MEET OUR SPECIAL GUESTS
Amie-Louise Corry (Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube)
- Graduated with an LLB from Lancaster University and LPC with Masters in Legal
Practice at BPP in Manchester whilst working full-time - After 3 application cycles, Amie was offered a training contract starting in 2022 at
a top 20 international firm, where she also works as a Paralegal in the corporate
team - Amie created The Legal Path in August 2020 where she shares application tips &
offers legal mentoring on Youtube & Instagram, because she was aware of how
isolating and lonely the application process can be! - Amie continues to work on her commercial awareness – how to demonstrate it
and how to make it relevant to the firm and their practice areas.
Joe Mallet (Instagram, LinkedIn, LinkedIn group)
- Incoming trainee at US law firm, Vinson & Elkins in 2021
- State-educated LLB graduate from Bristol University
- Currently studying the LPC MSc at the University of Law Moorgate
- Joe found the process very daunting after being rejected for 2 application cycles;
however he managed to secure a few training contracts in the end - After his application experience and working in the legal recruitment industry, Joe
created the LinkedIn group called ‘Joe Mallet Resources for Aspiring Lawyers’
LinkedIn which now has over 11,000 members
Peter Watson (Instagram, LinkedIn, Watson’s Daily)
- Peter studied in Cardiff and Tokyo before starting his career as a stockbroker for
13 years at 4 international brokers in London & Tokyo. - Later, Peter worked in HR for a multinational company and as a consultant at 4
different agencies in the finance & investment banking industries. - Since 2014, Peter has created and written Watson’s Daily to help people
understand what is going on in financial markets and businesses
Sibel Vurdu (Instagram, LinkedIn, BeComAware)
- LPC BPP Law School, LLM Law & Economics at Queen Mary University of London
and LLB Law at the University of Essex - Sibel is currently a trainee solicitor where she has sat in Commercial Real Estate,
Employment Law & Litigation - Prior to law, Sibel worked in FinTech for 5 years in various different roles at an
international remittance company, including streamlining processes for client
benefit, looking at international expansion, and working in automation and AI. - Started BeComAware – an educational platform and e-learning hub designed to
teach commercial awareness.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What is commercial awareness and why is it important?
- Commercial awareness is not a pub quiz – it’s not about knowing the right or
wrong answers. - It’s important to have basic knowledge of a law firm and the business world,
which are the building blocks of commercial awareness. - Commercial awareness is about understanding how the business world operates
and how trends are impacting the business world ultimately. - It’s important to be able to interpret the news and how it impacts different
businesses to therefore understand how it impacts businesses’s stakeholders.
Guest Speaker Interview Tip
- If you have the chance to ask questions at the end of an interview, this is a
prime opportunity to demonstrate commercial awareness, so make sure you
ask questions E.G. What’s the culture like? Where do you see the firm in 5
years i.e. the same time I will qualify? etc.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What is your top tip for demonstrating commercial awareness in an
interview or application?
- Don’t just drop facts, you need to make the knowledge you have relevant to the
law firm, their practice areas, their clients, etc. Link it back to the firm. - Go in with a practice-area approach. If a firm specialises in a particular practice,
read up on those practices and the events surrounding those, - It shouldn’t be assumed that commercial awareness is just demonstrated during
a commercial awareness-related question but actually this skill can be
demonstrated throughout the application or interview processes by utilising the
commercial language and demonstrating a commercial way of thinking. - Read something that you’re genuinely interested in – if you don’t find those areas
interesting, you are applying to the wrong firm. You’ve got to think about what is
important to you - Know who you’re talking to – is your interviewer a partner or from the HR team?
- Make sure you understand the essence of that firm – identify the most revenue- generative area of that firm, then choose a story to do with that. Show the interviewer that you know about their firm and that you understand what is important to them.
What’s your #1 thing to do on the morning of the interview?
- Read the news in the morning, especially any news stories you’ve mentioned in
your application, so you are staying commercially aware on that particular topic.
Or if the firm specialises in pharmaceuticals, read the pharamaecuticals section. - Read the FT’s Lex column that day – it’s more opinionated but this may help you
argue a point in an interview. - Don’t stress too much about getting information at this point, you should already
have layered consolidation. It’s important to know if something new and pivotal is
happening, but it is more about the process a month prior. - Try and be aware of keystone events, like the financial crash, GDPR, etc. not just
most recent events (see the next page!).
HOW TO READ THE NEWS
SO, HOW DO YOU READ THE NEWS?
Don’t read passively, read actively.
- Think about the implications of a news story on a business.
- Treat it as a 4-step process (this is a tip from our Zoom Q&A):
– Identify a news story
– Gather the influence of that news story
– Identify the impact that has on business
– Understand how businesses might change their behaviour in light of that - E.G. If you are applying to firm with a specialist practice area, identifying
opportunities and challenges presented to lawyers as a result of that, for
example, an increased appetite for M&A, how might a law firm structure its
internal processes, how can it capitalise on what it’s doing to win more
clients/retain clients, a way of thinking.
Questions to consider when reading a news story
- How does this business operate? How does this business make its money? What
departments work together to make this work? - How are these different departments/organisations interconnected? Are the
markets rising/falling? - Is this trend only happening in the UK or is it global?
- What are it’s big stories? (and remember to keep an eye out for new ones!)
KEY NEWS STORIES TO KNOW
- Financial crisis 2008
- LIBOR scandal
- Coronavirus impact on the financial markets or sectoral impact
- Brexit transition
- US-China Trade War
- Wirecard scandal
HOW TO READ THE NEWS
PESTLE ANALYSIS
Look at the bigger picture!
The PESTLE mnemonic helps you consider 6 key external influences on an
organisation. It can be applied to any organisation in a given industry or country.
What is PESTLE?
- Political looks into tax policy, environmental regulations, trade restrictions and
reform, tariffs and political stability - Economic looks at economic growth/decline, interest, exchange, inflation and
wage rates, minimum wage, working hours, unemployment (local and national),
credit availability and cost of living - Sociological looks into cultural norms and expectations, health consciousness,
population growth rates, age distribution, career attitudes and health and safety - Technological looks into, for example: fields of robotics and artificial intelligence
and its rate of change. - Legal looks into changes to legislation impacting employment, access to
materials, quotas, resources, imports/exports, and taxation - Environmental looks into global warming, sustainable resources, ethical sourcing
(both locally and nationally), supply chain intelligence and medical emergencies
Why use PESTLE?
- It encourages strategic thinking & helps you spot business opportunities – what
could the organisation be doing to mitigate a weakness?
SWOT AND PESTLE TIPS
- Phone a friend! If you know someone who is also pursuing the legal field
make sure to collaborate – two heads and perspectives are better than one. - Use information that is available from the organisation itself.
- Use PESTLE along with SWOT.
- Be simple and concise.
- Don’t jump to conclusions. Correlation does not always lead to causation!