘Why would a warranty be useful in this situation?’.
But all is not lost, I promise. I was an applicant like you too. In my first interview with Herbert Smith Freehills, I stared blankly as he asked me the difference between an asset and a share purchase. The interview didn’t last long.
But I learnt it: the world of equity finance, debt finance, private equity and M&A. The role of lawyers. It’s all learnable.
Most importantly, in my six years running TCLA, I have seen thousands of applicants transition from knowing nothing about the world of finance to confidently discussing financial terms. Many of them are now associates across the top law firms.
And no matter your background or circumstances, I know you can do it too.
Jaysen
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