How to improve my commercial awareness and an additional commercial law question..

[goatenthusiast12]

I'm a first year LLB student and want to increase my commercial awareness. Any suggestions on where to start?

I also wanted to know if firms have a preference for candidates who have chosen to study additional modules related to commercial/business law. My uni offers specialised 'commercial law' courses from 2nd year onwards. Asking because I have an interest in international relations and my uni offers Law with IR as well. Conflicted as to which one I should go for, one I have an interest in or one that would practically benefit me?

 

[AvniD]

I'm a first year LLB student and want to increase my commercial awareness. Any suggestions on where to start?

I also wanted to know if firms have a preference for candidates who have chosen to study additional modules related to commercial/business law. My uni offers specialised 'commercial law' courses from 2nd year onwards. Asking because I have an interest in international relations and my uni offers Law with IR as well. Conflicted as to which one I should go for, one I have an interest in or one that would practically benefit me?

Hi @goatenthusiast12!

My best tip for increasing commercial awareness is to start listening to podcasts and reading publications that are geared towards those working in law/aspiring to work in law. This thread here and post here have a great list of resources like Watson's Daily, the TCLA newsletter etc. and recommended podcasts that you can refer to get started.

The second important thing is to maintain consistency- even reading the news for 15 minutes every day or reading one article in depth every day I better than doing nothing. Establish a pace and set of targets that are comfortable for you and try to stick to them and you will notice a difference in how you comprehend business news and apply your legal knowledge to it.

My last tip is to ensure that you are reading the news with the goal of 1) identifying the relevant stakeholders 2) identifying the main commercial and legal issues that arise from the impact of the news on the stakeholders 3) analysing the role of lawyers and law firms in mitigating or making the best use of this impact.

About your second question about uni modules, I highly recommend choosing those that genuinely interest you. In my experience, almost half of a trainee cohort at a typical city firm is non-law and doing straight law doesn't really confer an advantage that you can't get elsewhere.