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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.

Hey everyone!

I have decided to restart our giveaway for a free month of TCLA Premium (Bronze) every week. You will also receive a new badge titled 'Forum Winner'.

If you are already a future trainee, you can instead opt-in to receive a £5 Amazon Gift Card instead of the free subscription to TCLA Premium.

Why do we do this?

We want to celebrate those of you who give back to the forum on a day-to-day basis. It's our opportunity to show you that the help you provide doesn't go unnoticed because people like you keep our community a supportive and friendly place.

What do I do if I win?

The Community Assistant (myself) or @Erin will be in contact with your reward for a free subscription to TCLA Premium. If you are a future trainee, please let them know and you will be issued a gift card instead.

Award this week goes to:

@RANDOTRON - For their consistently excellent and thorough contributions to the TCLA community. From encouraging others, providing in-depth research for community members and using their experience to demonstrate to applicants how to improve upon their skills, to providing tips to junior lawyers in need of support. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but nonetheless clearly demonstrates their devotion to helping future and current trainees. You are a credit to the legal community and to this forum - thank you!

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An opportunity to undertake a training contract at the firm, commencing in 2025.

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An opportunity to undertake a training contract at the firm, commencing in 2025.

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Where and how can I work as a paralegal or legal assistant volunteer in law firm?

Hi, if anyone can help me, I would be very grateful. I just finished my PGDL last month, which was entirely self-funded as I didn’t apply for VS/TC during undergrad. I also made a terrible mistake by not applying for VS during my GDL year because I didn’t feel “ready”. (I have a 1:1 Oxbridge degree and some okay work experience but I have self-esteem and perfectionism issues about not being good enough for the firms I want.)

I’m 100% set on being a solicitor; I just don’t know what to do next to rescue myself and secure a TC. Should I self fund the SQE1+2 next and fire out as many VS/TC applications while I’m studying for them? Or should I take a gap year and give my whole heart out to applying? Am I better off trying to Paralegal? Do any of these options look better or worse from a recruiters POV?

I was set on the self-funding SQE route initially, and had found a BPP SQE1&2 prep course that starts this fall but would it make sense to start in September (and sit the SQE1 in January) when I want to be working on vac scheme apps + doing interviews / assessment centres throughout this time period? Esp since summer VS interviews usually fall around Jan…

I could possibly delay the SQE prep course until their February start (to sit SQE1 in July) but then risk the SQE1 July exam period overlapping with any summer vacation schemes I might have scheduled (if by miracle I secure anything).

I feel a bit lost. If anyone has any thoughts on my dilemma I would appreciate loads as everything feels rather nebulous lately <3

Hey, if anyone is studying the LPC at ULAW this September, please reach out!

Are there any WhatsApp groups currently for me to join?

Thanks!

Hello, does anyone know any blogs that allow outside article contribution on their website? TIA

Does anyone know where I can find paralegal remote jobs or any firms that do this?

Hi everyone. My name is Jacky. I’m a second year law student at the University of Birmingham. I am hoping to secure a training contract before I leave university.

What are some tips to ace interviews?

Hi all, I have just had my advocacy exam with ULAW and it was online. However, I had completely misread the requirement for only ONE side of A4 notes and prepared two.

However, I made the tutor aware before starting the exam and they said that’s fine if I could pleas disregard the second page. However at the end he said he couldn’t confirm if it was ok and would need to check with the moderator; does anyone have any advice on this as to whether this would be a fail? I didn’t use them but afraid they will void the exam.

Thanks

Hiya!

I'm Nina and I'm a foreign qualified lawyer starting an LLM at UCL this September (self funded) and I've been looking at training contracts and vacation schemes. I graduated in 2019 in my home country, completed a training contract and qualified there, but now that I've decided to up and move to London, I'm having to do it all over again. I know that in order to be employable here in the UK I need the experience only a training contract can give me. I've also talked to some friends in the field and they all agree TC is the best option for me.

But I need to realistically know if it is even possible to secure a vacation scheme at my old age of 25

For example, I was looking at a law firm page and it said this:

Who is eligible to apply for a vacation scheme?  Students and graduates from any discipline are welcome to apply for our vacation scheme, as long as you’re in your penultimate year of study.

I am definitely not in my penultimate year of study, so they probably wouldn't even consider me, right? Have any of you guys gone through something similar? Any advice for me? I'm kinda lost and overwhelmed right now.

Thank you for hearing me out!

Dear Reader,

I am starting this thread... primarily for myself, but if any readers want to contribute then please feel free. I have decided, at 01.30am, that it is time to hold myself accountable and channel my thoughts surrounding TC applications into a vice (so that it can finally leave my mind). I hope doing so will free up some of the negative thoughts, allow me to track my development, and perhaps one day I can look back at this and smile, knowing that I have finally made it.

Although the TC cycle is currently full steam ahead. I do not anticipate that I will send many applications this academic year. I currently have my elective exams, and amidst work and studying, there is little time left to apply myself fully to the application season. For this reason, I have narrowed my prospective application choices down to 5 firms: Kirkland & Ellis; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; White & Case; Macfarlanes; and Norton Rose Fulbright. Of course, if needs be, I will widen this again for the next cycle.

However, if I am honest with myself, or with any of you for that matter, I am worried (as you will come to learn gradually with every post). You see, I did not get the best grades, far from it. I got BCC at A-Level and a few 3rds at LLB, and although the grades are not great, I doubt I could have done any better or whether I was even willing to do any better...

*cue the mitigating circumstances*

During my studies, one of my parents was sadly diagnosed with stage-4 cancer, and I found our roles change. Following one bout of chemotherapy, I suddenly became the parent, and they became the child (the beautiful yet poignant circle of life). Of course, this meant that alongside my studies, I had also become a full-time carer. It's no excuse, I probably could have done better. However, weighing up what was more important, my parent trumped everything. So, I found myself attending less classes, doing minimal revision, and eventually sitting exams that I had no knowledge of. Truthfully, I wish I could say that I still cared about my education at the time, and I persevered, but I didn't. I did not think about my future, but rather focused on the future that was being taken from me: one where my parent would not see my graduation, one where they would not see me get married, and one where they would not be there to see their first grandchild. Instead, I wanted to make as many memories with them as possible, as these were all that would be left of them. I pretty much focused all my energy on them, and the ironic thing is, I have no regrets. Bad grades or not, I am grateful that I made that decision. Grateful that I got to spend as much time with my parent as possible.

However, my worry is that I will be unsuccessful in my endeavours. I know those firms are not exactly looking for anyone who does not meet the academic criteria and perhaps I should be applying for high street firms instead - but is it cringey to say that I know my worth? Not in the sense that high street firms are beneath me, but more in the sense that I know I am great at what I do, and if anything, I have the experience to showcase as such. Nevertheless, for some reason, every time I apply for a VS/TC - I keep getting rejected, even where my WGT scores are hitting the 90% mark (thank you v much Linklaters).

I often try convincing myself that okay maybe a lot of candidates got into the top 10% and perhaps I just missed the cut, OR maybe my applications were not written to the best quality. However, the more that time passes by, and the more that I develop my applications - the more I think that maybe it's those bloody grades that keep getting me screened out instead (I can't imagine an ATS having a filter button for whether a candidate’s mitigating circumstances are good enough and often wonder whether these are taken into account during a pre-screen at all). However, just like the rest of you, I won't give up. I know I will make it one day (and don't worry I am shaking the mix of firm choices around for the next cycle and will continue to develop my applications).


See you at the next post.


Regards,

LegallyBrown

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